Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

firefox refuses to load pages when offline (please read on)

  • 8 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by StaxOnRax

more options

When my computer is disconnected from the internet and i load a page, it obviously wont load, but when i connect to the internet and want to reload that page, it simply refuses to, the only way to get a page i tried to load while i was offline is to start restart firefox while im online, any pages that i attempted to load while i was offline simply will not load whatsoever unless i retsrart firefox. Ever since i upgraded to firefox 28 ive had this massive annoyance of an issue -_-

In firefox 23 this never existed... Ive read alot on the releases of firefox since v23 and there seems to be alot of networking related stuff thats been done...... Is this related to them? and is there any way i can just undo this?

When my computer is disconnected from the internet and i load a page, it obviously wont load, but when i connect to the internet and want to reload that page, it simply refuses to, the only way to get a page i tried to load while i was offline is to start restart firefox while im online, any pages that i attempted to load while i was offline simply will not load whatsoever unless i retsrart firefox. Ever since i upgraded to firefox 28 ive had this massive annoyance of an issue -_- In firefox 23 this never existed... Ive read alot on the releases of firefox since v23 and there seems to be alot of networking related stuff thats been done...... Is this related to them? and is there any way i can just undo this?

All Replies (8)

more options

Make sure FF is 'online'.

Press Alt or F10 to restore the menu bar.

File - Uncheck 'Work Offline'.

more options

Sadly, no.

It doesnt seem to have any effect

When i get this issue the spinning wheel in the tab is grey, as opposed to green when its about to load a page, it basically just stays grey and i can never access said website unless i reopen firefox, however other sites work... Is there anything else? I never had this issue befre going from firefox 23 to firefox 28

more options

Did you recently install any new extensions/add-ons from addons.mozilla.org? If so, you can try disable the latest ones you downloaded to see if that makes a difference.

You may also want to try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings and disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).

(If you're using an added theme, switch to the Default theme.)

If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu by clicking on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item:
FirefoxSafeMode

If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:

  • On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
  • On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
    (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode" Safe Mode Fx 15 - Win

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.

To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

more options

Yeah no, i tried that the first thing, if ive learned anything from my last experience with addons is to always see if its from them, this time however, it isnt

Ive used firefox in safe mode to reproduce the issue and it still happens.... *sigh* for every annoying bug fixed in firefox.... a worse one comes in its place

more options

Can you try to create a new profile and see if the problem is still there?

I'm trying to think of ways that wouldn't lose all of your extensions as I see you have a ton of them.

more options

So it works when i make a new profile, but it doesnt when in Safe Mode... Arent those the same thing basically? Oh Firefox...

From what i see it has to do with it keeping on trying to load the page but it doesnt go to the "could not load page" stage, its in the stage before that, in the lower part of the page it constantly says "waiting on page ......"

Is there ANY way to fix this without... you know having to migrate all my data and addons and do over their settings all over again, because its kinda sorta not a fun process...

more options

Did you try to toggle Offline mode off/on in Firefox to see it that help to find the connection settings?

You can try different connection settings.

more options

Nope, nothing :( Although, after copying my history etc... to a new profile, everythings okay! So weird.. I guess the act of updating firefox itself managed to cause it, and not Firefox 28 itself, odd..

Btw, the Mozilla support page that guides someone to copy their stuff is outdated, it mentions a downloads.sqlite file, that file hasn't exited in firefox for a while now and all of the contents that used to be within that file are in places.sqlite, really confusing, had to google tons till i read somewhere about this.