Oh, and my hosts file is also 'empty'. Tried adding 209.85.148.139 google.com to the hosts file, still no success.

hello, to test if this is an issue with spdy (a new protocol that was introduced in firefox 13 and is used on secure pages on google.com) or rather dns - does this page load successfully: https://twitter.com/firefox (twitter is also served via spdy)?

you could also try flushing your dns cache: www.wikihow.com/Flush-DNS

I did try to flush dns earlier, no success. As for twitter page - it loads fine. EDIT: You mentioned spdy, so I went to config page, and turned spdy off. (network.http.spdy.enabled;false) and now google works as before.

hi. I also had this problem and I tried everything. I uninstalled ff then reinstalled it (*all my settings were saved but I had to download it via ftp cos IE wudnt let me download directly- pain in the neck are IE.) this didn't work. so don't try it. Its more stress than its worth! After reading thru this thread, i got a solution, but some of you may have overlooked this, I think. SOLUTION- Go to Tools/Options/Advanced -and if both SSL and TSL are checked then -DO NOT THINK THAT THIS IS NOT THE PROBLEM! which is what I thought at first, but IT IS! this is what I do and it works every time (but I often have to do it every time I start FF) first uncheck SSL, then try to open google, or other website that wont load, a page will load that says SECURE CONNECTION FAILED, then go back to Tools/Options/Advanced and check SSL again, then OK. Then go back to Failed page and press TRY AGAIN, and Voila!!!! page shud open. this works for any google related site! hope Iv been helpful, and lets just hope that this big bad jungle world we live in will change, and make things easier for us little ppl. x