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Why does Mozilla Firefox hang (Freeze) on startup?

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  • 16 have this problem
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  • Last reply by amkeew

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For the last few version of the Firefox browser I have noticed it hangs on start up for approximately thirteen to twenty five seconds. Upon reinstalling it seems to work fine but when I reinstall my old profile it begins again. Obviously something in my profile is causing this but I have deleted my cache, uninstalled applications or add-on's, etc. Is there something I am forgetting to check?

For the last few version of the Firefox browser I have noticed it hangs on start up for approximately thirteen to twenty five seconds. Upon reinstalling it seems to work fine but when I reinstall my old profile it begins again. Obviously something in my profile is causing this but I have deleted my cache, uninstalled applications or add-on's, etc. Is there something I am forgetting to check?

Chosen solution

You may need a clean install.

First export your bookmarks to a html file. (Bookmarks/Unsorted bookmarks will bring you History page where you can export your bookmarks). Note down your add-ons too.

Uninstall the old FF using free software like Revo Uninstaller. This will delete all the root directories and registries of old FF.

Now download the latest version of FF and install it. You can re-import your bookmarks from your saved html file.

You may still have to do what I suggested in my first post even after the clean install of FF.

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All Replies (7)

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This article maybe help to you

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Thanks for trying to help Swarnava but my problem does not involve trying to install Adobe Flash Player, let alone on a Mac (I am using a PC laptop). Did you mean to direct me to another Adobe help article?

Anyway I should also mention that recently my browser sometimes hangs when returning to my default page (which is Google). I also keep getting warnings that my Firefox browser is using too much memory.

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  • Try this.
  • Type in the address bar about:config.
  • Accept the warning.
  • In the page that appears, in the Filter box, type network.http.max-connections.
  • Change the value to 32 (which is probably set to 256 in your case).
  • Close the about:config page.
  • Restart the browser.
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I tried out your solution amkeew but I am still experiencing the hanging problem on start up. After using your solution though the browser does not hang for as long as it used to. On another note, I always find the browser will freeze completely if I click or press 'enter' on anything. It hangs anyway if I do not but does it quicker if I try to access anything.

EDIT: I just noticed that Firefox 7 often hangs when I enter google.ca for the first time since I last closed the browser. I changed my homepage from google.ca to support.mozilla.com and the hanging effect did not occur until I visited the Google site. Why is this occurring? I should also contact Google about this as well.

I am still getting memory usage notices though and that has not changed even after following amkeew's advice.

Modified by Robert86

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Chosen Solution

You may need a clean install.

First export your bookmarks to a html file. (Bookmarks/Unsorted bookmarks will bring you History page where you can export your bookmarks). Note down your add-ons too.

Uninstall the old FF using free software like Revo Uninstaller. This will delete all the root directories and registries of old FF.

Now download the latest version of FF and install it. You can re-import your bookmarks from your saved html file.

You may still have to do what I suggested in my first post even after the clean install of FF.

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Alright so I did a clean install as you said amkeew. It seems to have done the job and so far I have not received any more excess memory usage messages after editing the config settings. I was hoping to be able to save my profile and browsing history but some of it was salvaged by backing up my bookmark information as an html file. I will remember that in the future. Thanks for all your help.

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Glad it worked. Happy trails,