Getting a black screen when I launch Firefox. What do I do?
Hi, I've been using Firefox for a while and get automatic updates. Was on Internet most of today but closed out this afternoon for a while. When I came back and launched Firefox, I got a black screen, no tool bar at top, just the red x box to close the screen. Closed out and rebooted, but no change. So then I launched Internet Explorer and got to the Mozilla website and tried downloading the latest version of Firefox. No change, though, still getting the black screen. Other programs on my computer are running fine. Have gone through the trouble shooting parts of the Mozilla website but haven't seen anything about getting a black screen. Not sure what else to do - can anyone help? Thanks!
All Replies (8)
Can you start Firefox in Safe Mode by holding down the Shift/Options key?
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
- Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window
Thanks for the suggestions. I've attached an image of my screen when I launch Firefox so you can see. When I launch Firefox, the Menu bar does not come up, so I copied and pasted the Safe Mode link above and launched in IE (my only way to connect to the internet at this point), but got a "page not found" error message. Maybe I should uninstall Firefox and then start over by downloading it again? Will try that and see what happens...
hello, other users with this problem all had an embedded intel hd2000/3000 graphics card with an old driver present. in case this also applies to you, here would be a link to update the driver, which in turn should also address the black firefox problem: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=23764 (for win7 64 bit)
in case this doesn't solve the issue or does not apply to your system, start firefox into safemode by pressing the shift key while the application is launching & disable hardware acceleration in the firefox menu ≡ > options > advanced > general (that setting will take a restart of the browser to take effect).
Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems
Just talked to my brother who had this same problem following a Firefox update. He reported the problem with the update, but he ended up buying a new computer before Firefox came out with a fix. The new computer resolved his issue. A new computer is not option for me, so I proceeded with uninstalling Firefox and installing a previous version of Firefox (v. 31)...and that fixed the problem! I am once again able to launch Firefox.
That's not going to be a long term fix, since old versions of Firefox are insecure. Please disable hardware acceleration as suggested above, then try updating Firefox again. Does that work?
hi appleapl, please see my reply from before - you neither need a new computer nor downgrade to insecure versions of the browser. installing an update for your graphics driver should resolve the issue - otherwise disable hardware acceleration in firefox.
To appleapl
Were you able to resolve the problem? If you can't update your graphics driver then start in Firefox Safe Mode and turn off hardware acceleration in Firefox, as explained HERE.
There's a Mozilla Support article on this, in case it helps:
Firefox shows a black screen or blank screen after updating to 33
Note that you should update to Firefox 33.0.1 if you have such issues.
Fixed 33.0.1: Firefox displays a black screen at start-up with certain graphics drivers