Firefox 4 uses a combined Stop/Reload/Go button that is positioned at the right end of the location bar.
During the page load process it shows as a Stop button and after the loading has finished the button is changed to a Reload button.
If you type in the location bar then that button becomes a Go button.
Middle-click the Reload button to duplicate the current tab to a new tab.

Firefox 5 has this same problem, and the above fix does not work because the reload button does not appear in the list of toolbar customizations. This bothers me, as I consider reload functionality to be a must and its omission is somewhat "corporate" for firefox, i.e. it's good for web servers but terrible for users. In order to continue in the tradition of Netscape, Firefox 5 needs to maximize user fuctionality, not dumb down the interface. Lack of a reload button makes a broken browser, period. Taking away basic web browsing tools is a sure formula for failure of the application in the marketplace of free web browsers.

Frankly, it is a dumb idea to combine the reload and stop buttons, as reloading while a page is loading is one solution for a congested network. "Stop" functionality is not the same as reload functionality, and this change means that what could previously be accomplished in a single mouse click now requires two mouse clicks - a bad move for the Firefox developers because it hurts the whole community, taking away standard browser functionality that is expected. :-(

To move the Stop and Reload buttons to their position to the left of the location bar you can use these steps:

• Open the Customize window via "View > Toolbars > Customize" or via "Firefox > Options > Toolbar Layout"

• Drag the Reload and Stop buttons to their previous position to the left of the location bar.

• Set the order to "Reload - Stop" to get a combined "Reload/Stop" button.
• Set the order to "Stop - Reload" or separate them otherwise to get two distinct buttons.

The reload button is still available as it was not omitted or removed.

If you prefer to have them separated then you can also have a flexible space in between if you want it as Reload Stop order.

Pressing the F5 key works in a pinch.

Totally agree with glendon144. I am NOT a techy-geek and used to find Firefox easy to use. But with constant reminders to upgrade to the new version, I did so, but what did I find? Totally new layout but more importantly stuff was missing - most noticeably the refresh button. This is of crucial value to me as I have a mobile internet connection, which can occasionally operate slowly or "drop out" so I have to refresh the page. I searched Firefox`s "help" but the advice left a lot to be desired. Use of the "tools" and "view" options did not work and cannot go back to the useful "default". As to the "reload", which is now to the RIGHT (why? it used to in the sensible position), it would appear from other posters that this also operates a stop and restart. Why should I, the user, have to try and separate this out by "dragging and pasting and separating" - hardly user-friendly to those of us who are NOT computer geeks. I am bitterly disappointed that this once great service has, in my opinion, deteriorated. Please bring back the old style Firefox... Thank you

stevi.b it may not seem user friendly the first time to customize the toolbars but once you do it and explorer through the menus you may find things to be rather simple.

Wow cor-el and and I gave useful replies earlier and yet so many seems to have clicked the wrong button on whether helpful or not.

I had this problem, and this is how I fixed it. Try right clicking beside a tab, going to "customize" and click the drop down arrow at the bottom and select "Icons and Text" If there is a bunch of jumbled icons at first, just drag it back into the menu. Hope this helps, and reply to me for additional help.

Well, we're up to Firefox 6.0, and I don't think this issue is quite fixed yet. I can find separate buttons/icons for "refresh," "stop loading," and the "progress loading" indicator, but when trying to line them up where I wanted them on the tool bar, the "stop loading" icon wouldn't be visible when I clicked on "finished" for customizing. I tried moving several things around, including the google search location bar, thinking that there was some kind of limit on space used in the same line as the mozilla location bar, but that still wouldn't let me display the "stop loading" icon, it just made the mozilla location bar really long. So I finally decided to make my own toolbar, where I could display the buttons I wanted, how I wanted... for fellow non-techies (I echo your strong sentiments about liking the functionality of the older firefox version better!), here's how you can do that:

1. Open the toolbar customize window: left click View, cursor to Toolbars, Customize, left click.

2. The Customize window opens. Click on "Add New Toolbar" near bottom. 3. Now you can give yours a name (I named mine "Violet's Toolbar" so I could distinguish it from the system's toolbars...)

4. After you click ok, you will have a large blank horizontal space up in the toolbar area: this is your new toolbar, where you can drag and drop icons either from the default navigation toolbar or from the customize window of icons.

I really missed having all the other icons they used to have, like Print, Copy, Cut, etc., so I've pretty much added all of them back...

You should be able to put the Stop, Reload, "Throbber" (progress loader) on whatever toolbar you want including the Menu bar and Navigation toolbar just the same with Customize window open. A new toolbar is not needed unless you needed more toolbar space.

If you want to make sure the Stop and Reload buttons are separated then do as per instructions already given earlier in thread.

To move the Stop and Reload buttons to their position to the left of the location bar you can use these steps:

   Open the Customize window via "View > Toolbars > Customize" or via "Firefox > Options > Toolbar Layout" 

   Drag the Reload and Stop buttons to their previous position to the left of the location bar. 

   Set the order to "Reload - Stop" to get a combined "Reload/Stop" button.
   Set the order to "Stop - Reload" or separate them otherwise to get two distinct buttons. 

If you prefer to have them separated then you can also have a flexible space in between if you want it as Reload Stop order.