I need help with Firefox 3.5 bugs

[Bart_Comstock]

Hey I am having problems with the latest version of Firefox. I cant seem to get Google Maps to search for anything or generate dirrections yet I can move the map around and zoom in on it and use street view and Gmail is verrrrry slow and I cant loop any sat images on the NHC's site yet I can go to the NWS's site and loop their radar. On Facebook I cant get my homepage to load either but all the other pages will except the tool bar at the bottom wont work. Also youtube videos seem to be playing slightly choppy as ever few seconds the video will skip a frame or two and certain web streaming services wont work yet I can get pandora to play just fine. I also don't seem to have these problems on IE or Chrome.

Any ideas on what is going on?

(also mods, please move this to Bar & Grill if this is not the right place to post this.)

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

A couple of questions: do you have the latest version of Java? Is there another program running in the background? Is your internet speed running normal or slow? Are there any critical updates available at Windows Update for your machine?

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Here are my connection stats:


I do have the latest version of Java and Flash and I have the most recent Windows Updates and I've made sure there isn't any disruptive programs or processes running

I have Vista x64bit ed (ugh D:< )

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Sounds like you may have picked up corrupted Windows Updates which is known to cause problems similar to what you're experiencing. If I were you, I would do a system restore on your computer prior to when you first began to notice the slowness, then once the restore was complete I would do the Windows Update again.

Here are instructions on how to do a restore in Vista:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-windows-vista-system-restore/

 

[Bart_Comstock]

See I can't because I just nuked the HDD reset the pc to factory defaults; also I only have this issue on firefox and not everything else. I will just get unlazy now and reinstall it and see if that helps. I'll post the results of the reinstall here once I do it.

 

[Mark Blue]

Bart,

After you restored your PC to factory or out of box state did you update all of your critical drivers? I'm talking about chipset, LAN, video card, sound card, etc.? This requires going to each vendor's website and finding the current driver for your configuration. Here's a really good article on doing a clean install and the order in which to update everything: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/give_windows_a_clean_start?page=0,0

This does sound like a Java issue. My Java is current and I'm running Version 6 Update 14 or 1.6.0_14-build 08. I just installed the 3.5 version of Firefox and I can run NHC satellite loops without any problems. Let us know if you have any new updates to report.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Bart_Comstock]

Hey Mark, I did know to update my drivers but thanks for the suggestion. I just uninstalled and then reinstalled Firefox and that seems to have fixed the problem. The odd thing about it was that IE and Chrome were able to run the sites that Firefox couldn't with out any problems.

 

[John Wetter]

Well, I think the radar/sat animations are the only things there that use java, so I don't think that's the issue... Do you have AdBlockPlus installed? Make sure that's up to date, or try disabling it and trying the sites. Most everything you mentioned is javascript, not java, so no plugin should affect that. BUT, I've seen Firefox browser plug-ins mess things up especially if there are old versions trying to run on new browsers. FF should see this and disable them automatically, but it's not 100%.

 

[Mark Blue]

Bart,

Glad to hear reinstalling Firefox corrected the issue. Another example of computer gremlins rearing their ugly head. I'm just glad you were able to get it fixed without spending your entire weekend working on it!

Now is an excellent time to burn a Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image independent image of your "clean" install with updated drivers and such. If something goes wrong several months from now you can do another clean install with your base image, update your drivers, then run Windows update and you're off and running again like your rig is straight out of the factory box.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Bart_Comstock]

That is basically what I did when I had a few of my system files become corrupted and caused Windows Explorer to grow unstable and constantly freeze after a short period of usage... even in safe mode.