# SDMB locking up Firefox **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 25, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270 "2014-02-25T23:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/1 "2014-02-25T23:28:11Z")
I’ve been having trouble all afternoon with this board locking up Firefox. Click any forum or thread and it just says connecting. Can’t switch tabs, can’t close the sdmb tab, can’t even close Firefox. All I can do is curse and kill the Firefox process. I’ve aborted Firefox six times in the past hour because of the sdmb. None of my other web sites are doing this. What the heck scripts are the sdmb running that can lock up Firefox? It’s happened ocassionally before. This afternoon has been the worst ever. It may be Flash. I see that firefox plug-in-container in my process list. killing that plug in container process often helps with flash lock ups. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/2 "2014-02-26T00:36:13Z")
I’m running Firefox and I haven’t had any problems so far (the past half hour or so). I have the Shockwave Flash plug-in, version 12.0.0.70. Come to think of it, though, I’m a member, so I don’t have any ads trying to load. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/3 "2014-02-26T01:03:42Z")
Another Firefox user & subscriber, and I’ve had no problems either. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/4 "2014-02-26T04:20:25Z")
I wish that I could give such a positive experience. I don’t know if it’s my pc or the SDMB. This is the main site that locks me up. It always starts with “connecting” and then I’m screwed. I’m fed up enough now to format the drive and reinstall. It’s going to get fixed or I’m taking a sledgehammer to the pc. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/5 "2014-02-26T04:49:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Another Firefox user & subscriber, and I’ve had no problems either. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/6 "2014-02-26T05:45:15Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It may be Flash. I see that firefox plug-in-container in my process list. killing that plug in container process often helps with flash lock ups. This was the first thing which occurred to me when I saw the thread title. That you’re not having the same problem with other sites, though, suggests it’s not the problem. And I say this as someone who has had to disable Flash (except when I need it) because my installation has gone sideways somehow and it’s not an easy problem to troubleshoot. But I have the problem on multiple sites, not just one. Which, from my research, is the common pattern with those experiencing same. After this post, I’ll activate Flash and report back. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/7 "2014-02-26T05:45:33Z")
using FF 27 and Windows i did have the lockup with the constant loading. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/8 "2014-02-26T06:33:07Z")
Ran into no problems loading pages, so tried disabling Flash again. Loaded a few more pages. What I notice is that none give a box with an error message about being unable to display content, which is what I typically see with Flash turned off. From which I infer Flash ads aren’t being pushed and this isn’t the problem. BTW, yes, I’m using Firefox. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/9 "2014-02-26T06:45:27Z")
I was having more trouble with News sites. I was constantly deleting that plugin-container process that flash uses. I started using Flash Block and that’s helped a lot. But once in awhile it seems like flash still sneaks in. I’ll see that plugin-container in the process list. This afternoon was the worst I’ve ever experienced. 8 lockups in an hour and all because of the SDMB “connecting”. I finally rebooted the pc. Things are better tonight. > [@PBear42](#): > > This was the first thing which occurred to me when I saw the thread title. That you’re not having the same problem with other sites, though, suggests it’s not the problem. And I say this as someone who has had to disable Flash (except when I need it) because my installation has gone sideways somehow and it’s not an easy problem to troubleshoot. But I have the problem on multiple sites, not just one. Which, from my research, is the common pattern with those experiencing same. After this post, I’ll activate Flash and report back. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/10 "2014-02-26T19:08:41Z")
Yeah, it’s gotten pretty bad for me too. I’ve started to keep Task Manager open and minimized. Whenever SDMB locks up on me, I check the “Processes” tab in Task Manager and I see that “FlashPlayerPlugin\_12\_0” is using up almost all of one CPU. (Sometimes it is plugin-container.exe instead.) If I highlight the offending process and then click End Process, it unlocks Firefox. This is not happening on any other web site. It most often happens when I try to close a tab or navigate to another page (even a page outside SD like google, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-locking-up-firefox/682270/11 "2014-02-26T21:57:55Z")
Firefox has been acting clunky for me in the past couple of days, especially at [talkingpointsmemo.com](http://talkingpointsmemo.com). A few weeks ago I reset my firefox installation: it helped. Instructions: [Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings | Firefox Help](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-firefox-easily-fix-most-problems) Caution: it will eliminate your add-ons. Make a careful list of the add-ons you have: some of them have been bought by scammers and used to deliver malware. For example I loaded a View in IE add-on that was suspicious after the reset. So this isn’t a trivial task.