Mozilla Firefox Issues with Facebook - Stops Downloading Images and Freezes

HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 17:24
Last edited 19/12/2023 - 14:37

Ive had this Mozilla Firefox issue now for over a year.
After being on Facebook for a while, it stops downloading images and freezes.
Closing the Mozilla Firefox browser and starting again makes no difference.

What did work was when I cleared "Recent history" but this only worked temporarily.
I also removed Firefox add-ons and this helped slightly.

But none of this works anymore.

Clearing recent history, even ALL history only works for a couple of minutes now, before facebook stops downloading images and freezes.

Is anyone else having the issue with facebook on Mozilla Firefox AND found a solution

Works fine with all other sites

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
Whilst I know many love to help, please only make suggestions if you have had this same problem and successfully resolved it.

I am technically proficient with computers however this issue has totally baffled me.
Nothing I find on Google helps….
eg Clearing cached history, removing add-ons

Computing Mozilla Firefox

Comments

  • duk242 on 18/12/2023 - 17:25

    Tried fully uninstalling it (and clearing all the Mozilla stuff in your home directory) and reinstalling it?

    • HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 17:31

      I dont recall but probably worth a try.

      • duk242 on 18/12/2023 - 17:34

        I once had an issue with a program where it would crash/relaunch randomly - it wouldn't happen for weeks then suddenly happen every few minutes… Went for months trying to work it out…
        Ended up doing a full format/reinstall of the OS - never worked out what it was, but it did fix it…

  • EightImmortals on 18/12/2023 - 18:18
    -1

    Blessing in disguise?

    • payton on 18/12/2023 - 18:39
      +2

      What's wrong with Firefox?

  • pinchies on 18/12/2023 - 18:44
    +1
    1. check DNS settings, perhaps try google DNS or cloudflare DNS (obligatory haiku)
    2. check other firewall / antivirus / vpn software on computer is not causing issues
    3. try via Tethering to eliminate the possiblity that this is a problem with your network.
    4. try a firefox refresh
    • HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 19:47

      Tried Firefox refresh
      Worked for a small while then back to the same.

      Just did an uninstall and reinstall of firefox as per 1st suggestion and its back to "normal" again with facebook.

      Have to wait and see how long the joy lasts

      • HeWhoKnows on 22/12/2023 - 11:29

        Well after the uninstall and reinstall and using it for a short whuile its back to the same problem.

    • mskeggs on 18/12/2023 - 19:38
      +8

      Disagree. Mozilla is developing a more controllable (i.e. less privacy invasive and able to block ads better etc) browser, but the Chromium based browsers are slightly faster and preferenced in some cases (YouTube is slowing non-chromium browsers, for example).
      Chrome is planning to block ad-blockers, and is increasingly painful if you don’t want cross site privacy issues, like ads turning up in your feed for stuff you talk about within earshot of a Google Home.

      Since Edge went chromium, Firefox is the only alternative that won’t end up shite. I understand it is a bit of a tragedy of the commons (and yes, I am up to date on how that was not real) but if everyone uses chrome, we get what Google decides is best for them, not users.

    • HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 19:49
      +1

      Both Edge and Chrome work fine.
      The problem is with Mozilla Firefox

      And yes, I much prefer Firefox

      • DustyAfternoon on 19/12/2023 - 00:11

        Edge is just chromium under the hood.

  • localhost on 18/12/2023 - 19:15
    +1

    Check and disable extensions.

    • HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 19:50

      As mentioned in post Ive done that

  • barge-in hunter on 18/12/2023 - 19:21
    +5

    Firefox is quite a security and privacy conscious browser - Facebook on the other hand, will attempt every tracking trick under the sun to identify you and the sites you browse.

    My hunch is it’s a privacy setting that is somehow interfering with facebooks code - something like cross domain requests. You could try turning down those privacy settings, but do so at your own risk. Make sure you understand what you’re allowing websites to do, before you let them do it.

    • mskeggs on 18/12/2023 - 19:48
      +3

      Conscious that OP asked for actual experience, not wild guesses, but in similar circumstances, I had issues related to cached images and DNS. I think what happened was the cache wasn’t refreshing and just caching a part image.

      The other time I had similar issues was after troubleshooting some network flakiness and I set a custom MTU packet size, and again some images were being cached with fragmented packets. When I let the router set it on the fly it was fixed.

      Sorry if these are poor suggestions, but sometimes it gives you a nudge to say “oh yeah, I did set a custom MTU with that weird old NE2000 card” and undoing what worked before fixes it.

      Feel free to disregard if this is all confusing - but if you delve into hardware settings you’ll know what I mean!

      • HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 19:53

        Appreciate your reply.
        However if this was the case, the same problem would happen on other image heavy web sites such as eBay and ali. But no issues there

        • mskeggs on 18/12/2023 - 20:34

          I guess the only thing I'll say about that is consider Facebook uses its own edge cache, not akamai or CloudFlare that nearly everyone else uses, so it is certainly conceivable that is the underlying problem.
          Maybe you have a stale adblock list that is blocking addresses Facebook is now using for non-ad content, for example.

          Again, I know how annoying it is to get the "have you updated your macos" type messages, so I don't want to speculate, but Facebook does a bunch of stuff non-standard.

    • HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 19:56

      yes. the problem is UNIQUE to facebook.
      Interesting hunch.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 18/12/2023 - 19:50
    +1

    Let me guess, you're using UBlock or AdBlock. Disable your extensions as FB will use all your RAM and trigger a browser freeze/crash when using an adblocker.

    Otherwise if the above didn't work, try browsing using only a single FB tab. Multiple tabs = FB memory use goes cray cray.

    • HeWhoKnows on 18/12/2023 - 19:54

      As mentioned in my post, done that already.
      I never use multiple tabs.

  • StevePER on 18/12/2023 - 22:28

    I sometimes have this issue on mobile, but restarting the browser fixes it for me.

  • bmerigan on 18/12/2023 - 22:31

    Even thiugh you've stated the issue is unique to 1 browser and website, give the modem/router a power off/on reboot. You'll be offline for a few minutes but I've experienced many issues that were resolved by doing this, and you've got nothing to lose.

    • HeWhoKnows on 19/12/2023 - 14:33

      I usually power off my modem when I go on holidays.
      Most recently in early November 2023.
      The problem has gotten worse since then

  • ozbargainoid on 19/12/2023 - 10:59

    I was on 32 bit Win 10, upgraded to 64 bit, problem still exists but a way lot less.
    Have an old PC and had to do work around due to hardware restrictions, might try Win 11 soon.

    • HeWhoKnows on 19/12/2023 - 14:34

      Probbaly due to new Windows installation.
      Ive been using 64 bit windows since win 7.

  • kaos on 19/12/2023 - 12:09
    +2

    for the Firefox haterz-
    Firefox had a special mode that allows you to 'cage' Facebook to prevent it from escaping and collecting data on all of your other open tabs etc.
    I think this is awesome and used it for a while, can't remember why I stopped.

    but you can bet your a** that Facebook knows this and deliberately makes the browsing experience worse so they can get you to go back to a browser that doesn't care about your privacy…

    • HeWhoKnows on 22/12/2023 - 11:27

      Yes, same here.
      Stopped using it and nearly all other extensions in an effort to elimnate all possibilities.

  • Username checks out on 18/07/2024 - 09:51

    I'm having the same problem as you. Here are a few more advanced troubleshooting steps I was recommended to try you may not have tried yet:

    1. Check Hardware Acceleration:

      • Go to Firefox menu > Options > General.
      • Scroll down to "Performance" and uncheck "Use recommended performance settings."
      • Uncheck "Use hardware acceleration when available."

    2. Create a New Firefox Profile:

      • Type about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter.
      • Click on "Create a New Profile" and follow the instructions.
      • Open Facebook in the new profile to see if the issue persists.

    3. Update Graphics Drivers:

      • Ensure your graphics drivers are up to date. Outdated drivers can cause rendering issues in browsers.

    4. Check for Corrupt Session Restore:

      • Sometimes, Firefox's session restore feature can get corrupted.
      • Type about:config in the address bar, press Enter, and accept the risk.
      • Search for browser.sessionstore and reset all entries related to session restore.

    5. Adjust Network Settings:

      • Type about:config in the address bar, press Enter, and accept the risk.
      • Search for network.http.spdy.enabled and set it to false.

    6. Inspect Developer Console:

      • Open Facebook and when the issue starts, press Ctrl + Shift + I to open the Developer Tools.
      • Check the Console tab for any errors that might provide more clues about what's causing the issue.

    • HeWhoKnows on 19/07/2024 - 16:29

      I found it much easier to switch to Chrome.

      Seems to have more widespread compatability and reportedly faster processing of data.
      Havent had any such problems with chrome.

      But might go back to Firefox and try some of these recommendations

      Thx

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