Sounds like a brain pain alright.

The obvious culprit would be overly aggressive antivirus, but if you've completely uninstalled yours (and hence fallen back on Microsoft software), then that should not be the issue.

What is staring me in the face is the browser's version number. Could you try updating to the latest 41.x version and see if that helps? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/update-firefox-latest-version

Checking plugins might not go amiss either - https://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/plugincheck/ - seeing as the sites use Javascript.

A hacky workaround for now could be disabling and then re-enabling your Wi-Fi. Your laptop may have a hotkey for it, or you can just disable the adapter in Windows and then re-enable it.

teemehkin said

This is a confusing problem I have been experiencing in the last two weeks. When I tried connecting to the following sites (http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=210139&fileId=S0269915X03002039 and http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0063077) on separate days on separate wifi networks, the pages would load most of the way, but then none of the links on this page would load if clicked, and the internet would fail to connect to any website at all after this. The only way to reestablish Wifi connection was to restart my computer. I am writing to the firefox community instead of to my computer manufacturer because, this problem only exists with Firefox. Loading these pages in internet explorer is not a problem, nor is the wifi disconnected after loading with IE. I am currently using Windows 10. I tried troubleshooting my wifi connection when this happened, but nothing changed. I tried resetting my router. I tried different times of day to connect. I tried uninstalling anti-virus software. I tried disabling my add-ons. Nothing changed the situation. HELP! In the meantime I'm resorting to IE unfortunately.

Thank you for this Phoxuponyou! Unfortunately I've discovered it is not limited to Firefox only, so it must be a hardware/driver issue with Microsoft. Thanks for your lengthy response!

No problem - do report back if you get it fixed so future users may know.

If you use extensions (Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) that can block content (e.g. Adblock Plus, NoScript, Flash Block, Ghostery, Blur) then make sure that such extensions aren't blocking content.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

• Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox menu button/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
• Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes