Firefox shows a black screen or blank screen after updating to 33

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The issue described in this article applies to Windows only.

Firefox version 33 includes a new feature called Off Main Thread Compositing (OMTC) which is a faster way of loading webpages. This new feature can cause a black or blank screen on some systems when starting Firefox or after visiting some sites.

Mozilla has released an updated version of Firefox that fixes the problem. If you can use Firefox, see Update Firefox to the latest release for update instructions. If you can't use Firefox, you can download and install the latest Firefox version from www.mozilla.org using Internet Explorer or another browser.

Alternatively, you can follow these steps to get Firefox working:

  1. Close any Firefox windows that may be open.
  2. Press the Shift key while starting Firefox. The Firefox Safe Mode window will open.
  3. Click the Start in Safe Mode button to enter Safe Mode.
  4. If the problem does not occur in Safe Mode, turn off hardware acceleration and then start Firefox in normal mode.

These fine people helped write this article:

AliceWyman, NoahSUMO, pollti, guigs, Joni
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