Firefox won’t quit (FF v3.0.5)

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Sometimes I find that if a page fails to load completely (I assume because of site problems), and I then exit Firefox, it appears to close (the window disappears). But when I try to reload Firefox, I get a message box with the following message:

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Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system.

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When I open the Windows Task Manager, Firefox is indeed still running. I can then shut it down by hitting ‘End Process’.

Not a huge problem, although annoying, and in addition, I never feel very comfortable ending processes, given the dire warning message it generates.

Is this a known problem? Is there a way to stop this? I would not expect the browser to cause such problems as a result of a site problem…

Chris

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There is some malware floating around which is characterized by preventing certain popular sites from loading in Firefox. See Firefox never finishes loading certain websites.

Assuming you can rule that out, one potential cause is a problem with an ad script or other off-site element. If you run the NoScript extension (I can’t recall) then you can manage these specifically.

It might help to review the last section of this article: Firefox hangs. Any luck?

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Thanks, but I don’t think either of the Mozilla articles refer to my problem. I’m certain my computer is free of malware (ever heard that before? )

And the other article appears to refer to Firefox hanging; I don’t think what is happening can be described as hanging, because before I close the browser, it still operates normally.

There is one particular web site which I frequently access (my ISP actually) which occasionally seems to cause the problem. I suspect you may be right that it is some script or element on the site.

I’m just a little surprised that Firefox can get itself into the situation where a reboot is the solution. Seems it should be able to know that it is in that state and take appropriate action, or at least offer a button that initiates such action.

Chris

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What you describe is Firefox not closing normally which can also be described as hanging when Firefox exits. Another article covering this issue is Firefox hangs at exit – MozillaZine Knowledge Base

Also see Firefox is already running but is not responding

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Thanks, Tony, I missed that. I guess I misunderstood the term ‘hang’

Chris

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