Firefox dropdown menus are flickering on 2nd monitor

in firefox shortcuts, tweaks, and tips

The Problem: Firefox Menus Flicker and Go Blank

Had a very weird problem with Firefox on my Windows 7 box. (It might also happen on Ubuntu desktop.) I switched the connection on my second, extended desktop monitor to use DVI instead of VGA. Suddenly, all the Firefox drop-down menus went blank. They would flicker briefly and I could see the contents, but then they would go blank.

For example, when typing in a URL in the Firefox wonderbar, I get a code completion drop down list with all matching URLs and locations I’ve recently visited. The drop down list is there and appears for a split fraction of second, but then it goes blank and I can’t see it. It’s just a big blank rectangle. Oddly, I can select items from it and they appear in the wonderbar, but I don’t see them until I select them and all remaining items remain blank.

The same thing happens for the search box, some Firefox menus, etc.

The Solution: Turn off Firefox Hardware Acceleration

This was driving me nuts and I had a hard time googling the answer. But I finally found the solution:

Firefox dropdown menus are flickering

How to fix Firefox flickering dropdown menus: turn off Hardware Acceleration (click image to enlarge)

Got to the Firefox Options –> Advanced tab –> General tab. In the “Browsing” section uncheck the box marked “Use hardware acceleration when available”

Cha-ching!!! Problem solved.

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

Joel August 31, 2011 at 2:56 pm

GREAT!!! like you stated, it was driving me nuts but now it’s working; the only thing is that the sub-menus take a little longer to display but I can live with that…
thanks

Felix September 6, 2011 at 3:35 am

Thx for the post – Really helpful

Vladimir October 3, 2011 at 5:42 am

Thanks a lot! Solved the problem.

Hassan October 18, 2011 at 8:18 am

Thanks for the post; this helped.

HVYMTL October 19, 2011 at 6:35 pm

Worked like a charm…was driving me crazy…thx!

Bill November 18, 2011 at 1:15 am

Thanks for the solution!

Need to add, this occurs since I installed the nVidia driver 8.17.12.7589

n November 29, 2011 at 1:35 pm

To solve the problem without disabling hardware acceleration…
1: Start Firefox
2: Drag Firefox in the extended monitor.
3: Maximize Firefox (little square on top right)
4: Restore down Firefox (2 little square on top right) (This will tell Firefox to open in the extended monitor)
5: Close Firefox.
5: Start Firefox. It will open in the extended monitor and will correctly work in both monitor.
NB: Windows7 64, firefox 6 and 8.01, Lenovo x200 laptop with latest drivers.

Editor November 30, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Thanks N!

su January 11, 2012 at 6:14 pm

Thanks a mill! It was driving me nuts too.

Sebastian Wehr January 13, 2012 at 12:01 am

Holy :) Thank you very much for this fix ! too bad i didnt find it for quite some time

Thanks SO much :)

Ross January 13, 2012 at 6:34 am

Thanks for posting this. I had the same problem and I thought it may be my video card but I’m glad it was a Firefox issue.

Justin January 19, 2012 at 5:54 pm

Thanks a lot, this problem was getting really annoying!

TerrorT February 6, 2012 at 7:46 pm

Brilliant…had also been driving me nuts. Thanks for the post.

Kastor Lieberung February 10, 2012 at 8:37 am

Another way to solve the problem without disabling hardware acceleration :

I solved it by unchecking the box marked “Use hardware acceleration when available” (as explained in the first post).
Then I returned in Firefox Options and checked the box again : it was still working fine after that, so you can keep the hardware acceleration.

Ryan B February 10, 2012 at 5:22 pm

Thank you!!! This has been driving me nuts.

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