Firefox Freezeups

Lately I have been having this issue when I use firefox. I'll be browsing and then all of a sudden the system will freeze up. The screen will turn an translucent white and firefox will say not responding. I can't exit out of firefox, shut down the program via task manager or even shut the computer down. I have to turn the computer off via the power button then restart in safe mode and shut down normally. This will usually fix the problem for a bit. I am running vista basic...I know I know I should upgrade hahaah. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Also, not sure where to post this other issue I am having. I recently upgraded the software for my dvd drive and I find that when I try to burn something after the burn is completed if I go to do anything else this will freeze the system up as well.

 

Here is a good info
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forum/1/9875

 

You have to add some Plugins.

 

I tooka brief look through that discussion and I will try some of the "hang-up" solutions, but most of those people dont have issues with using other programs once firefox hangs-up. My whole computer freezes up. Guess it could be the same thing.

Um...what plug-ins? No offense but just saying you need to add plug-ins doesnt really help.

 

See if FF displays this same behavior when using the FF safe mode version>
Start/programs/Mozilla Firefox then select Mozilla Firefox (Safe mode).

You need to supply more information as to what "software" you upgraded. Did you do this because you were having a problem?

 

Ok so this past weekend I tried some of those fixes on the Firefox link provided. They didn't help. I uninstalled Firefox hopign that would help. The problem actually became worse at one point. IE was experiencing the same issues and it happened with other programs (I was using CCleaner to fix registry issues). Once it hung up when I was using CCleaner I restarted in safe and then ran a disk check. This took hours, which was a bit odd. It found some errors and since then it seems to be working a bit better. I noticed once or twice IE would say not responding but then it would snap out of it after 30 seconds or so. Is there anything else I should look in to that might help fully correct this issue?

As for my DVD burner/issue here is the info:
My burner is Optiarc DVD +-RW AD-7580s and I downloaded new firmware from this website http://www.firmwarehq.com/Optiarc/AD-7580S/files.html

Like I said before I run DVDnextCopy and it seems to run fine, I have issues with the actual writing, but I think that may be the discs I am using. However, after its done and I close the program the computer just doesnt respond. I downloaded the firmware because I was running IMGBurn and experience writing errors and the people on the support site for IMGBurn suggested I updated the firmware.

 

1. The computer freezes up, not only while browsing but while doing other things and you have only used CCleaner to remove registry items.
Possible causes: hard drive may be going, a windows service is using all the CPU, windows files have become corrupted.
It would not hurt to run sfc /scannow
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833
and then check your services against BlackViper's list
http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm
You look at your services and you can set it to what BV has suggested in the "safe" setting column.
Note: you will probably have more services showing than BV has listed but just stick to the ones on his chart.

To rule out a hard drive problem, you run a program to test the hd. Unfortunately, I'm not the person who can point you to a good program for this.

2. As far as the DVD burning issue. When you are done burning and have closed the program, press ctrl+alt+del and see if any parts of the program are still running. If so, stop those processes and see if that clears up the freezing issue.

 

Thanks a bunch for the ideas. The weird thing is this computer is about a year old and I had problems about 4 months ago which ultimately led to Dell replacing the hard drive. The tech ran a diagnostic (cant remember what it was) and the error code was one that required him to just have a guy come out and replace my hard drive. Is it possible to have something wrong with the computer that would cause it to corrupt hard drives?

 

A good HD testing program you might try is the Ultimate Boot CD: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

This disk contains other tests as well but it has tests from most major hard drive manufacturers as well as other useful stuff.

Please note I am not affiliated in any way with UBCD, I am just recommending it to you.