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    M17xR3 and Firefox 4 (Instability)

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by The_Shirt, Mar 31, 2011.

  1. The_Shirt

    The_Shirt Notebook Evangelist

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    Anyone successfully running Firefox 4 on an R3, specs in signature below?

    I tried installing, however it didn't want to display any flash stuff correctly (continually flashing, slow loading, etc). I found this kind of odd since FF4 includes hardware acceleration.

    Went back to 3.6.x and everything fine again, so not the laptop. Looking for suggestions on how to get FF4 to work with the R3.

    Thanks,

    Bill
     
    The_Shirt, Mar 31, 2011
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  2. NLITEND THEORY

    NLITEND THEORY Newbie

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    Did you install firefox 4 into the 64bit or the x86 program folder? I noticed that it does stuff where it reverts back to windows basic when installing it to x86 and it started loading full screen videos in youtube in the background. So I would have to minimize the main firefox window and then the video would be playing. Firefox works better when you use the 64bit program install folder. Its supposed to be designed to natively work on 64bit architecture.
     
    NLITEND THEORY, Mar 31, 2011
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  3. Rikjaamz

    Rikjaamz Newbie

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    Thats odd, my R3 runs FF4 with no problems. Try uninstalling 3.6.x and removing all traces of it before fresh install of FF4?
     
    Rikjaamz, Mar 31, 2011
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  4. bpmcgee

    bpmcgee Notebook Enthusiast

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    There's no officially released 64 bit version of Firefox 4 (for windows).

    Will Firefox 4 have a 64-bit version? | Firefox Support Forum | Firefox Help
     
    bpmcgee, Mar 31, 2011
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  5. bpmcgee

    bpmcgee Notebook Enthusiast

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    Shirt,

    I've had the R3 for about 2 days now, installed 4 on it clean. For the most part it works. I had one time when suddenly it was displaying all the screen elements jammed up on the right hand side. When I closed Firefox and restarted it, the problem went away.

    Since it only happened one time, I can't tell you if it correlates to switching from integrated to external graphics. Obviously that can't be your problem.

    B
     
    bpmcgee, Mar 31, 2011
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  6. NLITEND THEORY

    NLITEND THEORY Newbie

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    NLITEND THEORY, Mar 31, 2011
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  7. The_Shirt

    The_Shirt Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks guys, I'll play around with it some this weekend. Been using FF for a long time, first time I've seen such an issue. I am running 64 bit W7, so maybe that's it...
     
    The_Shirt, Mar 31, 2011
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  8. Roykirk

    Roykirk Notebook Consultant

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    I have the same Flash problem on my R3 - Optimus w/460m. But it was in more than just Firefox. It was in Chrome also. I turned off hardware acceleration in Flash and that fixed the issue.

    It would be nice if some actual Nvidia or Intel driver updates came along that would allow us to use hardware acceleration in Flash. I did see that there was yet another Flash update in the last week, but I didn't turn hardware acceleration back on yet to see if it's working now.

    I suspect the video drivers to be the problem, but I can't confirm.
     
    Roykirk, Mar 31, 2011
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  9. ECKS

    ECKS Notebook Prophet

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    Mine works fine. Installed it to the Program Files x86 folder. All flash videos work fine.
     
    ECKS, Apr 1, 2011
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  10. Stoff96367

    Stoff96367 Notebook Guru

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    Works fine on mine too also have IE9.0 and Chrome 10
     
    Stoff96367, Apr 1, 2011
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  11. bpmcgee

    bpmcgee Notebook Enthusiast

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    I understand completely.
     
    bpmcgee, Apr 1, 2011
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