FIX: Firefox Stops Loading Websites After Inactivity or Idle Time

If the Firefox web browser suddenly stops loading websites when you leave the web browser inactive or idle for some time, this article will help you in fixing the issue and make Firefox opening websites again.

I recently faced this weird issue in one of my Windows 11 devices. I was using the latest fully updated version of Mozilla Firefox web browser and the problem occurred when I left the web browser opened for a couple of minutes.

For example, I was working on some other programs such as reading emails, etc or taking a coffee break and when I activated Firefox window again and tried to open any website, Firefox kept loading the website and then displayed default connection error page.

The same issue occurred when I turned off my computer using hibernate or sleep function. After resuming, Firefox never worked and failed to open any website. The only workaround to solve the issue was to restart the browser. When I closed and reopened Firefox, it started working again.

There was no Internet connectivity issue as all other web browsers such as Google Chrome, Opera and Microsoft Edge were working fine and opening the same websites successfully. It was just Firefox browser which was unable to load any website after some inactivity or idle time or resuming from standby or hibernation.

After some troubleshooting, I was able to find the culprit behind this annoying issue. It seems a bug in Firefox which was causing this website loading issue. I discovered that if the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) feature is enabled or set to increased/max protection, it causes the above mentioned problem when Firefox is idle for some time. After disabling the option, Firefox started working again and I never encountered the loading issue again.

PS: The problem had nothing to do with the built-in tab sleep or tab freeze feature.

Disable DNS Over HTTPS Feature To Fix Website Loading Problem in Firefox

If you are also using Firefox web browser and it fails or stops loading webpages when you leave the web browser inactive or idle or when you resume your device, following steps will help you in resolving the issue:

STEP 1: Open Firefox Settings page by clicking on the main Firefox Menu (3-lines Hamburger menu icon) present at the right-side end of the toolbar and selecting Settings option. Alternatively, you can direct option Settings page using about:preferences command in address bar.

STEP 2: In left-side pane, click on “Privacy and Security” tab and in right-side pane, scroll down to bottom and you’ll see “DNS over HTTPS” section.

STEP 3: Now set the “Enable DNS over HTTPS using” option to OFF.

That’s it. As soon as you disable the DoH feature, Firefox should start working again. You can try to restart the web browser to take effects.

Modify DNS Over HTTPS Feature Using About:Config Page in Firefox

Advanced users can also use about:config page to modify DNS over HTTPS feature as mentioned below:

STEP 1: Open Mozilla Firefox and type about:config in the address bar and press Enter. It’ll show you a warning message, click on “Accept the Risk and Continue” button. It’ll open Firefox’s hidden secret advanced configuration page i.e. about:config page.

STEP 2: Now you’ll need to modify following two preferences:

Following are the required values of the above mentioned preferences for different DoH (DNS over HTTPS) settings:

To modify a preference, double-click on it and change its value. Alternatively, you can click on the Toggle/Edit icon given next to the preference name.

PS: If you are looking for a way to disable tab suspend/tab discard/tab sleep feature in Firefox which automatically puts the inactive/unused tabs to sleep to save memory usage, following article will help you:

[Tip] Disable or Enable Tab Sleep or Tab Snooze Feature in Web Browsers

Also Check:

[Fix] Firefox Taking Long Time in Opening Websites on Startup

Fix Mozilla Firefox Slow Loading and Crashing Problems by Clearing Startup Cache