My URL Bar is blacked out on Windows XP

Question

I don't know what the computer decided to do, but sometime after I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning Firefox seems to have changed.
The URL bar where you type in the web address now blacks out the URL so that I cannot see what is typed up there. I found other links to the same issue
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1001447?esab=a&as=aaq
However, my problem is that I am on Windows XP whereas all the fixes I can find are for other OS. It suggests going into the about:config and altering gfx.xrender.enabled but when I search I do not have an xrender option available. I assume this is because I am on Windows.
So can anybody help me figure out what needs to be changed on the settings for an XP user to solve this issue?

Answer 1

In Firefox version 33, Firefox has implemented a new, faster way of loading webpages. This new feature is called OMTC.
There was an issue with black screens/boxes but it has been addressed in Firefox 33.0.1. The latest version is now 33.0.2. Please update to the latest version of Firefox if you are not currently on it:
* https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/new/
* or for all versions and languages: https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/
Alternatively, if you are in Firefox and can see your menus:
* Help (or [[Image: New Fx Menu]] > [[Image: Help-29]]) > About Firefox
If you are finding that there are still problems, try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.
You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).
Then perform these steps:
# Click the menu button [[Image:New Fx Menu]] and select ''Options''
#In the Firefox Options window, click the ''Advanced'' tab, then select ''General''.
#In the settings list, you should find the ''Use hardware acceleration when available'' checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
#Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.
Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:
* [[Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems]]
* [[Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL]]
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you.