Ubuntu
firefox-3.0 package

firefox 3 is always launched in a maximized window but without the title bar and border visible

Asked by leo

I use Ubuntu 8.1 and I have a simple issue with firefox 3: it always start maximized but without its title bar and window border visible. Nor can I see the gnome bar. It is possible to use all firefox features and close it using the quit command in the file menu. I can access to gnome bar by opening another application prior to Firefox 3 and typing ALT+TAB but I cannot close or unmaximize firefox 3 using the menu from its button (close/unmaximize/ and so on). I have already remove and reinstall firefox package and got rid of all add-ons I could.

Any hints to fix it?

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Ubuntu firefox-3.0 Edit question
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Anton Roeder
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Best Anton Roeder (filtered4spam) said : 		#1

I have the same problem sometimes. What helps for me is pressing F11 (toggle fullscreen-mode) two times -- one time for turning on full screen view of firefox and one time for turning it off again. After turning it off, the window size comes back to normal and I can see the full window including borders and title bars.

This is merely a workaround, of course. I figured this problem was due to my somewhat complicated display-setup (at least for x-servers it seems) with an nvidia card in a laptop connected to an external 22-inch monitor. I think I only had the problem when screens were configured as dual-view and only when NOT using the external monitor but using the same xorg.conf

Maybe this is worth filing a bug, I don't know against what, tho. I hope I get around to a little more testing then I could file the but-report.

Cheers, Anton

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leo (detourmignies) said : 		#2

Thanks Anton Roeder, that solved my question.

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Jon Piper (jonpiper) said : 		#3

I have the same problem - almost. I use Kubuntu 8.04 with KDE 3.5.1 on a Toshiba laptop.

My Firefox-3 is full screen only - no title bar at the top and no KDE panel at the bottom; F11 toggles between a small full screen and a large full screen. I tried using Gnome 2.? and KDE 4.1 and it worked OK. This leads me to believe that the problem is in KDE 3.5.1 since I was using the same computer and the same partitions. Firefox-3 on my other three computers running Debian 4.0r3, OpenSUSE 11.0, Kubuntu 8.04, FreeBSD 7.0. Windoz Vista & XP works OK except for the unAwesome Awesome Navigation Bar - thats another issue.

Apparently there is a KDE file with a bogus entry -- but I can't find which one. I have purged Firefox 2 & 3 twice and reinstalled but the problem persists.

Blessings,
Jon Piper

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Sandeep (sandeep-rao) said : 		#4

Even i'm facing the same problem... The F11 does the trick but i'd prefer launching firefox in the normal mode rather than fully maximized view...

One thing i've noticed in the entries above is that one of the users is using an nvidia graphics card... I too use an nvidia card and am using proprietory drivers for it on Ubuntu 8.1. Could this bug be related to the driver or is it a configuration issue....

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Jon Piper (jonpiper) said : 		#5

To answer Sandeep question:
Don't blame it on your nvidia graphics card. I happened to me using an Intel card. This is a bug with Firefox! They need to fix it. My problem was a little different -- F11 did nothing -- I had to reboot -- it hijacked my computer. The problem went away when I reinstalled a previous copy of my ".mozella" directory and got a new version (3.0.5) of Firefox. I was also running Kubuntu 8.04 which is Ubuntu with the KDE interface -- you can install it in addition to Gnome -- try it, you will like it.

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BastardNamban (soshumasamune) said : 		#6

I'm just recently having the same problem. F11 fixes it, after hitting it twice, but this is incredibly annoying.
For the record, I have an Nvidia G-Force Go6800 as my graphics card, but as someone said, it shouldn't have anything to do with the graphics card.

I was using Firefox 3.01, and no problems- later, on the same session (a day later- that whole time computer is on &
I am logged in, big download), I open firefox and for the first time, I get this problem exactly. Drives me nuts. I updated,
and that moved me up to Firefox 3.06, but the problem persists- so we know they haven't fixed it yet.

I run 8.04 Gnome Ubuntu, and again, the F11 trick does fix it, but any new window opens with this problem- and unmaximize/maximize hotkeys which normally unstick the window and let me move it don't work at all on these messed up windows- they don't respond to commands.

Before I found the F11 trick, I had to close the window with CTRL+Q, as the gnome panel bar was gone too. Bringing up the save page as dialog however would make the gnome panel appear and selectable. Hitting cancel would make it disappear again. Does this help anyone?

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eero perunka (eeroperunka) said : 		#7

Hallo friends ! My problem is same. The window opens too large and there is no title bar on the top. It seems that f11 helps but ... I'm useing ubuntu 8.10 and gnome. Can the reason be my last experience to install one wallpaper( it isn't to see anywere). The firefox window opens simply too big.

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wolfi (box9678-auto) said : 		#8

Hi all,

what is this: the bug (Firefox starts fullscreen with no titlebar no taskbar) comes AND GOES on my Ubuntu-Laptop (never so far on my Mandiva-Laptop)

Firefox 3.0.9
Ubuntu 8.10
Gnome 2.24.1

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Just26 (justine-hellberg) said : 		#9

SO GUYS

Do we have no solution to fix this problem?

Is it really just a mix up of firefox?

Is it a graphic card?

HOW DO WE FIX THIS?

Revision history for this message
Jon Piper (jonpiper) said : 		#10

Hi everyone,

I went through this some months ago. It is EASY to fix. this is how:
1. Type in the Address Bar: about:config
2. in the browser section find: find the string "browser.fullscreen.autohide"
3. It is probably set to "true" -- double click it and it reset to false
4. Try it -- you will like it.

Blessings,

Jon Piper

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Tom L (tomltoml618) said : 		#11

Thank you! That did it!
My question is:
I've been using 8.10 with FF 3.0.17 for 9 months WITHOUT this problem.
This problem just appeared one day
(possibly right after doing an update - I'm not 100% sure)

So, what might have caused this to just show up one day after working OK for 9 months? The update?

Firefox 3.0.17
Ubuntu 8.10 (intrepid)
GNOME 2.24.1

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peter (pete-webster-btinternet) said : 		#12

Thanks Jon, your suggestion worked for me, however the problem came back again, on checking about:confg it seems that fullscreen.autohide was set to false. This also happened with Thunderbird... i'm wondering if its a graphics issue or with Compitz (which i recently installed).

I had to log out/log in to clear it... Very annoying though as it seems to affect multiple apps.

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Jon Piper (jonpiper) said : 		#13

Peter and all Kubuntu users,

I haven't had the full screen problem in years. I looked in my
"about.config" and my "browser.fullscreen.autohide" was set to TRUE. I
use Firefox 3.6.12 and Thunderbird (3.0.10) and don't have any issues.
I have compitz turned OFF (in fact I really don't know what it does -
and I don't use anything that I don't know the purpose of) because I
don't see any purpose in it and is just something to use resources even
though my laptop has plenty (Kubuntu 10.04 [32 & 64 bit], core 2 duo, 4
gig of ram, Intel graphics, etc.) -- the same laptop I was using when I
had the problem with Firefox. None of my clients have had the problem ever.

In my humble opinion, I don't think it is a graphics issue because I
would think it would show up lots of other places. I suspect
Thunderbird uses about.config as well but I really don't know.

Try turning setting "browser.fullscreen.autohide" to TRUE to see what
happens. You can always switch it back or in case you are paranoid back
up the "/home/(username)/.mozilla" directory as a fail safe. The latter
is what I do when I'm doing something that I don't know about; in fact I
keep a backup of all my dot files-it has saved my hide many times.

Have fun and good hunting. Blessings.

Jon Piper
*****************

On 11/29/2010 05:27 AM, peter wrote:
> Question #50533 on firefox-3.0 in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+question/50533
>
> peter posted a new comment:
> Thanks Jon, your suggestion worked for me, however the problem came back
> again, on checking about:confg it seems that fullscreen.autohide was set
> to false. This also happened with Thunderbird... i'm wondering if its a
> graphics issue or with Compitz (which i recently installed).
>
> I had to log out/log in to clear it... Very annoying though as it seems
> to affect multiple apps.
>
> Thanks
>
>