[SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

seth · 2026-07-29 06:03:13

Well, it's a different decoder - there's actually no guarantee it would have worked.

… test the behavior on X11, then you'll have to ask mozilla "wtf"
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2054380 - but that even points out that VAAPI works using https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … ia-driver/ - probably ubuntu does the same as https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/firefox-vaapi

CETMEAmeli · 2026-07-29 16:22:25

Tried X11, unfortunately no dice, same stuff, "TEST FAILED" error message would appear. I also tried using a different combination of about:config settings, but that wouldn't change anything, other than maybe resurrect the "NO NVIDIA LINUX" error. Definitely a big wtf moment, I'll be writing a report soon at some point. I also tried by sticking running it through "QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb" but that also didn't help, not that I really thought it would do anything.

I've been meaning to try put the firefox-vaapi package at some point, see if that doesn't have the issue, but ultimately, wouldn't resolve the issue anyway on Zen or Librewolf, oh well.

seth · 2026-07-29 19:51:04

Firefox is not a Qt application, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#Xwayland

CETMEAmeli · 2026-07-30 21:55:32

Update: I believe I have managed to fix it!

I was prodding around on my computer, still trying different Hail Marys, trying to see if the issue was with another process, as I still doubt the issue was with Firefox itself, when I got around to seeing if my bwrap installation was okay. It looked all smooth and happy until I checked it's permissions, which were reported as:

ls -l /usr/bin/bwrap
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 84464 Apr 25 11:41 /usr/bin/bwrap

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the permissions should be "-rwxr-xr-x" on most systems, I understand the s would be for suid, but with the files location, I presume it would just run as root, so I ran :

sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/bwrap
ls -l /usr/bin/bwrap
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 84464 Apr 25 11:41 /usr/bin/bwrap

I then restarted my PC, and and bam, Firefox (and Zen and Librewolf) can now all access Hardware acceleration and are running buttery smooth.

I of course was told to change this, but fixing bubblewrap also fixed the missing icons I had in the top right corner, so they were indeed related (which is what I thought originally but oh well), so I will not need to make a separate post about that. Explains why it could not find icons, but also could not talk to the GPU/Vulkan properly with failed tests.

I will edit the top post to reflect this new found finding, and mark this thread as solved. Thank you seth for sticking with this for the past couple days trying to solve it, very appreciated!

Last edited by CETMEAmeli (Yesterday 10:36:23)

seth · Yesterday 06:28:00

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Bubble … stallation
Are you using https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … wrap-suid/ ?

CETMEAmeli · Yesterday 09:56:27

I've been using the standard Bubblewrap package for years as I am not using the Linux-hardened kernel (therefor have not used the -suid version), and have never had issues with it until now. Current version installed is "0.11.2-1".

Last edited by CETMEAmeli (Yesterday 10:36:13)

seth · Yesterday 11:40:22

Bearing the question why the SUID was set - keep an eye on in whether something restores it.

CETMEAmeli · Yesterday 12:48:52

Will do, if I come across any other issues, or the setting is restored, it will be another fun day(s) of tracing it and troubleshooting lol. Why SUID was set, unsure as I know I have never touched it personally, and surely no update would have enabled it (at least I can't fathom one would), nor do I believe Arch has it as a fallback, as opposed to Debian and REHL plus it's derivatives which do. Oh well, Lord knows, I know I'll sound like a broken record, but thank you for your help again.

Arch Linux

#26 2026-07-29 06:03:13

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

#27 2026-07-29 16:22:25

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

#28 2026-07-29 19:51:04

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

#29 2026-07-30 21:55:32

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

#30 Yesterday 06:28:00

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

#31 Yesterday 09:56:27

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

#32 Yesterday 11:40:22

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

#33 Yesterday 12:48:52

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox refusal/broken use of hardware acceleration.

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