Windows 7 - Theme makes selected items in firefox hard to see

For some reason, any button I mouse over in firefio that changes the color, is now white.

This makes it very difficult to see something, like my bookmarks. Check the attached image for an example.

I've narrowed it down to the "Selected items" toggle under windows 7 themes, but that changes it for the whole system. If I change the highlighted color to black, for example, I can see it fine in firefox but everywhere else it looks out of place.

Any ideas? I'm working with a fresh firefox install.

What theme are you currently using?

I'd try the fresh install, it should work. It's worth a shot as the worst that could happen is that you'll have to re-change your preferences. But first, try (if you haven't already) upgrading to the latest version of Firefox. That looks like V3.x to me. try a newer version.
Download Firefox - Mozilla.org

I'm using the latest version, but I have the ff3 theme for 4+ installed

I should also note that this only happens when I'm in compatibility mode for XP SP3.. so I have the menu buttons. If I switch it to windows 2k for example, it is fine, but a bit unstable and crashes

Also, if Ii switch to areo or some other built in theme, the issue remains

Right. Download the latest version using the link above. Don't install a fresh copy just yet, just upgrade if you haven't already. Then disable all add-on's and themes that you are using on Firefox and restart your browser.

I've done that. I'm using a fresh install.. and before I even installed any adons, the issue came up.

Navigate from:
Options -> Options -> Content -> Colors...

From there, see if you can change the default text to a more legible colour.

Options from where? Firefox?

That's the one. Now try changing the text to a different colour (for example, dark blue) and see if it still turns white on mouse-over.

It does not

You mean it doesn't turn white anymore? Or the 'fix' doesn't work?