IE and Firefox Won't Open

[Paul Calcagno]

My friend's WinXp computer, SP3, 2 GB RAM, Norton AV is in a state where
neither Firefox nor IE7 will open. However, Google Chrome works fine to get
to the internet. This all started while updating Firefox from Ver 3.5.8 to
Ver 3.6. At the restart now or later prompt-I chose later. That was it!
After that I couldn't open either Firefox or IE not matter what I tried.
So far I've uninstalled Firefox using Add/Remove then did a System Restore
in Safe mode (which restored correctly) as well as in Normal mode (which
would not do the restore). After the Safe Mode Restore I was (momentarily)
able to open IE and download Firefox Ver 3.6. I seemed to install just fine
but clicking the desktop icon did nothing. I tried disabling all of Norton's
apps (AV, antispyware, etc..,) and then re-installing Firefox to no avail.
I tried going the the actual Firefox Ver 3.6 application file in My Programs
and creating a new shortcut from the App file. None of that worked. Overall
system response time seems just fine so I don't suspect Malware or Spyware
but I'm not sure. Haven't had a chance to install and run MBAM or SAS yet
but I will.
I'm out of ideas. I tried something I've done before many times and all it
did was disable IE and Firefox.

Every time I do a restart I get a message that Firefox is trying to shut
down, leading me to believe it's running in the background or was in the
process of trying to open up. It appears to be trying to shut it down but
ends up failing so I have to force it off with an `End Task'. Task Manager
shows nothing running.

I can try uninstalling Firefox 3.6 using REVO uninstaller and then try to
re-install a fresh copy of Firefox Ver 3.6. I could also install CCleaner (I
have it on a flash drive) and seeing if cleaning up Temp Internet files
works. Does anyone think Norton could be hosing something up? I hate that
*&^%((((##@@ program but I'm loath to uninstall Norton since the machine
owner bought his copy online and downloaded it so we may never be able to
get it re-installed.

Another possible factor: This machine has 2 user profiles, with Firefox
installed in both. Maybe the issues with Firefox in one profile is screwing
up the firefox application in the other profile. But I'd be the first one to
admit that I know exactly squat about User profiles and how they work.

Anyone have any ideas how to get these 2 browsers working again? If I don't
come up with any solutions I may have to call Mozilla and get some phone
support. Thanks in advance......Paul C.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/12/2010 1:41 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

My friend's WinXp computer, SP3, 2 GB RAM, Norton AV is in a state where
neither Firefox nor IE7 will open. However, Google Chrome works fine to get
to the internet. This all started while updating Firefox from Ver 3.5.8 to
Ver 3.6. At the restart now or later prompt-I chose later. That was it!
After that I couldn't open either Firefox or IE not matter what I tried.
So far I've uninstalled Firefox using Add/Remove then did a System Restore
in Safe mode (which restored correctly) as well as in Normal mode (which
would not do the restore). After the Safe Mode Restore I was (momentarily)
able to open IE and download Firefox Ver 3.6. I seemed to install just fine
but clicking the desktop icon did nothing. I tried disabling all of Norton's
apps (AV, antispyware, etc..,) and then re-installing Firefox to no avail.
I tried going the the actual Firefox Ver 3.6 application file in My Programs
and creating a new shortcut from the App file. None of that worked. Overall
system response time seems just fine so I don't suspect Malware or Spyware
but I'm not sure. Haven't had a chance to install and run MBAM or SAS yet
but I will.
I'm out of ideas. I tried something I've done before many times and all it
did was disable IE and Firefox.

Every time I do a restart I get a message that Firefox is trying to shut
down, leading me to believe it's running in the background or was in the
process of trying to open up. It appears to be trying to shut it down but
ends up failing so I have to force it off with an `End Task'. Task Manager
shows nothing running.

I can try uninstalling Firefox 3.6 using REVO uninstaller and then try to
re-install a fresh copy of Firefox Ver 3.6. I could also install CCleaner (I
have it on a flash drive) and seeing if cleaning up Temp Internet files
works. Does anyone think Norton could be hosing something up? I hate that
*&^%((((##@@ program but I'm loath to uninstall Norton since the machine
owner bought his copy online and downloaded it so we may never be able to
get it re-installed.

Another possible factor: This machine has 2 user profiles, with Firefox
installed in both. Maybe the issues with Firefox in one profile is screwing
up the firefox application in the other profile. But I'd be the first one to
admit that I know exactly squat about User profiles and how they work.

Anyone have any ideas how to get these 2 browsers working again? If I don't
come up with any solutions I may have to call Mozilla and get some phone
support. Thanks in advance......Paul C.

Hi Paul,

Look in the FF profile for a file named parent.lock. If it exists,
delete it, then try opening FF again.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

Most of the time, issues with FF are profile related, not with the
program, so uninstalling and reinstalling don't do any good. You could
also try creating a new profile and see if that helps:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

Of course, neither of these has anything to do with IE...


Terry R.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Hi Terry R. The links you sent look extremely useful. I will try my best
to get through these and not screw something up. Thanks very much for this,
Terry. PaulC.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Terry,
I'll try looking in the FF Profile Folder for the `parent.lock' file. I
understand that FF creates the file, then is supposed to delete it when it
closes but sometimes it doesn't, which can cause the issue of it not opening
the next time.

I had mentioned to you that this machine has 2 User Profiles, 1 for the
husband and 1 for the wife. Do I need to delete the parent.lock file in each
user profile in order to get FF to open?
When I did the FF Update I only did it in one of the User Profiles. So FF in
the other profile is likely to be the older version but I'm not sure about
that too because of my User profile ignorance. And, of course, I can't find
out about the versions because I can't open FF in either profile. Would
this issue of 2 different FF versions in each User profile be causing a
problem too, separate from the parent.lock file issue?

Paul C.

 

[John Doue]

Terry,
I'll try looking in the FF Profile Folder for the `parent.lock' file. I
understand that FF creates the file, then is supposed to delete it when
it closes but sometimes it doesn't, which can cause the issue of it not
opening the next time.

I had mentioned to you that this machine has 2 User Profiles, 1 for the
husband and 1 for the wife. Do I need to delete the parent.lock file in
each user profile in order to get FF to open?
When I did the FF Update I only did it in one of the User Profiles. So
FF in the other profile is likely to be the older version but I'm not
sure about that too because of my User profile ignorance. And, of
course, I can't find out about the versions because I can't open FF in
either profile. Would this issue of 2 different FF versions in each User
profile be causing a problem too, separate from the parent.lock file issue?

Paul C.

On 3/12/2010 1:41 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard


Hi Paul,

Look in the FF profile for a file named parent.lock. If it exists,
delete it, then try opening FF again.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

Most of the time, issues with FF are profile related, not with the
program, so uninstalling and reinstalling don't do any good. You could
also try creating a new profile and see if that helps:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

Of course, neither of these has anything to do with IE...


Terry R.

Paul,

Hold on! Do not try too many things at the same time.

Here is what I would do: first, get your machine back to a situation
where IE works normally, even if you have to kill a FF process at
boot-up. This way, you will know for sure that the Internet connection
works normally.

Once you are on this firm ground, and if indeed FF causes a problem at
boot-up, open ms config and carefully check the startup tab. There
should not be any line related to FF. If there is, remove it. Reboot and
see if everything works out ok.

If this is the case, make the change in msconfig permanent. Sorry, I do
not personally use msconfig so I cannot be more precise here.

Once you are in a situation where your machine boots normally, now you
can deal with the FF issue.

The parent.lock file Terry mentionned comes to play when you want to
launch FF and get a message saying that FF is already running (even if
no FF process is running in task manager).

The message is deceptive. As Terry mentionned, the problem is related to
profile and most often, this actually means that FF is not finding the
profile it expects. Then you need to open profile manager as suggested
by Terry and created a new profile. Once you are back on your feet, you
can try to correct the problem profile or just delete it and use a new one.

One last word: this is not the forum where you will get the most
efficient help: go to news.mozilla.org and select mozilla.support.firefox

 

[Paul Calcagno]

John, I already know that IE does not open up, but Google Chrome works fine
and I can get on the internet if I need to. I have no idea why IE won't
work. I'll try deleting Temp Internet files and see if that makes it open.

In the one User profile where I attempted to update FF, FF is not an issue
at boot up. Boot up looks and acts normally.

Regarding the parent.lock file I don't get any messages when I try to open
FF. All I get is FF won't open up at all. Nothing happens. Just like IE.
Then when I tried a restart, a window pops up saying Windows is trying to
close FF. That fails and I have to force it off by saying `End Now'.

Do you know if IE can have a similar problem like the parent.lock thing when
it won't open?

I'll try re-posting this issue on the forum you suggested. I didn't know it
existed.

Thanks, John. Paul C.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/13/2010 2:48 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

Terry,
I'll try looking in the FF Profile Folder for the `parent.lock' file. I
understand that FF creates the file, then is supposed to delete it when it
closes but sometimes it doesn't, which can cause the issue of it not opening
the next time.

I had mentioned to you that this machine has 2 User Profiles, 1 for the
husband and 1 for the wife. Do I need to delete the parent.lock file in each
user profile in order to get FF to open?

If it exists in each one, then yes. That file is usually removed by FF
upon exit, so an abnormal exit will cause the file to remain.

When I did the FF Update I only did it in one of the User Profiles. So FF in
the other profile is likely to be the older version but I'm not sure about
that too because of my User profile ignorance. And, of course, I can't find
out about the versions because I can't open FF in either profile. Would
this issue of 2 different FF versions in each User profile be causing a
problem too, separate from the parent.lock file issue?

Paul C.

The profiles and the program are completely separate. Updating the
program has nothing to do with the profiles, and any profile will use
the updated program. Unless you performed a custom install and created
a separate profile to launch for that custom install.

The link I gave you regarding profiles should have all the links needed
to learn everything you know.

If you post on the mozilla newsgroup, I subscribe there also, but the
answers will be the same.

Again, none of this will have any bearing on IE. What version are you
currently using of IE?

On 3/12/2010 1:41 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

Hi Paul,

Look in the FF profile for a file named parent.lock. If it exists, delete
it, then try opening FF again.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_in_use

Most of the time, issues with FF are profile related, not with the
program, so uninstalling and reinstalling don't do any good. You could
also try creating a new profile and see if that helps:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

Of course, neither of these has anything to do with IE...


Terry R.

Terry R.

 

[John Doue]

John, I already know that IE does not open up, but Google Chrome works
fine and I can get on the internet if I need to. I have no idea why IE
won't work. I'll try deleting Temp Internet files and see if that makes
it open.

In the one User profile where I attempted to update FF, FF is not an
issue at boot up. Boot up looks and acts normally.

Regarding the parent.lock file I don't get any messages when I try to
open FF. All I get is FF won't open up at all. Nothing happens. Just
like IE. Then when I tried a restart, a window pops up saying Windows is
trying to close FF. That fails and I have to force it off by saying `End
Now'.

Do you know if IE can have a similar problem like the parent.lock thing
when it won't open?

I'll try re-posting this issue on the forum you suggested. I didn't know
it existed.

Thanks, John. Paul C.

If I were you, I would first strive to solve the IE problem. Which
version do you have? One possibility would be to let MS Update install
IE8 if you do not already have it but since I never use IE, I cannot be
more helpful on how to solve this first problem.

Once you have solved this one, I suggest you try launching FF in safe
mode (in run: firefox.exe -safe-mode). See if this manages to launch FF.
Have you also tried launching FF profile manager (run: firefox.exe
-profilemanager)?

The information you will gather will be very useful once you post your
problem on the NG I suggested. One little thing: bottom post on it. See
you there!

 

[thecreator]

Hi Paul,

The biggest mistake you made, was not to reboot / restart the computer
when it ask you to. FireFox 3.6 requires you to reboot the computer.
Otherwise, you can't use Firefox until after you rebooted the computer. The
installation of Firefox, doesn't harm the installation of Internet Explorer,
but you needed to reboot, both for FireFox and Internet Explorer to return
to normal.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Hi Terry. Thanks for your comments. Here's this situation. After trying
many things today I uninstalled FF (used both Add/Remove and Revo
Uninstaller) and then did fresh install. Still won't open up.
I never found any parent.lock files in either profile. There were also no
folders in the Firefox program files called Updates so nothing to do there.
I could not find a way to even access the Norton firewall options so that
was a bust.

IE is now running fine. Turns out the IE shortcuts on the desktop were not
working but when I found a quick launch one in Programs, it opens just fine.
So now IE and Chrome browsers are working but FF refuses to open. When I
did the FF update it was NOT a custom install so I haven't a clue what
happened.
Another helper (thecreator) says I should have done the restart when FF
requested it and that just simply doing a restart now should return FF and
IE (shortcuts) back to their original working condition, but this is simply
not the case. Going thru all of this I've done almost a dozen restarts
(which all work fine) but FF won't open. These folks I'm doing this for
could care less about whether FF opens so I'm inclined to throw in the towel
at this point and vow to never ignore what the FF updater says.

Paul C.

On 3/13/2010 2:48 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

Terry,
I'll try looking in the FF Profile Folder for the `parent.lock' file. I
understand that FF creates the file, then is supposed to delete it when
it
closes but sometimes it doesn't, which can cause the issue of it not
opening
the next time.

I had mentioned to you that this machine has 2 User Profiles, 1 for the
husband and 1 for the wife. Do I need to delete the parent.lock file in
each
user profile in order to get FF to open?

If it exists in each one, then yes. That file is usually removed by FF
upon exit, so an abnormal exit will cause the file to remain.

When I did the FF Update I only did it in one of the User Profiles. So FF
in
the other profile is likely to be the older version but I'm not sure
about
that too because of my User profile ignorance. And, of course, I can't
find
out about the versions because I can't open FF in either profile. Would
this issue of 2 different FF versions in each User profile be causing a
problem too, separate from the parent.lock file issue?

Paul C.

The profiles and the program are completely separate. Updating the
program has nothing to do with the profiles, and any profile will use the
updated program. Unless you performed a custom install and created a
separate profile to launch for that custom install.

The link I gave you regarding profiles should have all the links needed to
learn everything you know.

If you post on the mozilla newsgroup, I subscribe there also, but the
answers will be the same.

Again, none of this will have any bearing on IE. What version are you
currently using of IE?

 

[Elmo]

Hi Terry. Thanks for your comments. Here's this situation. After
trying many things today I uninstalled FF (used both Add/Remove and Revo
Uninstaller) and then did fresh install. Still won't open up.
I never found any parent.lock files in either profile. There were also
no folders in the Firefox program files called Updates so nothing to do
there. I could not find a way to even access the Norton firewall options
so that was a bust.

IE is now running fine. Turns out the IE shortcuts on the desktop were
not working but when I found a quick launch one in Programs, it opens
just fine. So now IE and Chrome browsers are working but FF refuses to
open. When I did the FF update it was NOT a custom install so I haven't
a clue what happened.
Another helper (thecreator) says I should have done the restart when FF
requested it and that just simply doing a restart now should return FF
and IE (shortcuts) back to their original working condition, but this is
simply not the case. Going thru all of this I've done almost a dozen
restarts (which all work fine) but FF won't open. These folks I'm doing
this for could care less about whether FF opens so I'm inclined to throw
in the towel at this point and vow to never ignore what the FF updater
says.

Paul C.

Since IE shortcuts don't work, maybe no shortcut is working.. that could
explain why Firefox doesn't open, but the special IE shortcut does. Try
the .lnk association fix here:

Fix File Associations.
http://dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Thanks, Elmo for your remarks. Actually only the browser icons (IE and FF)
wouldn't work. Google Chrome worked also. All others were always fine. Paul
C

 

[Paul Calcagno]

I wish you were correct but it doesn't look that way. I've done multiple
reboots while trying out all that's been suggested and never once would FF
open up. Not even after a thorough uninstall followed by a clean install.

I'm still kinda thinking that either Norton or Spydoctor might be involved,
although when I disabled Spydoctor using Task Manager to end the process, FF
still wouldn't open. The only other thing I can think of is to delete of the
2 profiles that exist since both of the folks running this computer mostly
use only one. I've gotten conflicting advice regarding the involvement of
profiles. One person said most failure-to-start problems with FF are profile
related while someone else says that updating FF like I tried is not
affected by the multiple existing profiles. Not sure who to believe.
As a follow up to someone else's query, the machine in question is running
IE6 but I can't imagine that would be related to FF not opening.

PaulC.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/14/2010 11:06 AM On a whim, thecreator pounded out on the keyboard

Hi Paul,

The biggest mistake you made, was not to reboot / restart the computer
when it ask you to. FireFox 3.6 requires you to reboot the computer.
Otherwise, you can't use Firefox until after you rebooted the computer. The
installation of Firefox, doesn't harm the installation of Internet Explorer,
but you needed to reboot, both for FireFox and Internet Explorer to return
to normal.

I have used FF since it was beta and I have NEVER had it prompt to
reboot. I have also installed it on hundreds of other machines. I have
no idea what you are talking about.


Terry R.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/14/2010 3:35 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

Hi Terry. Thanks for your comments. Here's this situation. After trying
many things today I uninstalled FF (used both Add/Remove and Revo
Uninstaller) and then did fresh install. Still won't open up.
I never found any parent.lock files in either profile. There were also no
folders in the Firefox program files called Updates so nothing to do there.
I could not find a way to even access the Norton firewall options so that
was a bust.

IE is now running fine. Turns out the IE shortcuts on the desktop were not
working but when I found a quick launch one in Programs, it opens just fine.
So now IE and Chrome browsers are working but FF refuses to open. When I
did the FF update it was NOT a custom install so I haven't a clue what
happened.
Another helper (thecreator) says I should have done the restart when FF
requested it and that just simply doing a restart now should return FF and
IE (shortcuts) back to their original working condition, but this is simply
not the case. Going thru all of this I've done almost a dozen restarts
(which all work fine) but FF won't open. These folks I'm doing this for
could care less about whether FF opens so I'm inclined to throw in the towel
at this point and vow to never ignore what the FF updater says.

Paul C.

Hi Paul,

I wouldn't think uninstalling and installing the program would make any
difference. The majority of the time the issue is profile related.

I would right click on the shortcut for firefox, and add a space and a
-p after the Target line, so it would look like this:

"E:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p

(where E is the drive FF is installed on)

Then create a brand new profile and launch it. See if it will at least
come up.

The poster suggesting a reboot was required was wrong. Windows does not
need to be restarted. FF ALWAYS needs to be restarted when using the
update method, but not Windows. I usually download the full version and
install it that way because updates screw up from time to time.


Terry R.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Terry, I think what thecreator was talking about was when my FF update
completed, a small window came up asking me to restart now or later, and I
chose later. Thecreator is saying this caused my issue of FF not wanting to
start. This doesn't sound correct to me only because I've done many FF
updates and it never mattered when I rebooted whether it was on XP or Vista.

Do you think running Chkdsk would help free things up so that FF would open
up?............Paul C.

 

[John Doue]

Terry, I think what thecreator was talking about was when my FF update
completed, a small window came up asking me to restart now or later, and
I chose later. Thecreator is saying this caused my issue of FF not
wanting to start. This doesn't sound correct to me only because I've
done many FF updates and it never mattered when I rebooted whether it
was on XP or Vista.

Do you think running Chkdsk would help free things up so that FF would
open up?............Paul C.

On 3/14/2010 11:06 AM On a whim, thecreator pounded out on the keyboard


I have used FF since it was beta and I have NEVER had it prompt to
reboot. I have also installed it on hundreds of other machines. I have
no idea what you are talking about.


Terry R.

Running Chkdsk is something that should be done routinely, especially on
the boot drive (c: usually). Make sure to accept the prompt to run it at
reboot.

I very much doubt it will solve your problem, but at least, one of the
possible problems will have been eliminated.

Regarding the prompt to reboot from FF, the only time such a suggestion
will be made by the program is when a profile is not found/defective,
and FF states (mistakenly most of the time) that FF is already running.
Rebooting does not help in that case.

Running a AV program also is a necessity before doing any
troubleshooting on this issue.

I already mentioned this, but I really believe in a step by step
troubleshooting approach. Which means that, most often, I would not use
System Restore. I would only use it when I purposely created a restore
point (meaning I know what the system will look if I restore it to that
point). Otherwise, it is a huge gamble which may give unpredictable
results and make it even more difficult to troubleshoot.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

John,
I'll try one last time to make the series of events clear. I had FF open on
this WinXP system and an `Update FF' window popped up. I said yes to the
update and when the update finished I was prompted to either restart now or
later. This last prompt ALWAYS happens to me on any OS whenever I've updated
FF.
I chose to update later and then the problems with FF not opening began. You
make it sound like being prompted to reboot now or later is not common after
an update and my take is it always happens. I have FF 3.6 on this Vista HP
machine I'm using to write this post and when the last FF update was offered
it also asked me if I wanted to reboot now or later. Paul C.

 

[John Doue]

John,
I'll try one last time to make the series of events clear. I had FF open
on this WinXP system and an `Update FF' window popped up. I said yes to
the update and when the update finished I was prompted to either restart
now or later. This last prompt ALWAYS happens to me on any OS whenever
I've updated FF.
I chose to update later and then the problems with FF not opening began.
You make it sound like being prompted to reboot now or later is not
common after an update and my take is it always happens. I have FF 3.6
on this Vista HP machine I'm using to write this post and when the last
FF update was offered it also asked me if I wanted to reboot now or
later. Paul C.

Paul, I am sorry but this is not my experience.I have no idea why this
happens to you. Is there anything in your set-up (add-ons especially)
that might cause this?

Anyway, I do not claim to be an expert in FF and, again, I suggest you
subscribe to the NG I indicated. I am convinced someone will be able to
make sense of your problems and help you solve them, better than I could.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

John, thanks again for all your comments and expertise. The last thing I'm
going to try is to see if I can't open FF in Safe Mode. I forgot to do that
the last time I was in front of that XP machine. Also, I'd like to see about
creating a new profile for FF but frankly, the directions for how to migrate
over the elements of the current profile to the new one are scary and I'm
really afraid of making a manageable situation even uglier. Paul C.