IE and Firefox Won't Open

[Terry R.]

On 3/14/2010 6:26 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

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.

Paul,

That "small window" is asking if you want to restart FIREFOX, not
windows. That is always the case. NOT being prompted to reboot Windows.



Terry R.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/15/2010 7:08 AM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

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.

Hi Paul,

Again, it was asking to restart FIREFOX, not Windows.

I would download the complete install here:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html

Uninstall FF using Add/Remove Programs. The profile is not removed.

Then trying installing the full install. It could be that the update
failed. If the same thing occurs, there is most likely profile
corruption and you will need to create a new profile using the link I
sent you the first time. Don't be afraid, the old profile remains with
the data. You can copy the bookmarks/history over (places.sqlite) and
other needed files so they won't lose anything. Because if the profile
is corrupt, FF is useless to them without creating a new one.

Then again, they could just use Chrome and move on. I know a lot of
people that have. It's not as pretty, but it's fast and add-ons are
quickly growing.


Terry R.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Sorry if I wasn't clear all along......after the FF Update completed I was
asked to restart FIREFOX now or later. I chose later. Sorry if I made it
sound like I was being asked to start Windows. I apologize for the
confusion. I think I now know that using the word `reboot' was a mistake.
Paul C.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Terry, thanks for your comments about re-installing FF. What I did do
yesterday was download FF 3.5.8 (that's the version the machine had before
the attempted update to 3.6).

Please keep in mind this machine has SpyHunter (not Spyware Doctor) and
Norton on it and if either of those are capable of blocking the FF download,
it may always end up as a corrupted download and thus a corrupted install.
Since I couldn't find any tools inside of Norton/ SpyHunter for its
firewall, I've got to assume the worst. So.............if I follow your
advice and download a fresh install pkg (after uninstalling with Add/Remove)
I don't have a good way of knowing whether the install is corrupted or
blocked or whatever.

Would doing the FF download and Install in Safe Mode be a good idea? Thanks
a lot for hanging in there with me, Terry..............Paul C.

 

[Paul Calcagno]

Terry. Forgot to ask you in my last post: Regarding creating a new FF
profile, how does one "copy the bookmarks/history over (places.sqlite) and
other needed files so they won't lose anything". I ask because the links
you sent me about creating new profiles DO NOT mention how to do this. My
concern is that if something in the old profile is bad and I just copy and
paste into the new profile, won't whatever I copy be bad also..Paul C.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/15/2010 1:33 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

Terry, thanks for your comments about re-installing FF. What I did do
yesterday was download FF 3.5.8 (that's the version the machine had before
the attempted update to 3.6).

Please keep in mind this machine has SpyHunter (not Spyware Doctor) and
Norton on it and if either of those are capable of blocking the FF download,
it may always end up as a corrupted download and thus a corrupted install.
Since I couldn't find any tools inside of Norton/ SpyHunter for its
firewall, I've got to assume the worst. So.............if I follow your
advice and download a fresh install pkg (after uninstalling with Add/Remove)
I don't have a good way of knowing whether the install is corrupted or
blocked or whatever.

Would doing the FF download and Install in Safe Mode be a good idea? Thanks
a lot for hanging in there with me, Terry..............Paul C.

If you can't find a way to disable Norton, then yes, boot into Safe Mode
w/Networking and download it there. Did you Google search the Norton
version and add "how to disable firewall"?

I don't know if I'd use the old FF version, I'd try 3.6 first.


Terry R.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/15/2010 1:36 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

Terry. Forgot to ask you in my last post: Regarding creating a new FF
profile, how does one "copy the bookmarks/history over (places.sqlite) and
other needed files so they won't lose anything". I ask because the links
you sent me about creating new profiles DO NOT mention how to do this. My
concern is that if something in the old profile is bad and I just copy and
paste into the new profile, won't whatever I copy be bad also..Paul C.

In the 2nd paragraph of the 2nd link, clicking, "transfer some/all of
your original settings over to it" takes you to the files to copy over.




Terry R.

 

[Terry R.]

On 3/15/2010 1:23 PM On a whim, Paul Calcagno pounded out on the keyboard

Sorry if I wasn't clear all along......after the FF Update completed I was
asked to restart FIREFOX now or later. I chose later. Sorry if I made it
sound like I was being asked to start Windows. I apologize for the
confusion. I think I now know that using the word `reboot' was a mistake.
Paul C.

That's okay, I knew what you were talking about. "thecreator" told you
that Windows needed to restart, and that is wrong.


Terry R.

 

[thecreator]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the defense.

Since you had the problem, you had uninstall FireFox, but have you
uninstalled all Toolbars that have Popup Blockers?

And something else, you might wish to try: Create a new User ID that is
the Computer Administrator of the computer. Without Firefox installed or
don't add FireFox, until after you have created a new User ID. Before
reinstalling FireFox, see if Internet Explorer opens up in that new User ID.

If Internet Explorer opens up in the new User ID, then that old User ID
became corrupted.