• Make sure that you do not use Delete browsing, search and download history on Firefox to clear the Browsing History.
• Make sure that the History is set to at least 1 day: Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > History: "Remember visited pages for at least"
• Make sure that you do not run Firefox in Private Browsing mode (Tools > Stop Private Browsing is grayed, see Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history)
• To see History and Cookie settings in Firefox > Preferences > Privacy, choose the setting "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history"

You can look at these prefs on the about:config page to make sure that you keep history.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/browser.history_expire_days (180) (also affects saved form data)
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/browser.history_expire_days_min (90)

Thank you for your prompt reply. Unfortunately none of the recommendations fixed the issue. I should add that this has not always been a problem. History used to work. Not sure this is a clue but when I view the history folder, I get no results. Here's a screen shot.

i can't change "FireFox will to "remember history". it seems like it defaults back to "use custom settings for history" every time.

Only if all settings are the default then you will see "Firefox will: (Never) Remember History".
The "Use custom settings for history" choice reverts to "(Never) Remember history" if all History and Cookies settings are the default.
If you see "Use custom settings for history" then at least one of the History / Cookie settings is not the default.

i know its late, but for people who are searching for an answer, there are only 2 reasons ur history isnt being saved- check ur settings, they are f'ed up, or u changed the time and date of ur pc, change it back to regular time and it should be fixed