Firefox does not open at all! Troubleshooting solutions do not work.
My operating system is Windows XP. Firefox installed a new update two days ago. It caused Firefox to crash repeatedly and was a pain in the bum, but seemed to sort itself out after three restarts and a lot of frustration.
Turned my computer on again today (two days later) and when I double click Firefox, the egg timer shows for about two seconds, but the program doesn't open. Neither will it open if I right click and select Run, or if I open it from the Start menu.
I've restarted my computer, that has made no difference.
I started to copy my profile information and make a new profile, as the troubleshooting guide suggested. However, when I get to the point where you run the Firefox Executable file, I get an error message apologising for Firefox crashing, and offering to report the problem to Mozilla. This has happened three times.
I can't reset Firefox, because it doesn't open.
Apparently uninstalling and reinstalling won't help, and I don't want to lose my bookmarks. Any suggestions?
Thansks!
Chosen solution
Try a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before reinstalling a fresh copy of Firefox.
Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.
- Firefox 19.0.x: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html
Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible, to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.
- Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because all profile folders will be removed and you will also lose your personal data like bookmarks and passwords from profiles of other Firefox versions.
Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.
- It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox
Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure that "remove personal data" is NOT selected when you uninstall Firefox.
If you keep having problems then also create a new profile.
See "Creating a profile":
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues
If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.
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All Replies (5)
See:
If you have submitted crash reports then please post the IDs of one or more crash reports that have this format:
- bp-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
You can find the IDs of the submitted crash reports on the about:crashes page.
- You can open the about:crashes page via the location bar, like you open a website.
If you can't open Firefox then see:
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Mozilla_Crash_Reporter#Location_of_crash_reports
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Mozilla_Crash_Reporter#Viewing_crash_reports
Try to boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test to see if that helps.
Hiya
Thanks for the links. The mozillaZine article deals with Firefox crashing, which isn't my problem. It is not opening at all. The second link is to the troubleshooting guides which I have already followed. It is when I follow the troubleshooting guide that I get the crash error message!
I have two submitted crash reports (interesting, as I only submitted one) and the IDs are as follows:
bp-82589e84-4c4e-458f-a2a1-88e8b2130311
bp-a7a81996-f58f-4e7e-823c-cb2762130311
Thanks!
Modified by cor-el
Chosen Solution
Try a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder before reinstalling a fresh copy of Firefox.
Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.
- Firefox 19.0.x: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html
Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible, to cleanup the Windows registry and settings in security software.
- Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because all profile folders will be removed and you will also lose your personal data like bookmarks and passwords from profiles of other Firefox versions.
Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.
- It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox
Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by an uninstall and (re)install, but make sure that "remove personal data" is NOT selected when you uninstall Firefox.
If you keep having problems then also create a new profile.
See "Creating a profile":
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues
If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.
Ahhhhh! Clean reinstall has worked, bookmarks are intact. Thanks! (Just an fyi - creating a new profile was what was crashing, so that wouldn't have worked.) Thanks for your help!
You're welcome