You may not need to re-install Firefox. Firefox does normally try to retain bookmarks, but it is good practice also to keep bookmarks backed up somehow and in a safe place (not within Firefox's profile or program paths.)

See

• firefox crashes note
  • it is possible to submit crash reports even if firefox crashes, use an alternative browser to do that if necessary
  • and it is possible to obtain crash IDs from the OS
• backing up and restoring bookmarks
• what is firefox sync (should not itself be relied on as a proper and reliable backup, but it allows you to synchronise bookmarks between devices

Currently outdated versions Roboform and problems with Trusteer Rapport are common causes of crashes, but we need the crash ID s to check the reason for crashes.

thank you for taking the time to answer. i am not very savvy and not sure how/where to back up the book marks. will read the info you referenced.

i went to run and typed in info to get crash reports and was told that they were not there! maybe moved. who knows.

Bookmarks
Sorry, I did not give you a very good answer, the method I linked to about backing up bookmarks assumes you can use Firerfox, as yours is crashing you will need to find and then backup by copying your bookmarks file (places.sqlite) or better still the entire profile folder and subfolders/files.

How to do this is explained in

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
  • note in XP you will need to be able to see hidden files and folders
  • the location is typically C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile folder>
    The Application Data folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open Windows Explorer and choose "Tools → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders".
• also see profiles

As an initial step see if you can use the above instructions to locate your profile folder and its contents.

Crash IDs
Read the above information first, see if you can manage to find hidden and system files ok and navigate around Windows XP's files and folders.

• Please re-read part of the article I linked to previously
  that says Windows 2000/XP or press Windows Key + R on Windows Vista/7. Type in "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Crash Reports\submitted" including the quotation marks and click OK.
  1. did you manage to do that ok ? does it open a folder ?
  2. what did you see  ? any files with long names ?
  3. the instructions say
     In the resulting folder will be a text file for each crash report you have submitted. Using the View menu, arrange them by date to find out which is the newest file; and double-click on it to open it.
     all those files effectivly contain if they submitted correctly is a repeat of the filename and that is the crash ID, they will start with bp-

• alternative methods
  • go to the folder mentioned above, either navigate to it directly, or use the method above
  • note also if you found the profile by the methods mentioned in the top of this post that will also find the crashes folder, it in fact should have a pending and submitted folder.

Note if you think the crash information has been moved or deleted, just try to open firefox again, that should generate new reports for you.

Possible Causes of crashes

• I mentioned Trusteer Raport and Roboform, do you use either of those ?
• bad restore/reinstall there is a possibility that you may need to do a clean install, if so that is covered in
  • http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_%28Firefox%29#Clean_reinstall

i do not use trusteer or roboform. i suspect a bad restore. i feel a bit overwhelmed and am awaiting help to arrive for thanksgiving in the person of my son. it is my hope he will read and understand your comments. thanks

hi john used the information you provided and reinstalled saving book marks. thank you all is well. r

Glad it is fixed. Thanks for posting back.