Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Firefox update failed; all remedies except remove/reinstall fail: What can I do to correct this?

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

essenjay67
essenjay67
more options

Dear Helpful Person:

Continuing from 'question' above: I am not as worried about the one Firefox update that failed, but instead that the failed update also seems to be blocking all new, later updates.

Platform: Dell PC running WinXP - it is updated. Have had Firefox installed and working successfully (including updates) for over a year; under 'help' it says I've got Mozilla/5.0. Tried restarting Firefox. Tried restarting the PC. Tried 'Apply Downloaded Update Now.'

Nothing has changed - the update won't load - I get an 'Update Failed' box every time I try, and also every time I re-load Firefox.

When I went to Mozilla/Firefox website to just completely reload Firefox with a new download, it said that Firefox 4 was available; seems dumb to download ver. 4 when I already have ver. 5.

Any suggestions for the least-work way to resolve this?

Thank you for your time and trouble on my behalf,

SH, HB, CA

Dear Helpful Person: Continuing from 'question' above: I am not as worried about the one Firefox update that failed, but instead that the failed update also seems to be blocking all new, later updates. Platform: Dell PC running WinXP - it is updated. Have had Firefox installed and working successfully (including updates) for over a year; under 'help' it says I've got Mozilla/5.0. Tried restarting Firefox. Tried restarting the PC. Tried 'Apply Downloaded Update Now.' Nothing has changed - the update won't load - I get an 'Update Failed' box every time I try, and also every time I re-load Firefox. When I went to Mozilla/Firefox website to just completely reload Firefox with a new download, it said that Firefox 4 was available; seems dumb to download ver. 4 when I already have ver. 5. Any suggestions for the least-work way to resolve this? Thank you for your time and trouble on my behalf, SH, HB, CA

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

If you have problems with updating then best is to download the full version and uninstall the currently installed version.

Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.

  • Uninstall your current Firefox version and remove the Firefox program folder before installing that copy of the Firefox installer.
  • Do not remove personal data if you uninstall the current version.

Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by a reinstall, but make sure that you do not select to remove personal data if you uninstall Firefox.