Hi nan,

Can you be more specific than "I tried everything"? What did you try? Feel free to point to previous help messages or sets of instructions. Without knowing what you have tried, it's hard to suggest what else to try.

Have you tried completely uninstalling, rebooting and reinstalling Firefox?

It looks like Firefox is unable to write your settings to the disk. Reinstalling might make certain that your profile was put in a location where this was possible. Or is your hard disk full?

Gerv

Just checked and this has been an intermittent problem since March 2010 (see first request for help https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forum/1/632409#threadId632457 - that fix did not work this time.)

Over the past several months I've tried some and/or all of the following each time FF didn't respond correctly:

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Backing+up+and+restoring+bookmarks#Manual_backup

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Backing+up+and+restoring+bookmarks#Restoring_from_backups

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Lost+Bookmarks

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+and+toolbar+buttons+not+working+after+upgrading

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles#How_to_find_your_profile

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles#Starting_the_Profile_Manager

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#Unable_to_add_new_bookmarks_or_make_other_changes

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#Unable_to_add_new_bookmarks_or_make_other_changes

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#Changes_are_lost_whenever_you_restart_Firefox

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#Places_preferences

Haven't tried uninstalling, rebooting and reinstalling Firefox this time because I lost everything the last time I tried that.

That sounds like a corrupted file places.sqlite in the Firefox Profile Folder.

Did you also try the instructions to reset that file? /kb/Bookmarks+and+toolbar+buttons+not+wo...

See also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_damaged_places.sqlite

I did try the instructions to reset that file? /kb/Bookmarks+and+toolbar+buttons+not+working+after+upgrading#Places_database_file and also http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_damaged_places.sqlite

Have run both of the above several times No joy :>(

Something strange is going on with my profiles though. When I start the Profile Manager at Start > Run > firefox.exe -ProfileManager I see only one profile named "nan4" but when I Open Containing Folder and go up one level there are seven profiles shown, none of which are "nan4". I ran a search for "nan4" but nothing was found.

So, I don't know which profile to back up before I try uninstalling and reinstalling FF.

You can use: Help > Troubleshooting Information > Open Containing folder - see also Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues

Copy and Paste this code in the Code field in the "Tools > Error Console" and click the Evaluate button to see the location of the profile folder. alert(Components.classes["@mozilla.org/file/directory_service;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.nsIProperties).get("ProfD", Components.interfaces.nsIFile).path); --- You can create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems See [[Basic Troubleshooting|#Make_a_new_profile|Basic Troubleshooting:Make a new profile]] There may be extensions and plugins installed by default in a new profile, so check that in "Tools > Add-ons > Extensions & Plugins"

If that new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile (be careful not to copy corrupted files) See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox

Thanks cor-el. The link you gave told me which profile, so I made a backup of the profile, backed up of the bookmarks (.json), and just to be sure created an html backup of the bookmarks - all of these backups to a separate drive.

Then, 1.) I closed and uninstalled FF 2.) deleted the application data folder with the profiles 3.) deleted the Mozilla folder in Program Files 4.) re-booted 5.) and installed FF anew with the latest download from moz.

Did the above four (4) times and the same profile kept being reinstalled along with current history and current bookmarks. I searched the disc and nowhere could I find a .json file or a bookmark backup after I deleted everything - the separate disc with the backups was not connected while searching OR re-installing.

FF appears be working now, but it has "appeared" to be working before after I created a new profile(s); renamed the 'places' files; and did every other fix I could find in Moz help pages. But, soon after these fixes, FF would stop working again.

I give! If this last install doesn't work I will dump FF as just too much trouble (since 3.6.x) and go back to Opera.

Thanks again for the help.

FF stopped working already!

Now when I click Bookmarks on the menu bar it brings up a totally blank box - even though there are bookmarks on the bookmark tool bar and in the side panel. It is however showing three identical bookmarks on the tool bar that I had in a folder - and - I can't delete or cut them!

Wish they had just left it alone except for security fixes. 3.6 has ruined FF, nothing but trouble since the upgrades. It is now totally useless now.

Which files did you place back in the new profile? You shouldn't place back places.sqlite as that is the file that was causing the problems.

You should first use a clean profile to see if that works. If it works then try to restore the bookmarks from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder. If that JSON backup doesn't work then try an older copy.

Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore > Choose File

See also Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer

Use the Google cache in case of problems accessing the MozillaZine KB http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=cache:http://kb.mozillazine.org/Backing_up_and_restoring_bookmarks_-_Firefox

> > Which files did you place back in the new profile? You shouldn't place back places.sqlite as that is the file that was causing the problems. < <

Below is what I did: 1.) I closed and uninstalled FF 2.) deleted the application data folder with the profiles 3.) deleted the Mozilla folder in Program Files 4.) re-booted 5.) and installed FF anew with the latest download from moz.

I did exactly what I outlined above, nothing more, nothing less.

I DID NOT replace ANY files, especially places, now or ever.  About 10 trys ago, before I reinstalled - I renamed places (as suggested by Moz) so FF would create a new one on it's own when the program was opened.  This time after reinstalling I didn't do anything to the profile because it appeared to work - for about an hour.  

> > You should first use a clean profile to see if that works. If it works then try to restore the bookmarks from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder. If that JSON backup doesn't work then try an older copy. < <

I could NOT use a clean profile because when I re-installed, FF created the same profile as before - even though it was not anywhere on the disk that I could find. Where FF found that profile I haven't a clue since I had deleted it and the folder it resided in - after copying the profile to a backup disk. I would love to get just a new default profile as that might solve my problems.

> > Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore > Choose File

See also Backing up and restoring bookmarks < <

I appreciate your help, but as I said before, I have already tried those,

And, there was no need to import or restore bookmarks because FF brought back the last ones I had - even though as I said before they were no where to be found on disk since I had uninstalled, deleted the profile folder and the program folder.

You can use: Help > Troubleshooting Information > Open Containing folder

See also Use the Troubleshooting Information page to help fix Firefox issues