Page 1 of 1

Firefox breaks after upgrade to Win2k

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:38 am
by Bill H
I upgraded my computer from Win98se to Win2000 and Firefox quit working. So I went to the Firefox support forum and posted the problem and the solutions absolutely stunned me. Apparently you have to be an expert beyond my capability to use FF beyond the basic first installation. The things they are telling me to do defy imagination. Edit paths (and they don't tell me what paths in files that are about a zillion lines, edit or delete files that have pathnames that are too long to fit on my screen...

"Follow step 5" which has me rebooting the computer, like, five times.

I would like to use this browser, but the directions they give for fixing it when it breaks are simply beyond my comprehension. Uninstalling it, incredibly enough, does not work. Apparently it puts files all over your computer and does not remove them, so when it gets reinstalled they are still there screwing things up.

I'm hoping someone here has a better way to restore Firefox.

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:47 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
I run Firefox on Win2000, WinXP, and Linux.

Never had any issues with newer version post 1.0.0. The earlier ones did have a nasty habit of creating version specific application data folders, but not since (though all versions are still registered as being installed in the Control Panel Install/Remove Program list!).

I think the upgrade is your problem - uninstall all Firefox versions (that multiple listing thing again), and re-install from scratch. Look for any references to Phoenix (if using versions from that far back at any stage). Delete any such folders in your "Application Data" folders (usually a base folder, and specific ones for all users).

Clean the registry if you know how (otherwise don't dream of touching it) of any Firefox/Phoenix entries.

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:05 pm
by Bill H
Yeah. I did that. Problem is (as best I can tell) there's a "profile" somewhere that is screwing things up. Firefox can't uninstall it, but when installed it can find it well enough to screw things up, but not well enough to use it. I found a couple of things that looked loke profiles and removed them, but apparently I haven't found the right one.

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:02 am
by n00b Saibot
I presume it will be found in X:\WINDOWS\Application Data\ folder. I did an clean install of FF 1.5 β1 on Win2K and its running beautifully 8)

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:31 am
by s.dot
Start Menu > Search

8) Perhaps you'll find something you overlooked.

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 3:43 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
You need to look manually through all Application Data folders, esp the individual user's folder in "Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles".

Delete its contents - in fact delete the entire Mozilla folder before a reinstall. Actual profile usually has a .default appended unless you've specifically created a replacement through the Profiles manager.

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 8:50 am
by Bill H
I finally got something more constructive which led me to the correct path and had me delete two subdirectories. It lost themes and extensions, but restored bookmarks and email in Thunderbird. They say 1.5 is better. I should hope so.