Help! I've Mortally Wounded Firefox!

The place to discuss anything to do with computers, software, hardware, no matter how basic or technical. We all use this stuff, but we don't always understand it!
User avatar
Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Help! I've Mortally Wounded Firefox!

Post by Casscat »

It all started with a glass of wine, as disasters of many kinds often do...

Last night I was faffing around on my computer (desktop all in one with Logitech wireless Bluetooth keyboard). I reached for something and caught the wine glass sitting invitingly on my desk promptly cascading the entire contents across my keyboard. That's where my problems began. All sorts of gobbledegook on my screen, scrambled nonsense, not worth persisting with so I closed everything down and set the keyboard upside down on some kitchen paper to dry out overnight. Sadly this does not seem to have helped - my keyboard is as useless as a cardboard bread knife. Está muerto. However I now have all sorts of on screen problems particularly with Firefox. I uninstalled & reinstalled (basic, not ground zero) but still have issues. When I start up Firefox I get this message: "Safe Mode is a special mode of Firefox that can be used to troubleshoot issues. Your add-ons and custom settings will be temporarily disabled. You can also skip troubleshooting and try refreshing Firefox." I did 'skip troubleshooting' but it threatened to wipe out all my saved settings so I bailed out. Every time I start up I get this message so I've moved to Chrome, which I don't like as much as Firefox.

The other Firefox issue I have since Winegate is that opening a new tab overlays the existing tab rather than running alongside i.e. The tab is not a tab but a whole new window. I am miserable :( Who would thought that my desire for a Friday night tipple would create such havoc.

* Sent from my iPad by the way :wink:
other
Posts: 198
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 10:26 pm

Post by other »

. .
Last edited by other on Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
kevsboredagain
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
Location: France
Contact:

Post by kevsboredagain »

You could try this https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/re ... d-settings

It's also worth making a Firefox account, which now seems to be the way it syncs between devices. It certainly works better than the old sync tool. Even if you were to start fresh on a new PC or wipe your existing installation, all of your Firefox addons and settings would be recovered using this account.
RichardHenshall
Posts: 414
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Luz, Algarve

Post by RichardHenshall »

Casscat, are you by any chance using the Norton Toolbar? Since earlier this week, when Firefox updated itself, I have been unable to use it with Firefox 37.0.1 as it crashes on start up. After a few attempts it suggests using Safe Mode and after a process of elimination I can use FF with every add-on except the Norton Toolbar.

Could it be that wine is not the problem? It was only one glass, after all. :D
User avatar
Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

Richard that may be a very good call. I renewed my Norton and although I don't use the Norton toolbar it may well have auto-installed itself at renewal. I will go and search for the beastie now.

As a PS, the keyboard is still bu99ered :cry:
User avatar
Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

From bad to worse :( I opted to 'refresh' Firefox and now it won't load at all. I get a message about my profile being incomplete and I cannot open it. I have uninstalled and reinstalled (basic) with the same outcome. Am I going to have to remove every vestige of Firefox and run a clean install? How do I go about removing all traces? I'd like to save my bookmarks if possible. Tomorrow I will buy a cheapo keyboard while I wait for Amazon to bring me a replacement for my deceased Logitech K810. This is not proving to be a great weekend - I have a lot of time critical computer based stuff to do :cry:
User avatar
bornintheuk
Posts: 538
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:18 am
Location: Southern Charente

Post by bornintheuk »

Depending on what operating system you use Firefox stores its information, such as your bookmarks etc in certain files on your computer.
This page maybe a good starting point
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/pr ... -user-data
What would Plato do ?
RichardHenshall
Posts: 414
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Luz, Algarve

Post by RichardHenshall »

User avatar
Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

Thanks guys. For today I am sticking to my iPad as I am at the point of hurling my PC out of the window, but tomorrow with a potentially better frame of mind I will have a go at sorting things out. I don't actually know what happened to get me to this point, notwithstanding the keyboard problems which surely are separate from the Firefox problems.
RichardHenshall
Posts: 414
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:06 pm
Location: Luz, Algarve

Post by RichardHenshall »

I spotted this comment while reading up:

"Are you low on disk space by any chance? The Reset feature duplicates a lot of data and sometimes it fails to complete when disk space is low."
annedab
Posts: 762
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:02 pm
Location: Midi Pyrenees

Post by annedab »

Sorry to hear that Casscat. I have just switched to a new laptop to replace my steam powered one so I know where you're coming from. Maybe you should just relax with a glass of wine :lol:
Regards

Anne

If there's no such thing as co-incidence, then why is there a word for it?
Post Reply