I'm not sure how to describe this.

Lydokane · 10-20-2005, 01:00 PM

I am using Firefox v1.0.7 on a Win XP Pro SP2 machine.

I installed Firefox last year and haven't had any problems with it until now. I was using it earlier today and all was well. I closed the browser and did some system maintenance and clean up. When I was done I went to open the browser and everything looked 'different'.

The first thing I noticed was all the bookmarks in my Bookmarks Toolbar were gone. The toolbar is still there but no bookmarks. Also, the small green 'Check for Updates' arrow is right next to 'Help' on the menu bar. On my system it used to be right next to the throbber.

The address bar and the Google search bar are still there but if I click in the text boxes I can't get a cursor nor can I type anything in there. I can't get any of the menus to drop down when I click the menu bar either. My tabbed browsing bar is missing completely.

BUT, if I double-click the 'Check for Updates' icon, Firefox will check for updates and tell me:

Firefox did not find any updates

Firefox encountered problems when trying to find updates for some items. |Details|

When I click the details button it says that it couldn't check for updates for the Bandwidth Tester. Also, if I right-click on the Bookmarks Toolbar and go to Manage Folder. The bookmark manager comes up and I can see my Bookmarks Toolbar Folder only. There is no tree to see any other bookmarks.

I have tried to uninstall - restart PC - re-install but the problems persist.

The only thing that I did during my clean up was to delete a bunch of empty folders and some old MP3 files. I also deleted about a half dozen Win XP user profiles. If I had deleted something important for Firefox shouldn't it have been replaced when I re-installed the software? Any ideas?

Thanks,

-Lydokane

martt · 10-21-2005, 01:20 AM

It seems as if something got deleted if this fault is the result of a clean-up. If you have reinstalled FF, the problem shouldn't be anything to do with the main application folder in C:\Program Files. This only leaves the Profiles folder (this isn't affected by uninstallation/reinstallation). I don't know what single file being possibly deleted could cause all of the symptoms described. Maybe there's more than one problem.

You could just try starting up in Firefox's Safe Mode (shortcut in the Start Menu) to see if that makes a difference. If it does, it's likely to be a theme or an extension causing the problem. If it doesn't, perhaps your best course would be to create a new Profile and re-build it to requirements.

Do a Windows search for 'Bookmarks.html' (or look in the Profiles directory for it) and take a copy of the file. When the new Profile is created, you can use this copy to overwrite the Bookmarks.html file located in the new Profile's folder. If Bookmarks.html cannot be found, they may have become lost.

If you are not used to working with the Profiles folder, the links below should help:

Information about the Profiles

More on Profiles

Also worth looking at:

Standard Firefox Diagnostic

10-20-2005, 01:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
Lydokane Tech, Microsoft Support Join Date: May 2005 Location: Michigan City Posts: 431 OS: Win XP Pro SP2	I'm not sure how to describe this. I am using Firefox v1.0.7 on a Win XP Pro SP2 machine. I installed Firefox last year and haven't had any problems with it until now. I was using it earlier today and all was well. I closed the browser and did some system maintenance and clean up. When I was done I went to open the browser and everything looked 'different'. The first thing I noticed was all the bookmarks in my Bookmarks Toolbar were gone. The toolbar is still there but no bookmarks. Also, the small green 'Check for Updates' arrow is right next to 'Help' on the menu bar. On my system it used to be right next to the throbber. The address bar and the Google search bar are still there but if I click in the text boxes I can't get a cursor nor can I type anything in there. I can't get any of the menus to drop down when I click the menu bar either. My tabbed browsing bar is missing completely. BUT, if I double-click the 'Check for Updates' icon, Firefox will check for updates and tell me: Firefox did not find any updates Firefox encountered problems when trying to find updates for some items. \|Details\| When I click the details button it says that it couldn't check for updates for the Bandwidth Tester. Also, if I right-click on the Bookmarks Toolbar and go to Manage Folder. The bookmark manager comes up and I can see my Bookmarks Toolbar Folder only. There is no tree to see any other bookmarks. I have tried to uninstall - restart PC - re-install but the problems persist. The only thing that I did during my clean up was to delete a bunch of empty folders and some old MP3 files. I also deleted about a half dozen Win XP user profiles. If I had deleted something important for Firefox shouldn't it have been replaced when I re-installed the software? Any ideas? Thanks, -Lydokane

10-21-2005, 01:20 AM	#2 (permalink)
martt Alternative Computing Team Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: South of England Posts: 311 OS: XP Pro	It seems as if something got deleted if this fault is the result of a clean-up. If you have reinstalled FF, the problem shouldn't be anything to do with the main application folder in C:\Program Files. This only leaves the Profiles folder (this isn't affected by uninstallation/reinstallation). I don't know what single file being possibly deleted could cause all of the symptoms described. Maybe there's more than one problem. You could just try starting up in Firefox's Safe Mode (shortcut in the Start Menu) to see if that makes a difference. If it does, it's likely to be a theme or an extension causing the problem. If it doesn't, perhaps your best course would be to create a new Profile and re-build it to requirements. Do a Windows search for 'Bookmarks.html' (or look in the Profiles directory for it) and take a copy of the file. When the new Profile is created, you can use this copy to overwrite the Bookmarks.html file located in the new Profile's folder. If Bookmarks.html cannot be found, they may have become lost. If you are not used to working with the Profiles folder, the links below should help: Information about the Profiles More on Profiles Also worth looking at: Standard Firefox Diagnostic