Firefox 39 address bar not working
The address bar is not working. I type in the address and hit enter, but nothing happens. I've also tried clicking the arrow on the right side of the address bar, but that does not work either. All the rest of the buttons are working. I've tried refreshing Firefox, uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox, and starting Firefox in safe-mode.
Chosen solution
Hi kbuckler, Sorry you are having problems with Firefox.
This is almost certainly what is now a known issue (Bug 1180419) affecting users with a corrupt History and Bookmarks database.
There is a fix that involves finding the Firefox profile, whilst Firefox is open. Closing Firefox. Renaming the file places.sqlite (to say places.sqlite.broke1).
Firefox should then work when restarted. Unfortunatly you will lose History. Loss of History besides its obvious loss also affects the use of the autocompletion from the location bar (aka awesomebar) and your newtab tiles.
For instructions see
but I will put instructions further down. (Windows based see articles if needing similar Mac or Linux info)
Find the profile
- ( Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles_locate-your-profile-folder)
Click the menu button {three bar icon) click help{(?)) and select Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open. Under the Application Basics section, click on [Open Directory]. A window with your profile files will open.
Close Firefox Look for the file named places.sqlite in the profile folder you have open. Rename that file. I suggest call it places.sqlite.broke1 Restart Firefox. Firefox will recreate the database, using the latest automated backup it has, when it is restarted.
Renaming rather than deleting. If the History or the features depending on it are very important there are advanced methods that may sometimes work in fixing the broken database file. The file that was renamed to -broke1 will serve as a copy that you could consider attempting to repair. The renamed file also leaves open the door to methods of looking for lost bookmarks if for instance some very recent bookmarks were important and lost.
edit minor typo; also note advanced MDN article https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/places.sqlite_Database_Troubleshooting
Read this answer in context 👍 6All Replies (4)
Chosen Solution
Hi kbuckler, Sorry you are having problems with Firefox.
This is almost certainly what is now a known issue (Bug 1180419) affecting users with a corrupt History and Bookmarks database.
There is a fix that involves finding the Firefox profile, whilst Firefox is open. Closing Firefox. Renaming the file places.sqlite (to say places.sqlite.broke1).
Firefox should then work when restarted. Unfortunatly you will lose History. Loss of History besides its obvious loss also affects the use of the autocompletion from the location bar (aka awesomebar) and your newtab tiles.
For instructions see
but I will put instructions further down. (Windows based see articles if needing similar Mac or Linux info)
Find the profile
- ( Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles_locate-your-profile-folder)
Click the menu button {three bar icon) click help{(?)) and select Troubleshooting Information. The Troubleshooting Information tab will open. Under the Application Basics section, click on [Open Directory]. A window with your profile files will open.
Close Firefox Look for the file named places.sqlite in the profile folder you have open. Rename that file. I suggest call it places.sqlite.broke1 Restart Firefox. Firefox will recreate the database, using the latest automated backup it has, when it is restarted.
Renaming rather than deleting. If the History or the features depending on it are very important there are advanced methods that may sometimes work in fixing the broken database file. The file that was renamed to -broke1 will serve as a copy that you could consider attempting to repair. The renamed file also leaves open the door to methods of looking for lost bookmarks if for instance some very recent bookmarks were important and lost.
edit minor typo; also note advanced MDN article https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Tech/Places/places.sqlite_Database_Troubleshooting
Modified by John99
Thank you. This fixed my issue
I have this issue. Updated to 39.0 and the Search bar does not work nor can it be adjusted using options. I tried the above fix with sqlite. Still does not work.
Hi BeautifulMutant
The issue in this thread is about the location/address bar. If you have a problem with the search bar then you have a different problem.
Could you please create a new thread for your question.