Firefox will not open at all, even after rebooting & re-installing - IE opens normally - what can I do?
I've used Firefox since version 3 - really like it compared to others.
This morning, after booting up Firefox wouldn't open. It worked when the PC was shut down last night. The eggtimer comes on briefly, then nothing. Internet Explorer works fine, as does Mailwasher (for email) and MS Outlook, so it's not an internet problem.
I'm running XP Service Pack 3 (no, really, still), with Webroot Secure Anywhere internet security.
I've tried rebooting - no effect I've tried removing, rebooting, and reinstalling - no effect I've tried launching it from a link within a mail message - no effect I've tried launching it from the Start-Run line with the ~p option as in your FAQ - no effect I've tried re-installing Adobe Flash Player, Java, Shockwave, etc..
The closest I've got to something to go on is when trying to launch a console from Webroot, when I got "Browser launch error 1073741819" - but this could be a Webroot error code.
I'm not sure what else to do - almost all your FAQ's assume you can get into the program.
The only thing I can think is that webroot removed a threat this morning, but I can't find any saved scan log as to what it was - clutching at straws, maybe that had something to do with it?
Maybe this is linked, but i'm having to write this on a different PC because the Mozilla webpages don't display properly in IE (all the other sites I can find display normally) So the installed plug-ins won't reflect what I have on the PC in question
Solution choisie
Woodfall_Consulting wrote:
I just tried booting up the PC in "safe mode with connections", and under these conditions, Firefox opens and behaves normally. Does this add any light to the puzzle?
Yes. It means another program was indeed preventing Firefox from running. If the above suggestions don't help, you can troubleshoot the issue as described in the following article. The relevant sections are "How to perform a clean boot" and "What is next when I have a clean boot environment?", subsection "How to determine what is causing the issue".
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See if the following article helps.
Woodfall_Consulting wrote:
The only thing I can think is that webroot removed a threat this morning
Was that before or after you reinstalled Firefox? If any files are missing from the installation folder, installing on top of the current version would fix that.
If you can't launch the profile manager (firefox.exe -p), you can try starting Firefox in a brand new profile as follows:
- Press the Start button and choose Run.
- In the Run box, type the following and press Enter.
- %AppData%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\
- In the Windows Explorer window that opened, you should see a folder named (random string).default — rename it and replace the word default with backup.
- Right-click an empty area and choose New, then Folder. Create a new blank folder with the same name as the previous one, (random string).default
- Try starting Firefox. If it still doesn't work, delete the blank folder and rename the other one back the way it was.
If Firefox won't start at all, not even in Safe Mode (firefox.exe -safe-mode), not even the profile manager (firefox.exe -p), that suggests another program is preventing it from running.
Have you tried temporarily disabling your security software, restarting your computer, and checking if Firefox starts?
Have you performed a full system scan with an up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware program like Malwarebytes Antimalware?
Hello Gingerbread_Man
Thanks for all the trouble you went to. I've spent much of the hours since you wrote trying to follow up your suggestions, as I'm not the most gifted puter person.
The situation is to all intents unchanged
1. I've removed and reinstalled Firefox both before and after the threat removal this morning, and again this evening.
2. I've tried starting Firefox in a brand new profile, as you described, by renaming the default folder
3. I've temporarily disabled the security software (actually, I had to uninstall it, then reinstall afterwards). After uninstalling webroot, I downloaded and ran malwarebytes as you suggested, but it didn't find anything (I think malwarebytes and webroot clash, cos it didn't run with webroot installed)
4. I then tried opening Firefox in safe mode. Just the usual 1 sec of egg timer then nothing I tried the active process monitor in webroot when I click on Firefox, and for the brief time it tries to start, it's listed as "allowed" (other categories are monitored and blocked) so I don't think webroot is stopping it
So after wasting some of your time, and much of my day, I'm nowhere further forward.
Two straws to snatch - when I booted up last time, there was a message to say that it failed to find wrPhreshPhish.dll... that's clearly a webroot file, but I've uninstalled and reinstalled that since,
Also when I was trying to uninstall using add/remove programs, it gave me a message to say that it had failed to find a file called LPplugin.dll in the Applications Data\WRdata\pkg folder Having just looked, they both seem to be there now, so maybe the PhreshPhish is a red herring.
Is there anything else I could try. I think your idea of something blocking it is very plausible, since I can't even start in safe mode, but what?
P.S. I just tried booting up the PC in "safe mode with connections", and under these conditions, Firefox opens and behaves normally. Does this add any light to the puzzle?
It is possible that your security software (firewall, anti-virus) blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox and the plugin-container from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full, unrestricted, access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
Solution choisie
Woodfall_Consulting wrote:
I just tried booting up the PC in "safe mode with connections", and under these conditions, Firefox opens and behaves normally. Does this add any light to the puzzle?
Yes. It means another program was indeed preventing Firefox from running. If the above suggestions don't help, you can troubleshoot the issue as described in the following article. The relevant sections are "How to perform a clean boot" and "What is next when I have a clean boot environment?", subsection "How to determine what is causing the issue".
Thanks so much to all who took the time to help.
To be honest, I tried both cor-el's answer and the second response from Gingerbread man. I'm not sure which in the end was the solution
I looked at firewalls and both Windows Firewall and WRSA Firewall were active. Must have been like that for years. Anyway, I turned off Windows Firewall, because I was 95% certain that it wasn't Webroot that was the cause. I found a process log in webroot (had to be quick to select in the <1 sec that the process was active) of the Firefox start up, and that didn't offer any clues either.
The "how to perform a clean boot" link was actually to Windows 7/8 and I have XP, but there was a link to the right site - trouble is that the "guided tour" for some reason doesn't work, so I tried to follow the instructions manually ("for experts", yeah, that'll be right I thought), and I think it was successful.
However, despite all these efforts Firefox still wouldn't start, and I was getting behind on work, so I left it for 24 hours.
Coming back to the problem this evening, I was going to repeat the clean boot in case I'd got it wrong before, and just out of curiousity casually double-clicked Firefox - darn me, but didn't the flipping program open.
So I rebooted the PC just to check, and sure enough, Firefox opened again.
Ultimately then, I don't know what the root cause or effective solution was - it could have been either or both - but please know wherever you are out there in cyberspace that I'm heartily grateful