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Question

Firefox

Jul 14, 2012 3:16PM PDT

Recently Firefox won't start any more after rebooting, although if I kill the process in task manager and try again it will. I also tried older and newer versions, but I didn't really uninstall, I just re-installed over my version. The problem persisted. Should I try a clean install and has anyone encountered this problem?
My current version is 12.

Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I'm thinking
Jul 14, 2012 10:34PM PDT

a bad add-on.

We generally say in these forums that "Internet Explorer" problems can be traced back to bad or corrupted add-ons, but rarely do we say that for Firefox.

And in fact I am surprised Firefox is listed in your Task Manager Processes tab after a reboot. Is that a reboot of the whole OS, or just a close down of FF and an attempted restart of it? I may have got that wrong.

If it is listed in Processes after a reboot of the OS, then go hunting for what is attempting to load FF on Startup. You can use MSCONFIG for that, (type that into the Run command in the Start Menu). If you find any FF entries in the Startup tab for FF, disable them.

But if it is not that, then back to add-ons. Try restarting FF with no add-ons, (Firefox button > Help > Restart Firefox with add-ons disabled), and test it.

Mark

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I meant...
Jul 15, 2012 10:04AM PDT

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. I meant that after rebooting I try to start Firefox (manually) and as nothing happens (even after a few minutes) I go to the Task Manager, kill the process (that is not starting properly) and when I try again it starts fine...
The next time I reboot I will try starting in Safe Mode!

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And don't forget
Jul 15, 2012 8:39PM PDT

to try with Firefox add-ons disabled.

Mark

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Is there....
Jul 16, 2012 12:04PM PDT

Thanks. Is there actually a difference between safe mode and with add-ons disabled?

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It's a good question
Jul 16, 2012 6:40PM PDT

Before browser developers offered options to run their browsers without add-ons, the only alternative was to load Windows into Safe Mode and try the browsers there, where all add-ons where disabled.

But this is now easier and neater. Browser developers offer us the option to load their browser 'in its own Safe Mode' with all add-ons, all toolbars and all plugins disabled without the need to reboot the computer, press F8, then wait for the Safe Mode options to display.

Mark

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I meant...
Jul 18, 2012 5:18PM PDT

Actually yes, I meant Safe Mode for Firefox.
I have some programs open right now... and I haven't restarted the computer yet, but I won't forget next time I reboot... And if it starts fine in Safe Mode, then I will have to find the bad add-on... It is just funny that after trying the first time and killing the process it works fine... Maybe it would also be interesting (as an experiment) to start "Windows" in Safe Mode with networking enabled and see if then Firefox starts fine the first time.
I am really not sure, but I think I had installed the latest version of Firefox when this problem first appeared (and I noticed), then I reinstalled an old version over it, but the problem didn't go. I am not sure because I hibernate a lot, so it took some time before I restarted the computer after installing the latest version...
It was very strange with the latest version. It actually started, but there were no fonts in the tabs and they were not transparent... Confused After killing the process, it worked fine!

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Safe mode
Jul 23, 2012 11:36AM PDT

Well, I finally rebooted and started Firefox in safe mode and it worked fine, but I couldn't find out the guilty add-on after trying to disable a couple... So I created a new profile and copied bookmarks etc. I reinstalled some important add-ons. So far everything seems to be fine. I haven't rebooted yet, so I don't know for sure, but what I have noticed is that Firefox is now VERY fast, much faster than with the other profile... After reinstalling some add-ons I restarted it and it restarted so fast I couldn't believe it, so there is definitely something wrong with the other profile...