firefox will not start. browser window does not even show up.
When i click on the firefox startup icon (either in the startup menu or the desktop shortcut), i get nothing. I have ccleanup browser monitor running for cleanup and i get an indication from there that firefox has stopped.
I've tried uninstalling firefox and have tried a couple of the more recent versions and still get this problem. After reinstalling firefox it seems to work for a few days and then this happens again. Once it starts, the only way is to reinstall firefox, but that's clearly not the answer to the problem.
All Replies (13)
I should add that i'm on Windows XP with SP3.
Hello hiker056, can you open firefox in safe mode, by holding down the shift key while starting Firefox ?
if you can not open firefox in safe mode try to boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) and check firefox again.
(If works in Windows Safe mode then you have a problem with other software, like security software or maybe a system driver, that is running on your computer).
thank you
A possible cause is security software (firewall,anti-virus) that 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:
Makes no difference whether I am in safe mode in the browser, and/or safe mode in the PC.
FF21: fresh install on Win 7 works fine. Shutdown: restart: FF21 blocks at ~50 meg of program loaded, eventually opening up, but still unusably slow.
AV turned off, Firewall turned off - no different. FF21 Hardware acceleration turned off - no different.
Fresh install AGAIN - works fine.
FF still did not start in Windows Safe Mode with networking.
I can shut off firewall protection and it still will not start.
If you already tried the windows safe mode option and cor-el's suggestions with no luck, then go for a clean re-install.
Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps:
Note: You might want to print these steps or view them in another browser.
- Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
- After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu).
- Delete the Firefox installation folder, which is located in one of these locations, by default:
- Windows:
- C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
- Mac: Delete Firefox from the Applications folder.
- Linux: If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it - see Install Firefox on Linux. If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder firefox in your home directory.
- Windows:
- Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:
- Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
- Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.
Please report back to see if this helped you!
thanks
I found i was working from FF 20.0.1. I installed 21.0 a little while ago and seems to be ok for now.
That's good news, check it a little and tell us again.
thanks
Tried that, clean install, delete FF folder etc. Worked fine for around 24 hours, now back to the same issue. In taskmanager, the program loads to the ~50Meg mark, and then slows to a crawl.
Any ideas ?
Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.
See "Creating a profile":
If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.
We don't get to open the profile manager either !
tried reinstalling from scratch now using latest version works fine until i switch it off. when i try to use the shortcut button on desktop it fails to open and i have to reinstall from download to get it to open how can i fix this?