Firefox crashes on opening with no message just the egg timer, which is still there after two hours!
Whenever I open Firefox, which has seven retained tabs, it won't load the tabs - it just displays an egg timer on all seven. I have left it for two hours, and still get the egg timer on all seven pages. I am not at all computer literate, so I thought the best option would be to uninstall and re-install Firefox, however I need to save my bookmarks. I know they are automatically backed up, but I fear that when I uninstall Firefox I will lose the backup filws. Can you please tell me how to either solve the problem without uninstalling firefox or tell me how to safeguard and retrieve my bookmarks after uninstalling and reinstalling firefox. I would add that this only started happening following a recent (few days ago) Firefox update.
This happened
Every time Firefox opened
== About a week ago, following a Firefox update.
All Replies (5)
Hello David.
Hopefully this support article is what you need:
I tried reconfiguring the firewall, but this made no difference. I'm unable to set up a second profile because as soon as I open Firefox it goes into egg-timer mode, and I can't click on any of the drop down menus.
I'm thinking more along of the lines of uninstalling it and reinstalling it, but am very concerned about losing all of my bookmarks. How would I find where they are saved and be able to use them in a new Firefox installation?
I've been without a browser now for five days, and am seriously considering using an alternative browser, and it's getting beyond the joke.
See this article for backing up your information:
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Backing+up+your+information
If you backup your profile, you can try uninstalling Firefox completely and installing it again. That will create a fresh new profile, but, of course, will erase your own (hence the need to back it up). If you do this, see if the new profile on the fresh install has the same problem. If it doesn't, porting your things from your old profile should be relatively simple.
Also, while I'm sorry you've been without a browser for so long, all I can do is help you the best I can and know, and say that, if I were in your situation, I'd be using another browser while this issue wasn't sorted out.
I do appreciuate your help Morbus, but the issue is I can't get to use any of the menu tabs because the egg timer is continually showing. What I'm really looking for is:
1) Where does Firefox store its bookmarks as a file on my computer?
2) Could I not just copy and paste this folder into a new installation and have it working?
Thanks in advance!
PS: I would be using another browser, but IE is also playing up, and I can't download an alternative as both IE and FF are not working!
David.
1) See this: http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Profiles
2) It's possible that the problem is with your profile. Backup your profile folder (copy it to somewhere, like your documents or something), uninstall Firefox completely, and then install it again. This will create a new profile. If this new profile works, it's a strong indicator that your profile has some problem. We'll see what we should do after than. If this new profile doesn't work either, it's a strong indicator that the problem is outside Firefox (the application and the profile folders), either in the form of a Firefox bug triggered by some external factor, or some software (or hardware?), that's causing Firefox to go haywire.