Hi Alan, your Firefox version is a separate issue from your bookmarks file. Let's see whether we can fix the file problem first.

If you haven't already, please do a normal shutdown and/or restart of your system. Restarting Windows can help by freeing up locked files, completing any deferred updates, and resolving temporary file permission issues.

Next, if Firefox still doesn't load your bookmarks, could you let us know what you get when you run the "Verify Integrity" diagnosis and repair function. That's here:

Open Firefox's Troubleshooting Information page using any of these methods:

• "3-bar" menu button > Help > More Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > More Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

Near the bottom, there is a section titled Places Database -- that's the file which stores history and bookmarks. Click the button labeled Verify Integrity. There may be a 10-15 second delay before results appear.

If all is well, the report that appears below the button should start with:

> Task: checkIntegrity
+ The places.sqlite database is sane
+ The favicons.sqlite database is sane
> Task: invalidateCaches
+ The caches have been invalidated
> Task: checkCoherence
+ The database is coherent

Does yours say that, or something else? You can select and copy the report, and then paste it into a reply for review and comment.

Here is the response you requested:

• > Task: checkIntegrity
• - Unable to fix corruption, places.sqlite will be replaced on next startup
• > Task: checkCoherence
• - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.
• > Task: expire
• - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.
• > Task: vacuum
• - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.
• > Task: stats
• - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.
• > Task: _refreshUI
• - The task queue was cleared by an error in another task.

I've restarted my computer three times before running this tool, so a restart will probably do nothing different.

Okay, to interpret this:

> Unable to fix corruption, places.sqlite will be replaced on next startup

Unfortunately, Firefox wasn't able to repair a problem in the Places database. The next time you exit/restart Firefox, it will set aside the file (rename it with a .corrupt extension) and build a new file from your last automatic bookmark backup. Bookmarks should work again but you'll lose your browsing and download history.