FF is CONSTANTLY FAILING and REOCURRING ISSUES
Listen, I am getting VERY UPSET and VERY TIRED of having to CONSTANTLY WRESTLE with FireFox!!!!
PEOPLE AT MOZILLA: READ THIS *VERY* CAREFULLY!!! GENERIC RESPONSES AND FORM LETTER TIPS WILL NOT DO!!!
PLEASE READ *EVERY* WORD CAREFULLY!!! PLEASE TRY TO FOLLOW ALONG WITH WHAT IS WRONG!!!!
My latest issue comes on the heels of Updating FF last night. I not only updated EVERYTHING that FF told me to, but FF itself!! Upon said update, I was NOT ABLE to see ANY images (in Facebook, or even on Google!!)!!! Neither a restart or reboot fixed the issue.
I, then, wend to the FF website where IMMEDIATELY there was an option to "REFRESH" (picture below). With this as being my supposed only option to "fix" the problem, I did it. It appears that it did fix the issue of not being able to see images... but only temporarily as it once again exhibited the same issue of not being able to see images. What I WAS NOT TOLD was that the REFRESH was going to WIPE OUT COMPLETELY ALL OF THE *MANY YEARS* of data that I worked so very hard to collect that was saved by way of saved sessions in the add-on SESSION MANAGER.
I got TWO replies (both of which I could not answer back to!). One from someone named Phillip, who basically offered little to NO HELP to SOLVE my problem (regardless of how upset one might be after losing YEARS of data!). He also tried to spin it around and tried to make it seem as it it was MY FAULT!! I DO NOT APPRECIATE that kind of attitude!! It is NOT "clearly" stated (as Phillip stated) that it would WIPE OUT all of your add-ons! You press the button and it just does what it does with no further info or needing any more input from me!!!!!!
Another reply was with some instructions on how to "roll-back" the refresh. Can anyone GUARANTEE that by going through this exhausting process that it will even work? How successful have others been with it? Not to mention that I will likely STILL be plagued with the SAME PROBLEM THAT I ORIGINALLY HAD - and STILL have!!!!!
My frustration come from SEVERAL years of having to wrestle with FF and it's MANY MANY ISSUES that NO ONE there seems to be able to figure out!! That doesn't even count the issues I have with FF on my Android device that CRASHES SEVERAL TIMES EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!! Why can't anyone at Mozilla just get a little common sense and just put the game controllers down and sharpen their pencils? If you're going to offer a products, the least you could do is NOT SCREW OVER the people who use the product by providing crap software! Instead of being productive and working on what it was I need to get done, NOW I have to DEAL with someone's INCOMPETENCE and TRY to piece together YEARS OF LOST DATE just because someone can't write code!!! Don't expect people to be HAPPY about losing ANY amount of data!!! Don't you guys get it? Maybe it's about time you DO!!!!!
All Replies (8)
Sorry your system won't allow me to post an image as I stated in my comment above. Very unfortunate.
What operating system are you using? Are you backing up your system/data "from time to time"? Data loss is very frustrating. The "value" of data backup increases after the data is gone. There is many factors that can influence how FireFox ( and any other browser ) works. It can be spyware, bad plugin, a conflicting or poorly designed or outdated application on your system... the list is very long, plus, every system is different, so often to help troubleshooting it requires someone with more experience to sit down in front of your computer to properly troubleshoot it and solve some of the issues you are experiencing. I can feel your frustration, with some proper steps I am sure it can be lowered.
In case of Windows OS, you might have "System Restore" function enabled, that takes more/less "snapshots" of the system - I would try to restore it to the time before you lost the data, and proceed with a different route of fixing the problem(s).
Okay, I read your question, and I think it boils down to this:
(1) After updating to Firefox 45.0.1, images were not visible on any site (2) To try to fix this, you used the Refresh feature (3) You want to know if it is 100% reliable to use my rollback procedure
Regarding #3, as far as I know, it's foolproof. One time, a Mac user told me it did not work on Mac. That should not affect you as a Windows user.
Regarding the problem with images and only images, an update should not have that effect unless it introduced an incompatibility with one of your extensions, or corrupted the Firefox program folder.
- To test a possible extension issue, you can try Firefox's Safe Mode. Details below.
- To rule out corrupted program files, you can do a Clean Reinstall. Details below.
Firefox's Safe Mode
In Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.
If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.
If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
- Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
and OK the restart.
Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).
Any improvement?
Clean Reinstall
We use this name, but it's not about removing your settings, it's about making sure the program files are clean (no inconsistent or alien code files). As described below, this process does not disturb your existing settings. Do NOT uninstall Firefox, that's not needed.
(A) Download a fresh installer for Firefox 45.0.1 from https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ to a convenient location. (Scroll down to your preferred language.) For maximum plugin compatibility, choose the 32-bit version.
(B) Exit out of Firefox (if applicable).
(C) Rename the program folder as follows:
(32-bit Firefox on 64-bit Windows)
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
to
C:\Program Files (x86)\OldFirefox
(Other systems)
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
to
C:\Program Files\OldFirefox
(D) Run the installer you downloaded in step (A). It should automatically connect to your existing settings.
Will the Inspector work properly in a cleanly reinstalled Firefox?
Note: Some plugins may exist only in that OldFirefox folder. If something essential is missing, look in these folders:
- \OldFirefox\Plugins
- \OldFirefox\browser\plugins
there is also one of the reasons that are falling into this category, which have not been mentioned or discussed - from what i know ( and quite widely known ), the state of the personal computer represents its user - this leads to a big confusion, and i am not sure if i should be more sorry for the the pc, or whoever is going to attempt to fix it, or you.
To Init:
Please don't condescend me. It's well known that ANYONE with ANY level of experience can have trouble for ANY number of reasons!!
Save your arrogance for someone else. It's very likely that I've been using computers longer that you've been alive!! You should not be one to judge (lest ye be judged). If you can't offer anything constructive, I would suggest you keep your "opinions" to yourself. This applies to anyone (and not just me)!!
Sorry you are having problems Rick.
Firefox Refresh For what it it worth I agree Mozilla probably promotes the use of Firefox Refresh option a bit too aggressively, whilst not warning as clearly as they might that addons will be lost. Note nearly everyone here including jscher2000, philipp & myself are volunteers and fellow Firefox users, not Mozilla staff.
The Firefox Profile There are some tips we may add later about backups and Firefox use for now the most important thing is the Firefox 'profile. Firefox does sometimes have accidents with some of the files within the profile. Firefox does however try to preserve the profile contents both on updates and when creating a backup as part of the Refresh.
As you say you have years of work kept as open tabs I suggest as priority you make at least one extra backup of those folders and files Firefox has placed on your Windows 7 desktop. Maybe copy them onto a memory stick or external drive.
There may well be methods of recovering your data that are tried and tested, and usually succeed.
Your next step after making an additional backup should be to try to follow jscher2000's instructions in the post above #answer-860171 so that you get a working Firefox again. It seems you may have already followed those steps and were answering questions in someone else's thread: /questions/1114684 . It would be useful if you now answered the questions you were asked, but put those answers in this thread.
Session Manager Do you know which addon it was you were using was it this one
- Session Manager 0.8.1.12 https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/session-manager/
We had not reason to expect just reinstalling the addon would recover your data. That data is likely to be in the old profile. In fact there is a good possibility your all or a very large proportion of your open tabs are still in Firefox's multiple internal backups ready for you to use if you knew what to do.
To re-emphasize: On your desktop there should be a folder called "Old Firefox Data". All your Session Manager saved sessions will be there. You can copy them back into your Firefox profile and use them again.
I can guarantee it will work if that folder and the files inside it exist.
My thoughts were regardless of the addon, and even if something went wrong, Firefox's own session restore backups; like bookmarks backups; has drastically improved as explained in a relatively user friendly
- Mozilla launches improved Session Restore in Firefox 33 http://www.ghacks.net/2014/06/27/mozilla-launches-improved-session-restore-firefox-33/
Even if Firefox's automate session stores fail then if the backup profile is preserved we can try to recover earlier backups.
I can empathise with the OP's frustration and despair at loss of vital information from years of work, and the difficulty of trying to obtain advice, but I think the OP is rather hasty in walking away.
The obvious alternative option is to take the PC to a computer professional who will in all likelihood simply do very similar things to what we advise at a cost.