Another case of Thunderbird starting up completely blank, can't access Options
This problem has been reported before, and I've done web searches and searches in this conference, and none of the solutions work.
I'm running 102.15.1 (64-bit) on two Windows 7 systems. On one of them, something has gone wrong. I accidentally clicked on a .themepack file and the theme didn't work correctly afterwards. I eventually got to a point where I could access Personalize and go back to the previous theme. The system appeared to be working after that, but as a precaution I went back to a system restore point from well before this event happened. After that, everything on the system worked correctly EXCEPT Thunderbird. When I start it I don't get any errors, but it's all blank. The menu bar is visible, and the get message line, but the folders panel and the panel where there should be mail messages are completely blank. Pulling down "Tools" and selecting "Settings" does nothing. Oddly, I can access "Account Settings", and they look o.k. I can also pull down "Help" and get the Troubleshooting information, and it pointed to the correct profile. I don't see how changing themes could be the actual cause of the Thunderbird problem, as everything else on the system is working but I mention it because I had to do a shutdown and reboot and let the system force Thunderbird and other programs to stop.
I have tried all of the fixes I could find in other notes, and none of them worked. Changing the name of global-messages-db.sqlite and restarting didn't help. I can start in troubleshooting mode and disable add-ons, but that doesn't help, and I don't have instructions on what to do once I'm in trouble shooting mode. I also tried starting it with -safe-mode, which also didn't help.
So I tried brute force. I de-installed and reinstalled Thunderbird and convinced it to use the old profile, but that doesn't work. I finally de-installed Thunderbird and used RevoUninstall to make sure everything in the directory and all folders and files were removed. I then copied my profile from my other working system (both Local and Roaming), did a clean install of Thunderbird, used the profiles that should be good as they were from a system that is still working, but even that hasn't fixed the problem. (I've copied the profiles between systems before at least twice and got them to work, so I'm reasonably sure I copied them correctly this time).
I can't imagine what else could possibly be keeping Thunderbird from starting correctly. At this point I'll accept any suggestions or even wild guesses as to what I should to do next. I have a lot of my mail stored in folders, and I'd really hate to have to redo everything from scratch, especially as I should be able to copy profiles as I have done before.
All Replies (8)
I should also have mentioned that I ran SFC /SCANNOW and there were no problems reported with the operating system.
Something really, really strange is going on.
Out of desperation, I tried installing 115.4.1 . It actually came up and showed the various mail panel panes properly. I didn't try to do anything, I was hoping that perhaps 115 would find and correct the problem.
I then de-installed 115 (I have mentioned elsewhere how horrible I think the interface changes are) and installed 102.15.1 . The blank page problem is back. This does not make any sense at all, if 102 used to work, and 115 works, then 102 should work now. However, this might give the developers a clue as to what the problem actually is. I don't understand how any of the files or registry entries can be wrong or damaged as they have all been replaced (or should have been).
Does anyone have any further suggestions (other than going to 115) ?
Again, out of desperation, I downloaded a number of other versions of Thunderbird.
I tried installing 109.0b.4, which is the highest 'next' version of Thunderbird. Unfortunately, that didn't fix the problem.
So I installed 91.13.1, which is the highest previous version of Thunderbird that isn't a 'beta' release.
It works. I have to use the --allow-downgrade option, but it picked up my old profile and used it. I can now see my email, the folders are correct, the calendar appears to have all of my appointments, etc.
This isn't the ideal solution, but I can live with it until someone can come up with a better solution.
Again, this "should" give the people who work on Mozilla a good clue as to just what is wrong. I'd like to go up to 102.something, but I'm willing to stay on 91 on this machine if I have to.
When I've recovered from the stress of dealing with this I may try upgrading to 102 again. I'm still open to any and all comments and suggestions.
When you return to 115, if it has this problem, please open the Error Console - ctrl + shift + J.
What do you see there that mentions JavaScript, webBrowser or about3Pane.js?
I don't thin you read my entries properly. I have no intention of EVER "returning" to 115. I have expressed my opinion of it in several other posts. Besides, 115 doesn't show the problem, only 102 and 109 do.
As I said, I may try 102 again if I work up the energy to risk the stress of running a version that was working but suddenly stopped. Because of the naming, I think 109 may still be on my system, I can probably try that.
I admire your fortitude, but unfortunately after going through random versions and uninstallers there's going to be no predictability of what works and doesn't.
In general it's best to post here immediately upon encountering a problem.
I did post it immediately, and I updated it while I was trying to find a work-around. I didn't want to be without mail for an undetermined amount of time, not knowing how long it would take for someone to respond; or if there would ever be a response. From what I've seen, responses from the developers who actually know what's going on are very few and far between. I haven't seen one in any of the conferences where I have participated.
And I don't agree with your "random" remark. I picked the releases that were closest to 102 in both directions to find the nearest release that doesn't have the problem. This should give the developers a clear window for where within the development process the bug was created.
A listing of "blank" UI is at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/thunderbird?tagged=tb115blank&show=all but those are all for version 115. I don't have any advice other than to scan those.