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Firefox 9.0.1 hangs on startup after update (OSX 10.6.8), even in safe mode.

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I shut down Firefox because some parts of the www.washingtonpost.com site no longer displayed (icons), and Firefox automatically installed the update on restart.

Then the "Well this is embarrassing..." Restore Session screen popped up, but the program hung a few seconds after I clicked Restore Session. I had to Force Quit to close it.

Every time since then Firefox presented the same Restore Session screen, but hung after only a few seconds. Until I tried working with Safe Mode, and turning off customizations. Now it just hangs on a blank screen.

I shut down Firefox because some parts of the www.washingtonpost.com site no longer displayed (icons), and Firefox automatically installed the update on restart. Then the "Well this is embarrassing..." Restore Session screen popped up, but the program hung a few seconds after I clicked Restore Session. I had to Force Quit to close it. Every time since then Firefox presented the same Restore Session screen, but hung after only a few seconds. Until I tried working with Safe Mode, and turning off customizations. Now it just hangs on a blank screen.

Chosen solution

You can try a new profile to see if that helps.

See "Basic Troubleshooting: Make a new profile":

If that new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.

See:

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All Replies (6)

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HI ravynmaniac,

Have you looked at this article that lists the latest Firefox issues? There is some information in there on startup crashes. I think that might help!

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Thanks Matt_G, I have looked at that article, and I did try the solutions for the crashes, but they didn't work for me. Also, the release notes don't seem to touch on my problem, where Firefox can't even start without hanging.

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Try to reinstall Firefox 9.0.1.

Download a new copy of the Firefox program and save the disk image (dmg) file to the desktop

  • Trash the current Firefox application to do a clean (re-)install
  • Install the new version that you have downloaded

Your profile data is stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder, so you won't lose your bookmarks and other personal data if you uninstall and (re)install Firefox.


You can use these steps to check if images are blocked:

  • Click the "More Information" button to open the "Page Info" window with the Security tab selected (also accessible via "Tools > Page Info").
  • Go to the Media tab of the "Tools > Page Info" window.
  • Select the first image link and scroll down through the list with the Down arrow key.
  • If an image in the list is grayed and there is a check-mark in the box "Block Images from..." then remove that mark to unblock the images from that domain.

See also:

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Thanks, cor-el, but the clean install still has the same problems. Is it possible that something in my profile is corrupted and I need to start from scratch with a new profile?

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Chosen Solution

You can try a new profile to see if that helps.

See "Basic Troubleshooting: Make a new profile":

If that new profile works then you can transfer some files from the old profile to that new profile, but be careful not to copy corrupted files.

See:

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Yeap, there is something wrong with the profile. I've started from scratch with a new one, will try adding a couple of things at a time to see what I can recover without blowing it up. Thank you!