Install the Java manually

• http://www.java.com/getjava/

Try the QUICK JAVA Addon

• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/quickjava

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Updated Java but doesn't make any difference, problem still there.

That addon is useful.

Even, i faced the same issue i updated to Java to latest version, after it works fine

Check your plugins are updates!

• http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/

Plugins are up to date, makes no difference, Ebay Java doesn't work...

I think I fixed the problem: First go to E bay and log on. then in Firefox click "VIEW" then "CHARACTER ENCODING" Make sure "Unicode UTF-8" is selected. It was not on mine. I selected it and restarted Firefox then all was right with E-bay.

Thanks for your input, but changing the character encoding does not solve the problem...

can you go through the other steps covered in Websites look wrong or appear differently than they should?

Thank you Philipp the problem has now been solved...

great, thanks for reporting back!

Unfortunate consequence of the reset is that I have lost most of my bookmarks. Where do I find them on my HD?

a reset shouldn't have affected you bookmarks, maybe just your bookmarks toolbar got hidden per default: Recover lost or missing Bookmarks

in any case if some bookmarks got really lost, there should be a folder on your desktop labelled "old firefox data" which will contain your profile before the reset. in there there should be a subfolder named "bookmarkbackups" - you can go to firefox > bookmarks > show all bookmarks > import & backup > restore... and point it to one of those back-up files.

Once again thank you, problem resolved.

Could I trouble you with one more item, namely, I had a live weather display on my bottom tool bar that was installed via an xml file back in the mists of time. Would this be in the backup data? I ask because the item long ago disappeared from the Firefox download site.

if it was an extension, it should reside in the \extensions subfolder of "old firefox data" as a .xpi-file. those files are named after the extension's id, so they might be rather cryptic at times and it might be difficult to find the right one...
you can drag& drop any of this .xpi files into an open firefox window, which should trigger the dialog to install the extension.

Found the original installation file, but now the extension won't work, with a similar refusal to accept a button click as had been the problem in Ebay. I did out of interest install the extension in FF running under W7 on my laptop and everything works fine, so I'm not sure what to make of the situation.