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Firefox crashes

  • 19 uphendule
  • 1 inale nkinga
  • 8 views
  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu FredMcD

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hi i have a .... to me ... big problem.

firefox will not even start and stay up. i can hardly even get the crash message up and the widow goes away.

firefox just crashes before its had a chance. downloaded new and same thing happens. a crash report comes up but i can't get the report written before its gone.

installed new version of mozilla. still persists

so i followed the prompts form here, "You should copy the Report IDs for submitted crash reports (they start with bp-) to your support question in the Community Support forum."

and i get this, Crash ID: bp-74f92cba-0ebf-43ba-a7bc-2a1871171126

can you help me pls. thnx brian

hi i have a .... to me ... big problem. firefox will not even start and stay up. i can hardly even get the crash message up and the widow goes away. firefox just crashes before its had a chance. downloaded new and same thing happens. a crash report comes up but i can't get the report written before its gone. installed new version of mozilla. still persists so i followed the prompts form here, "You should copy the Report IDs for submitted crash reports (they start with bp-) to your support question in the Community Support forum." and i get this, Crash ID: bp-74f92cba-0ebf-43ba-a7bc-2a1871171126 can you help me pls. thnx brian

All Replies (19)

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Did you add the "bp-" prefix yourself, because this crash report isn't found on the crash server or this is a very old report that has been removed?

If a line on the about:crashes page doesn't start with "bp-" then you can click this line to submit the crash report. The link will be updated and gets a "bp-" prefix if the report is submitted successfully.

  • please do not add the "bp-" prefix yourself

If you have submitted crash reports then please post the IDs of one or more recent crash reports that start with "bp-".

  • bp-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

You can find the report ID of recent crash reports on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page.

  • click the "All Crash Reports" button on this page to open the about:crashes page and see all crash reports.

Alternatively you can open about:crashes via the location/address bar.

See also:

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hi again this might well be an old crash report. i do not know. but i didn't add anything to that long number. i don't know much about this stuff. and i did go to the support.org/crash report... and this part - " After Firefox crashes, the Mozilla Crash Reporter window will appear." -just left the screen after about ten seconds.

but as i said firefox crashed and then all signs of this soon evaporated. so i couldn't get any kind of crash report or even send a notification. i think i had to sign in to do this. sorry i can't be of more help

also just now,.... i thought maybe that i have an older mac and so looked for an older version of firefox as i like using this. and here was the response.. if it helps any;- i was directed to use this version. Index of /pub/firefox/releases/45.9.0esr/mac/en-US/ and this was the response from my mac;- Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible. but thanks for yours. regards brian

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just plain old brian said

i was directed to use this version. Index of /pub/firefox/releases/45.9.0esr/mac/en-US/
and this was the response from my mac;- Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

Hi Brian, first, if you have been using Firefox 56 or newer don't roll back to an earlier version.

Second, did you remove any data before installing that other version, or didn't you get that far? Please do not delete any folders if you have data you want to preserve, such as bookmarks and saved passwords.

Third, this article has the steps to address the missing profile problem: How to run Firefox when your profile is missing or inaccessible. The article should recognize that you're on a Mac, but if you get instructions for Windows or Linux, expand the "Editing Tools" in the left column and use the OS selector to switch the article to Mac.

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You can create a new profile to test if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.


Your MacOS version of 10.9 supports current Firefox releases. You can find the full version of the current Firefox release (66.0.3) in all languages and all operating systems here:

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I'm sorry. lets start again. i had a problem with firefox and couldn't fix it so i deleted or uninstalled and reinstalled. this last time..... right now i reinstalled 66.0.3 tried loading, immediately i get the crash report window. stays open for about ten sec and then just goes away. don't even have time to write anything in there. this is about what happened right in the beginning. can't write any report or even my mail address. so now i have nothing loaded. if i do download, the same thing happens no matter what version i install. i have updated my operating sys, mac. i have looked for other possibilities in google, followed their instructions. nothing changes. always the same report. 10 sec. gone. :-( and i liked firefox best too. so sad

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When you removed Firefox, something could have been left behind.

Let’s do a full clean re-install;

Note: Firefox comes in three or more folders on all computers. They are;

Maintenance: (Programs Folder) <Windows Only> Firefox itself: (Programs Folder) And two folders in the profile of each user on the computer for each Firefox profile for that user.

If you remove the Firefox folder, the user profiles would not be affected.


Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}

Save the file. Then Close Firefox.

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86) Note: Check Both Folders

Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-download-and-install-firefox-mac

Linux: Check your user manual. If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it. See Install Firefox on Linux; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux

If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory. http://www.mozilla.org/firefox#desktop ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Look for, and remove any Mozilla or Firefox program folders. Do not remove the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.

Do Not remove any profile folders.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If there is a problem, start your Computer in safe mode and try again.

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Linux+Safe+Mode This shows how to Start all Computers in Safe Mode; Free Online Encyclopedia

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Isisombululo Esikhethiwe

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hi i've come to the point where the only message i get now is - -"A copy of Firefox is already open. Only one copy of Firefox can be open at a time."- so i can't even open firefox now. i did find my firefox profile and there are a lot of crash reports there.

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Do you get the message after rebooting the system?

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i can't boot up at all. i just get this message

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i did find the files containing crash reports if this can help any

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A post was flagged as Solved Problem. If the problem is not solved, please remove that flag. If you don’t, others that can help may not read this post.

Go to that message, and use the Undo link to its right.

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I'm sorry. did i click "problem solved". well the problem is not solved yet. i still can't open or launch firefox. all i get in response to launch attempt is this message, "A copy of Firefox is already open. Only one copy of Firefox can be open at a time." i certainly don't have a copy of firefox open or i would not be trying to fix the problem of opening it. thus far, i have updated my mac os. installed avast and done a scan. very little came of that. four items were deleted. and still no joy. shut down and rebooted many times. other problems seem to be coming up too. like my ex,hard drive is not mounting. and suddenly I'm being assaulted with popups, especially on crome. there i loaded a popup blocker and seems to help a little. so i don't know if any of this is related. i only know how to turn the laptop on and type words and such simple things. I'm hoping one of you good guys can help me with this. what if i can start from my back up time machine. i thought this might be happening when i did a three hour reboot form apple themselves. but i was not prompted to hook my exdrive at all. I'm at my wits end here. kind regards brian

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Hi Brian, if you have lots of unexplained popups, could you also scan with this tool: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

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thank you chosen solution, your first option was the one. i created a new profile and this did the trick. now i will go about importing my bookmarks and other things. and thank you all the other guys and gals who looked into helping me with suggestions. thanks for being there. kindest regards brian umm, i don't really know how to mark this as solved. but it has been.

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I am glad to hear that your problem has been resolved. If you haven't already, please select the answer that solves the problem. This will help other users with similar problems find the solution more easily.

Thank you for contacting Mozilla Support.

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thank you fredmcd for giving me the options to overcome my problem. the first one was all it took and i sorted thru to success. this is what i used.

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Firefox+is+already+running+but+is+not+responding

i did what was instructed but went a bit further than that. i copied the profile folder to a usb. then i made a new profile and opened firefox with it. and this actually sorted the problem finally.

basically i clicked around on the prompts opening new solution pages till i found the symptoms i recognized and followed further till i hit pay-dirt. make a new profile and set as default. open with this and this seemed to sort the problem. now i just need to find out how to get the old profile folder synced or put into the new profile with all my bookmarks.

all the same, thank you for all your patients and helping me with my problem.

kind regards brian

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When you are ready, we can start moving parts of your old data and Copy it to the new profile.


First; open your file browser to the New profile;

Type about:support<enter> in the address bar.

Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Folder. To its right press the button Show Folder. This will open your file browser to the current Firefox profile. Now Close Firefox.

Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder

Linux: Under the page logo on the left side, you will see Application Basics. Under this find Profile Directory. To its right press the button Open Directory.


Second, open another file browser to the Old profile.


Warning ! ! Only Copy the files you are told. We will avoid anything that might cause problems. Here is the list of files;

cookies: cookies.sqlite Do not bother. Cookies will be created when you return to the website. However, you will have to log in everywhere. And you may lose any settings that websites store on your computer.

extensions(add-ons, themes): it would be better to download them fresh. If you need to remember what add-ons you had, open the extensions sub-folder of the old profile and look at the .xpi files ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ logins.json and key3.db [v58+]key4.db : These are the password files. Copy Both !

persdict.dat : custom dictionary - words you added to the dictionary

mimeTypes.rdf [v55+]handlers.json : What to do with what type of file.

places.sqlite : History and Bookmarks.

prefs.js : Your settings. Note: If you were having problems, this could be contaminated.

cert8.db [v58+]cert9.db and possibly cert_override.txt : Stores all your security certificate settings and any SSL certificates you have imported into Firefox. If removed, the cert8.db, cert9.db file will be replaced.

search.json.mozlz4 : file stores the user-installed search engines that are available in the Firefox v47+

search.sqlite file and searchplugins folder store the search engines that are available in the Firefox Search bar before Firefox v47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Copy these files from the old to the new. You may get a message that the files already exist. Choose to over-write for each file.