1623926 - Thunderbird 75.0b1 freezing on startup, folders visible but no message list or message content

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Untriaged, defect)

Description

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:75.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/75.0

Steps to reproduce:

Opened Thunderbird this morning as usual - program showed my mail folders in sidebar but never loaded main content window.

Actual results:

• Main window remained blank, cursor spinning, program frozen. Unable to perform any actions except force quit.
• Deleting and reinstalling program did not correct the issue.
• Creating new, empty profile worked, BUT mail settings are erratic - Thunderbird refuses to retain selected signature file, will not allow addition/edit of an IMAP mail directory in Server -> Advanced. It is as if the program cannot retain any changes I have made.

Expected results:

Program should open mail as expected. Settings should be changed when I change them. If profile changes are needed, program should migrate profile settings to new format. Have never had to manually rebuild my entire profile in a decade-plus of using Thunderbird.

Comment 1

[Joshua Nixon]

I realize that I am putting my productivity at risk by using the beta version as my main email client, but between this new issue and the recent bug blocking access to system address book, I am at a complete loss here. Program instability seems much higher in 75 than in prior betas. Many system integration issues on macOS are not implemented in current production build, but I am going to have to drop back to v68 and build an entirely new profile to be able to use Thunderbird at all at this point.

Comment 2

[Joshua Nixon]

For what it's worth - all 3 mail accounts I had set up were on Gmail backbone; don't know if it had any impact on the issue but it seems as if it may be relevant.

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(I've slightly edited your original comment to better identify the issues you are seeing.)

We do have reports from Mac users of various problems, so far all unconfirmed. But non-Mac ... have you tried what is suggested in Bug 1578539 ?? Upgrade from TB 60.8.0 to TB 68.0 breaks UI / blank UI. Workaround delete global-messages-db.sqlite

going to have to drop back to v68 and build an entirely new profile

You shouldn't need to build a new profile, unless you are concerned it has been corrupted

Comment 4

[Joshua Nixon]

Somewhere between 74 and 75 Thunderbird changed some profile settings to a new format. I had attempted to roll back to 74 when access to macOS Address Book regression occurred, and it would not allow me to do so with the existing profile; I imported my address book (from abook.mab.bak) and message filters, so rebuilding profile was not that big a deal.

Screen was not entirely blank either. Mail accounts and folders showed in sidebar, but nothing loaded in content window or message window. Program froze, no menus or other items accessible - I see in the screenshots for Bug 1578539 that others were able to bring up the "About" menu and theme settings so this does not appear to be related.

Removal of global-messages-db.sqlite does not resolve. Removal of ImapMail folders does not resolve.

Comment 5

[Joshua Nixon]

Attachment: Screenshot of issue

Blank main mail window, folders visible but inaccessible

Comment 6

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Somewhere between 74 and 75 Thunderbird changed some profile settings to a new format. I had attempted to roll back to 74 when access to macOS Address Book regression occurred, and it would not allow me to do so with the existing profile;

This checking doesn't look at the profile data, it only checks version# and location of the profile.

Comment 7

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

Because this bug's Severity has not been changed from the default since it was filed, and it's Priority is -- (Backlog,) indicating it has has not been previously triaged, the bug's Severity is being updated to -- (default, untriaged.)

Comment 8

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

Because this bug's Severity has not been changed from the default since it was filed, and it's Priority is -- (Backlog,) indicating it has has not been previously triaged, the bug's Severity is being updated to -- (default, untriaged.)

Comment 9

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

Because this bug's Severity has not been changed from the default since it was filed, and it's Priority is -- (Backlog,) indicating it has has not been previously triaged, the bug's Severity is being updated to -- (default, untriaged.)

Comment 10

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

The severity of these bugs was changed, mistakenly, from normal to S3.

Because these bugs have a priority of --, indicating that they have not been previously triaged, these bugs should be changed to Severity of --.

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

How about now with a current beta version 78?

Comment 12

[Richard Leger]

Joshua,

In addition of trying 78.x version as suggested by Wayne... if issue persists, I would suggest to try in Safe Mode in case the issue may be coming from an add-on... and disable temporarily (if possible) all network calendars/addressbooks if any set... see if that makes any difference...

From my end-user experience, once a profile is upgraded by a newer version of TB it is much likely to render it unusable with lower version of TB at best, may corrupt it at worth, so make sure to backup profile before any upgrade would you want to downgrade back requiring to use a backed up profile for that version of TB you want to use or lower version so it can be upgraded again to the version of TB in use...

Most software dev team don't create or test for downgrade path especially for user profiles. That would require too much time and man power.
The easiest always being to move forward, upgrade to newer version, which in theory should fix issues but of course not always... :-)

Hope that help.

Regards,
Richard

Comment 13

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Still need more information from reporter, then we can assess.

Comment 14

[Joshua Nixon]

Unfortunately I can't verify. After rebuilding my profile when first reporting I deleted the old (unworking) one. On the plus side I have had no recurrence of the issue with current betas.