182049 - mail application won't open. period.

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, defect)

Description

[Russ Petruzzelli]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; SunOS sun4u; en-US; rv:1.3a) Gecko/20021118
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; SunOS sun4u; en-US; rv:1.3a) Gecko/20021118

open mozilla browser with command "mozilla".
click envelope icon at lower left corner.  
 -- There is much cpu/disk activity then nothing happens. (no mail app opens)

I have previously had netscape 4.7, Netscape 6.2.2, and I attempted to build
mozilla from the source code on this machine.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.open mozilla browser with command "mozilla".
2. click envelope icon at lower left corner.

Actual Results:  
cpu and disk monitors show much activity then they stop and nothing happens.

Expected Results:  
The mail window should have opened.

Thinking this might be a conflict with libraries, I added the path to this
installation of mozilla to the front of my PATH variable.

Comment 1

[Russ Petruzzelli]

I started mozilla as root and the mail application works correctly.

mozilla is installed under my home directory (not root).  
Could mozilla be dependent on a library that is only exectable by root? 

Comment 2

[R.K.Aa.]

can you this:

-Quit mozilla
-Delete the file XUL.mfasl (or XUL.mfl) found in your profile directory under the 
 account that now fails to start mail.
-Restart.

There was a potential for XUL cache horkage in the build you use.
(fix was checked in in the evening same day - bug 180452)

Comment 3

[Russ Petruzzelli]

I tried the suggestion to delete XUL.mfasl (or XUL.mfl)-- it didn't work.
I'm suspecting conflicting libraries, and I plan to reinstall a new OS -- 
Solaris 9 next week.  I will let you know what happens then, if the bug is 
still unconfirmed.

Comment 4

[R.K.Aa.]

You can also try deleting the .msf files in your Mail folder.
(They are just "mail summary files" and like XUL.mfasl they will be recreated if
missing on startup)

Other potential showstoppers are incompatible xpi's of course - the outdated
spellchecker a known case.

Comment 5

[Jord van der Elst]

I have the same problem with every Moz version from 1.3a to 1.3b. My present
version is 2003011004. The Help/about buttons don't work, so I couldn't give you
the full info.

Running Windows 2000 (SP3) here. Even running a command line "C:\Program
Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\mozilla.exe" -mail isn't working.

Plus I notice that when I shut Mozilla down, that around 25Mb stays in memory
(Task Manager shows Mozilla.exe running happily along). 

Btw, I have installed this Mozilla to a new Mozilla folder on my C: drive, after
having removed everything, including the cache data in my Users directory. 

Off to reinstall 1.2.1, the only one that wants to deal with my mail :(

Comment 6

[Jord van der Elst]

Update: I have deleted the following files from under \Documents and
Settings\User\Application Data\Mozilla\profiles\default\number:
cert7.db
cert8.db
key3.db
cookies.txt
cookperf.txt
chrome.rdf
downloads.rdf
panacea.dat
history.dat
search.rdf
and XUL.mfl

I can now reach my Mozilla mail again. It also looks as if Mozilla doesn't stay
in memory when I close it down. For you to figure out what is the cullprit :)

Comment 7

[Keith Survell]

I also experienced this symptom today (July 2, 2004). My version is:

Mozilla 1.6 (Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040113)

I have two profiles in Mozilla; one was able to open Mail/News just fine, but
mine was not. Following comment #<a
href="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=182049#c6">6</a>, I was able
to restore functionality after deleting the following files:

cert7.db
cert8.db
key3.db
chrome.rdf
downloads.rdf
panacea.dat
history.dat
search.rdf
XUL.mfl

Note that deleting XUL.mfl by itself did not resolve the problem; neither did
deleting the *.msf files. 

I suspect it may have been a theme-related problem; since the other profile on
my computer uses a different theme, and after deleting the above-mentioned
files, Mozilla reverted back to the default (classic) theme. (I assume this is
from deleting the chrome.rdf file.) The skin I was using was <a
href="http://themes.mozdev.org/themes/rain.html">Rain</a>, from mozdev.org.

Other than the fact that I had a newer version, and two profiles, (and I use
Windows 2000 Professional) my symtpoms were exactly the same - Mozilla.exe
staying resident in memory, etc.

I was going to change my theme anyway, I suppose, but I will keep this bug
updated if it happens again, and then I'll try to find the precise file that
caused the problem - if I can.

Comment 8

[Keith Survell]

(In reply to comment #7)
I apologize for the mangled HTML; it's been a while since I last used Bugzilla.

Comment 9

[R.K.Aa.]

Russ Petruzzelli:
Are you still seeing this bug? 
If yes: Which theme are you using?

It seems others have avoided the bug by deleting chrome.rdf, which can indicate
that an outdated theme or addon was the indirect cause.

Comment 10

[Russ Petruzzelli]

(In reply to comment #9)
> Russ Petruzzelli:
> Are you still seeing this bug? 
> If yes: Which theme are you using?
> 
> It seems others have avoided the bug by deleting chrome.rdf, which can indicate
> that an outdated theme or addon was the indirect cause.

No I haven't seen the problem since I upgraded mozilla.  I'm also using Firefox now.