395728 - Can't start Firefox - get message "firefox.exe has encountered a problem and needs..."

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Toolkit :: Startup and Profile System, defect)

Description

[W Reace]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Build Identifier: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/    Ver 2.0.0.6

"firefox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.  We are sorry for the inconvenience."

I get the following signature:
AppName: firefox.exe	 AppVer: 1.8.20070.6982	 ModName: kernel32.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.3119	 Offset: 00012a5b


The problem first started with a note on startup that Firefox was already running. Tried to find where, but didn't find anything. Then chased down a known problem about that which suggested removing XPICLEANUP, so I eliminated that file. Didn't fix the problem, so removed Firefox and re-installed. 

Since then I have deleted Firefox, rebooted, downloaded and installed Ver 2.0.0.6 again -- still get the same problem. When I start Firefox, a screen appears from firefox.exe  with the message shown at the top of this note.  
I've tried firefox safemode with same results.
W

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.install firefox
2.start 
3.get firefox.exe message
Actual Results:  
see above

Expected Results:  
"firefox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.  We are sorry for the inconvenience."  message appears

Comment 1

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

Do you crash with a new profile (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager)
and/or safe mode (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_Mode) ?

Do you have a talkback ID from the crash (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Talkback) ?

Comment 2

[W Reace]

Can't create a new profile -- it fails with the same message when trying to open Profile Manager or when trying  to start in safe mode.

I started up Quality Feedback agent, but it remains blank when I try to start Firefox and get the "firefox.exe has encountered a problem..." message.

I have had it Send in Error Report when I get that message (the last time was about 10:50 AM EDT on Wed, Sept 12), but there is no message number or error number displayed, and I can't find any evidence that it was sent.

Comment 3

[W Reace]

Still have the same problem. I thought I would go to an older verion of Firefox, but can't find Ver 2.0.0.5.

I did go to Windows Event Viewer and found numerous Application errors -- all look about the same:
Application Error -- Event ID 1000;  Faulting application firefox.exe, version 1.8.20070.6982, faulting module kernel32.dll, version 5.1.2600.3119, fault address 0x00012a5b.

Comment 4

[angerofsouls1]

I have the same exact problem and I have tried just about everything as well. I hope that this can get sorted out soon because I am really starting to hate having to use Opera.

Comment 5

[W Reace]

Well -- I never did get a fix for the problem with Firefox 2.0.0.6.  When 2.0.0.7 came out today, I tried it. While installing it (over the prior version), the install went fine -- no error messages. However, I had the same problem (Error message "Firefox has encountered a problem...."). Not what I was hoping for.

Next, uninstalled Firefox, then went to C:\Program Files and renamed the Mozilla Firefox folder (which was still there with a few of the original files and folders in it).  After renaming that folder, I installed Firefox 2.0.0.7 again and this time it worked.  I had been worried that starting a totally new Firefox by hiding the old folder would lose all my bookmarks and other settings, but that was not the case.

So far, things are working normally, after an hour of testing.