398538 - PDF files fail to open in browser

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: File Handling, defect)

Description

[Michael Bimmler]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9a9pre) Gecko/2007100403 Minefield/3.0a9pre ID:2007100403

This is not exactly a new problem (in fact, I have experienced it for several months, always with the latest nightly builds), but I can't trace back its starting point.

When opening any pdf file, the browser will first hang for about 20-30 seconds, and then a window with the title "Acrobat plug-in" and the text "Couldn't launch Acrobat" will turn up. Occasionally, I also saw a parallel error message with title "Acrobat plug-in" and text "I/O error". From then onwards, when you try to open a pdf in the same session, it will just load a blank page (i.e. it doesn't even try to launch Acrobat anymore). My usual workaround then is to render the page with IE through IETab which mostly will load the PDF then (although occasionally it got stuck again and showed a similar, "IE-generated" error message à la "There was a problem opening Adobe Acrobat").

The problem's behavior is rather erratic, sometimes it is enough to close Firefox and restart it and then the problem is gone (i.e. PDF files are shown), sometimes the same problem occurs after restarting.

I am working with the newest Adobe Acrobat and I already re-installed Adobe Acrobat.

List of Extensions:

Bloglines Toolkit 1.6.8
British English Dictionary 1.19
ChatZilla 0.9.78.1
Dictionnaire MySpell en Français 1.0.1
DOM Inspector 1.9a9pre
Fasterfox 2.0.0
FlashGot 0.6.9 [DISABLED]
IE Tab 1.3.3.20070528
Nightly Tester Tools 1.3b1
Sage 1.3.10
ShowIP 0.8.05
Tamper Data 9.8.1
Torbutton 1.0.4
Web Developer 1.1.2 [DISABLED]
Wörterbuch \"Deutsch (Schweiz)\" für die Rechtschreibprüfung in Mozilla-Produkten 1.0

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
1. Enter a PDF url OR click on a link with results in a PDF.
2. The browser will hang and generate error messages.

EXPECTED RESULTS:
1. The PDF should load smoothly.

Comment 1

[Gérard Talbot]

Michael,

This may be a Plug-in problem (my hunch) and not a file handling problem.

Have you searched for a duplicate before confirming? There are many bug reports already created about Acrobat Reader...
What's the version number of Acrobat Reader you're using? "Newest" is not explicit info, not manageable info when trying to reproduce. Can you give an url (preferably involving a *_small_* PDF document) where the problem occurs and can be reproduced? What's the setting (display in browser) for your version of Acrobat Reader? 
Do you have something that makes/leads you to believe that this is a Firefox problem and not an Acrobat Reader plug-in problem?

Ideal bug reports only have formalized information. Information without subjective perception and personal comments. The workaround and the list of add-ons do not seem to me to be relevant in this bug report. Anyway, before filing a bug of this sort regarding a trunk nightly build, I would uninstall all extra add-ons to eliminate potential source of interference or software side effects.

Regards, Gérard

Comment 2

[Majken Connor [:Kensie]]

Doesn't look like this was properly confirmed, esp as reporter didn't reply

Comment 3

[Brian Carpenter [:geeknik]]

Is this still an issue with the latest versions? If not, please close this bug as WORKSFORME, otherwise, post a comment letting us know it is still an issue.

Comment 4

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.x or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.