416367 - Web search results not returned properly

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Search, defect)

Description

[Don]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.12) Gecko/20080201 Firefox/2.0.0.12
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.12) Gecko/20080201 Firefox/2.0.0.12

I have been having trouble with the Search engine lately where I put in my search terms in window and I get very poor results.  I have put in some requests for "Martin Cabinets" or a certain restaurant, but I get a single page of results that are usually some kind of sponsored links.  When I looked at the page more closely, I saw something strange in the light blue bar near the top of the screen that is labeled "Web" and on the far right side it showed the time it took to get the search results, the number of results found, as well as the terms used.  The problem i see is that it says "sex" for search terms when I used nothing close to that word.  I can repeat the search and get the proper results, and I have had trouble replicating the problem, but it has occurred at least 3 times with different search terms.

Reproducible: Couldn't Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.
Actual Results:  
Inconsistent results.  Search error doesn't always repeat.


I have fully scanned my computer with AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5, AVG Anti-virus 7.5, and Lavasoft's Ad-ware 2007.  Everything says that my computer is clean and I have not really noticed any other problems.  I don't know about programming or HTML, but I can generally work around Windows and other programs with out problems.

Comment 1

[Don]

I tried searching the forums using several variations of the terms regarding my problem, but I haven't located anything similar.

Comment 2

[Don]

I have just noticed that this seems to occur for the first search when first opening Firefox.  I have been unable to reproduce the results with repeated or new searches while using the same session.  If I close out Firefox and immediately reload, it also does not repeat.  It does re-occur if I close Firefox and then re-open it after several minutes without reboot.  Again, only appears to be the first search.

Comment 3

[[:Cww]]

What search engine are you using?

Comment 4

[Don]

Sorry I'm still getting familiar with all the Firefox options.  It is the default search engine that is on the upper right side of the Firefox menu bar.  I just realized that I have the ability to customize the search engines on the menu bar.  I'm going to pay more attention to it, but I believe the problem occurred with a generic search engine.  On the list of browsers, it was listed only as "Search" in bold letters and it had a little blue dot as its icon.  I have removed that search from the list of options.  I'm wondering if I accidentally downloaded some malware disguised as a Firefox update, but everything scans as clean.  I'm going to keep pay more attention to the search engine that is selected when I first load up.
Not sure if this is relevant but...
I uninstalled Firefox, but the problem still occurred.  I then realized that the add-ons and themes had to be un-installed separately, but the problem still occurred after the re-install.

Comment 5

[Stephen Donner [:stephend] Not actively reading bugmail]

A) Can you screenshot this?  Either attach to the bug or upload to http://www.imageshack.us and post its link
B) Have you tried running in Safe Mode?

http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode

Comment 6

[[:Cww]]

Can you scan your computer for spyware?  A number are known to hijack results.

Also check that your hosts file wasn't hijacked and doesn't redirect you to a malicious site.

Since we're having a hard time reproducing, you may want to try technical support for help, most of us also help out there but the format is much better for one-on-one support.

Bugzilla is really not the best place to ask for technical support, it is a tracking system for actual bugs in various Mozilla products.  If the problem only happens on your computer or with a particular website, you should look into technical support resources. A number of resources are available for Firefox at: http://support.mozilla.com/kb/ .  In particular, you can get help with your question by searching the Knowledge base, or asking on our forums: http://support.mozilla.com/forum or using the newsgroup: mozilla.support.firefox or using the #firefox IRC chat room: irc://irc.mozilla.org/firefox

Since bugzilla is here to help developers improve the product, basic troubleshooting can be really helpful even if this really is a bug.  The person working with you can help confirm the issue and help in writing a much more descriptive and helpful bug report so developers can more easily make the fix.

Comment 7

[Ryan Flint [:rflint] (ping via IRC for reviews)]

Please see comment 6 for support options.