445123 - Bookmarks become dead unmovable & non-editable blocks in my bookmarks toolbar and folders

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Bookmarks & History, defect)

Description

[Clyde Rivers]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0

When I click on the star to edit the bookmark all information is blank. I can't move or place the affected links anywhere. After repeatedly trying to add a particular bookmark back into my toolbar that I managed to remove using a synchronization program the bookmark did not appear. Upon restarting restarting browser all attempts that appeared to have done nothing appear as several clones with correct titles. Attempting to delete any of those clones will not do anything as the delete function appears to not have any affect with these certain bookmarks. Checking the properties in order to fix the link shows that there is no information for the bookmark, not even the title which is clearly visible within my Bookmarks Toolbar. Dragging is bookmarks doesn't do anything. I've been using Firefox 3 for awhile now and I'm not sure what could be causing it. I've run Firefox in Safe Mode with all forms of combinations of the different options, including disabling all add-ons and still the bookmarks in question remain dead blocks within my bookmarks toolbar. Trying to delete bookmarks in the Organize Bookmarks area also is impossible.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Start Firefox.
2. Attempt to use one of two particular bookmarks within my toolbar.
3. After that fails, attempt to edit bookmark.
Actual Results:  
Bookmark does not follow link. Properties for said bookmarks appear blank in all fields.

Expected Results:  
For the bookmarks to work as they have for all previous weeks of existence.

Comment 1

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

It's not clear to me what is going on.
Maybe you could try exporting your bookmarks (Bookmarks -> Organize bookmarks -> Import & Backup -> Export as HTML) and then import it in a new profile?
You can also create a new profile, delete file places.sqlite and folder bookmarkbackups in this profile and then copy the bookmarks.html into this new profile. Advantage of the last method is that it will put all folders on the correct spot.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Creating_a_new_Firefox_profile_on_Windows

Comment 2

[Clyde Rivers]

To clarify, two certain sites that I commonly visit have become impervious/immune to being bookmarked. Adding them to my toolbar will create non-functional bookmarks when I restart Firefox. Their information cannot be edited and they cannot be deleted by traditional means. 

Recently one of the bookmarks I had been trying to find with the Smart Location Bar brought up a result that had the appropriate tags on it for the specific site I had been seeking (that cannot be bookmarked) and yet the tags were placed onto a different site. It seemed as if the bookmark I had been searching for had taken on the attributes of another site I had visited and the only evidence that this happened is that it still retained the same tags that it once had (which is why it popped up in my Smart Location Bar upon searching for it); but alas, the actual site it linked to was not the correct one-- it was just some other random site I have visited in recent history.

I hope this makes the situation clearer. Two sites I commonly visit have become anti-bookmark sites of sorts. Yet, it has nothing to do with the sites-- it's Firefox getting crossed wires somewhere I assume.

Comment 3

[Clyde Rivers]

I was able to get my old bookmarks back by starting a new profile, but unfortunately all of my old settings and add-ons have been lost in the process. They still exist in the old default profile (the profile with two sites that could not be bookmarked), but now my optimized browser is optimized no longer with this new profile. Back to square-one defaults for me, it seems. I hope the Mozilla team is eventually able to discover what corrupts bookmarks. In the old corrupted profile, it was not able to export HTML of my bookmarks; I tried it multiple times in multiple locations and it just would not work.

Comment 4

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

You can copy files like prefs.js (your settings) key3.db and signons3.txt (both) (your passwords) to your new profile. See http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Backing+up+your+information 
Sounds like your places.sqlite (the file where all bookmarks and history is kept) has become corrupted, possibly by an add-on. A good way to prevent loss of bookmarks & history is to make a daily copy of the places.sqlite or maybe of your entire profile folder.

Comment 5

[(mostly gone) XtC4UaLL [:xtc4uall]]

if you still have the "corrupt" places.sqlite file, perhaps you can delete all deleteable bookmark items, delete your history (so there's no private data left) and then attach the places.aqlite file within what it's left to this bugreport for further investigation!?

Comment 6

[westner]

I'm experiencing the same problem as Mr. Rivers with 2 of my 3 computers running 3.0.4. One computer has less than a dozen "dead" bookmarks, while the other has at least 30. They can not be edited, moved, or deleted and appear in multiple folders among valid bookmarks. When I create a new bookmark to replace a "dead" one, it works during the session; but when Firefox is restarted, the newly created bookmark also becomes "dead".

Comment 7

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

bug 431558 could help here.
most likely those entries have empty/invalid urls

Comment 8

[westner]

(In reply to comment #6)
> I'm experiencing the same problem as Mr. Rivers with 2 of my 3 computers
> running 3.0.4. One computer has less than a dozen "dead" bookmarks, while the
> other has at least 30. They can not be edited, moved, or deleted and appear in
> multiple folders among valid bookmarks. When I create a new bookmark to replace
> a "dead" one, it works during the session; but when Firefox is restarted, the
> newly created bookmark also becomes "dead".

Here is a suggested solution:

1.	Import the Mozilla Bookmarks and Settings into Google Chrome, using the Tool Icon. Note that the “dead” Mozilla Bookmarks were not imported.
2.	Save the Google Chrome Bookmarks as an html file to your desktop.
3.	Save the directory, “…\Documents and Settings\{User}\Application Data\Mozilla”, to your Desktop. Delete this directory after you’ve made sure that a good copy exists on your Desktop.
4.	Go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel and uninstall Firefox.
5.	Download and Install a fresh Firefox.
6.	When Firefox opens, import the Google Chrome html Bookmarks file from your desktop. All previously “dead” Bookmarks should now be gone. Proceed to Step 7 if you want to restore your cookies, saved passwords, Firefox add-ons, and other profile information.
7.	Close Firefox.
8.	Open both Mozilla directories in two separate windows, the one you saved to your desktop (old) and the one that was just installed in the Application Data directory (new). At this point it might get tricky because I didn’t document my steps. CAUTION: Do not change any folder names in the new Mozilla folder unless specified below.
9.	Go to the old Mozilla\Extensions folder and copy the contents into the new Mozilla\Extensions folder.
10.	Go to the old and new Firefox\Profiles\xxxxx.default folders in both windows.
11.	Copy and Paste any unique files from the old folder to the new folder. 
12.	Open Firefox to check that everything is OK. Close Firefox. Undo the last operation if a problem is found.
13.	Copy and Paste the rest of the files in the old folder into the new folder. Do only 2-3 files at a time and repeat Step 12 after each set. Do not copy bookmarks.html and places.sqlite (these files caused my Firefox to revert back to the old Bookmarks).
14.	Copy the files in the rest of the old folders and subfolders into the new corresponding folders and subfolders. Repeat Step 12 often. Do not copy the contents of the bookmarksbackups folder.

Although this process worked for me, I’m sure that the folks at Mozilla, or one of you Gurus, could simplify and streamline it. There are probably only one or two files that need to be repaired. The trick is to know which ones they are and how to fix them.

Comment 9

[westner]

Attachment: Proposed Solution to "Dead" Bookmarks

Comment 10

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

with 3.0.5 you should be able to backup and restore bookmarks to get rid of invalid ones.
in 3.1 we have preventive maintenance for that.
So i'm marking WFM for current trunk

Comment 11

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Bug 451915 - move Firefox/Places bugs to Firefox/Bookmarks and History. Remove all bugspam from this move by filtering for the string "places-to-b-and-h".

In Thunderbird 3.0b, you do that as follows:
Tools | Message Filters
Make sure the correct account is selected. Click "New"
Conditions: Body   contains   places-to-b-and-h
Change the action to "Delete Message".
Select "Manually Run" from the dropdown at the top.
Click OK.

Select the filter in the list, make sure "Inbox" is selected at the bottom, and click "Run Now". This should delete all the bugspam. You can then delete the filter.

Gerv