715126 - Firefox 9 does not launch after upgrade (Windows XP, x86)

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Untriaged, defect)

Description

[jbutley]

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; .NET CLR 3.5.21022; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET4.0C; .NET4.0E; InfoPath.1)

Steps to reproduce:

Upgrade installer automatically upgraded version 8.0.1 (verified working). Once applied, installer exited successfully. I then launched Firefox via a shortcut in the quick launch menu. 


Actual results:

Upon launching Firefox from quick launch or start menu, a dialog box appears for a fraction of a second then disappears. The firefox.exe process is added to Task Manager each time the shortcut is executed, but no program UI ever launches.

I have also tried reinstalling manually from firefox.com, and rebooting but this does not change the issue in any way. A coworker having the same issue reverted back to 8 successfully. We are behind a firewall and use an enterprise antivirus solution, but that has not affected previous upgrades.


Expected results:

Firefox 9 should have updated and launched successfully.

Comment 1

[Tim (fmdeveloper)]

Can you start Firefox in Safe Mode? http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode

Can you get to the profile manager? http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Basic%20Troubleshooting#w_8-make-a-new-profile

Comment 2

[jbutley]

I can't start in safe-mode (either using shift or via command line). I noticed via command line that firefox.exe exits successfully, but the UI never comes up, even though it appears in Task Manager:
Image Name	CPU	Mem Usage
firefox.exe	00	33,992K

Using Start -> Run -> firefox.exe -p did actually open profile manager (see ProfileManager.gif) but strangely enough, if I hit ANY keyboard key while the profile manager window was active, it immediately exited. If I got creative and used the mouse and the clipboard while the program was not active, I was able to create a new profile "firefox9test", but using that profile had the same results.

Comment 3

[jbutley]

Attachment: Window screen capture of profile manager after adding new profile

This window disappears if any keyboard key is pressed.

Comment 4

[jbutley]

*** WORKAROUND FOUND ***
Based on suggestions from others, I copied firefox.exe and renamed it "whatever.exe". Then, when I double-clicked that, it opened as expected and went to the "first-run" URL. Sounds to me like a bad registry key somewhere. Any idea how to resolve?

Comment 5

[Tim (fmdeveloper)]

That sounds like software interfering with Firefox - try the steps in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Firefox%20will%20not%20start

Comment 6

[Tim (fmdeveloper)]

Reporter -> Any update? Did you find something interfering with Firefox?

Comment 7

[jbutley]

Yes, it was antivirus software interfering with Firefox. Once a service pack upgrade was applied, firefox.exe was again allowed to launch as normal.