# Weird problem with Firefox



## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

My father has had a serious problem with Firefox for the last couple of days, rendering his totally incapable of using the browser. Every time he opens FF, it opens with this "restoring session" process going on and a blank page. It constantly says, "Restoring session," and Windows' little blue circle spins endlessly, not allowing him to use the browser at all.

He's tried *everything *he can think of, from uninstalling then re-installing FF, a system restore, malware and virus sweeps, shutting down processes and stuff via task manager--everything. However, nothing has worked. No matter what he tries, he simply is totally unable to use FF as a browser because it is stuck in this permanent "restoring processes" loop.

Any suggestions?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Does it launch if he holds shift while starting it?


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

No, same problem.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Hmmm, so safe mode doesn't work.


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## Matt9876 (Oct 11, 2007)

Uninstall/reinstall with Fire Fox version 5 fixed my machine after version 6 killed it.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Sounds like a Registry problem. A good registry cleaner like Registry Booster from Uniblue or one of the other registry cleaners reviewed by http://pcregistrycleaners.org/
may help him. I'd suggest he uninstall Firefox as before, then use IE to download one of the registry cleaners and run it to see if there are any orphans in the registry. That's a lot easier than using Regedit and less risky.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

I also wonder if some files in the user profile don't get removed on uninstall.


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## John W (Dec 20, 2005)

Lord Vader said:


> My father has had a serious problem with Firefox for the last couple of days, rendering his totally incapable of using the browser. Every time he opens FF, it opens with this "restoring session" process going on and a blank page. It constantly says, "Restoring session," and Windows' little blue circle spins endlessly, not allowing him to use the browser at all.
> 
> He's tried *everything *he can think of, from uninstalling then re-installing FF, a system restore, malware and virus sweeps, shutting down processes and stuff via task manager--everything. However, nothing has worked. No matter what he tries, he simply is totally unable to use FF as a browser because it is stuck in this permanent "restoring processes" loop.
> 
> Any suggestions?


Try right click on icon then Run as Administrator.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I agree with Cholly. There are preference or registry files that are not getting deleted.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Windows System Restore to a date prior to the issue.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

firefox -profilemanager
Kill the existing profile, then re-create it
Try again


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Marlin Guy said:


> Windows System Restore to a date prior to the issue.


He tried that. Didn't work.

I just got home and will pass along the info above and let y'all know if any of that helps.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

I like Firefox but annoyingly find MANY web sites or pages within a site that have a problem with it so I have to use IE for those sites. It is a lot less compatible than I would think it would be. Mainly pages with forms are problematic.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

I know. I hate that I can't view or even use some websites when I try to do so through FF.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Lord Vader said:


> I know. I hate that I can't view or even use some websites when I try to do so through FF.


As I recall, there is an IE plugin for Firefox that supposedly gets around those problems. Of course, Microsoft *demands* that you use IE for updates to their products.


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

TBlazer07 said:


> I like Firefox but annoyingly find MANY web sites or pages within a site that have a problem with it so I have to use IE for those sites. It is a lot less compatible than I would think it would be. Mainly pages with forms are problematic.


Download the IE View add on. You can then open those pages in Exploder right from Firefox.

Reason this happens is the Micro$oft realm has non open source components that many shops use rendering their sites Micro$oft $pecific.

Don "hate it when that happens" Bolton


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

Lord Vader said:


> He tried that. Didn't work.
> 
> I just got home and will pass along the info above and let y'all know if any of that helps.


Don't have the time at the moment but since FF is an open source project the Mozilla knowledge base for FF should yield joy.

What I believe is happening is that there is a file somewhere that is causing FF to believe it needs to do a restore only there is no data from which to do so. Had this happen back in the early days of FF and it really was just deletion of a single file buried in the user directory somewhere as I recall.

Don "the knowledge base is extensive it's knowing the search keys" Bolton


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

lugnutathome said:


> Download the IE View add on. You can then open those pages in Exploder right from Firefox.
> 
> Reason this happens is the Micro$oft realm has non open source components that many shops use rendering their sites Micro$oft $pecific.
> 
> Don "hate it when that happens" Bolton


That doesn't always work. There is a specific website of an Illinois government department that will NOT work at all with IE9 or any version of FF.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

lugnutathome said:


> Download the IE View add on. You can then open those pages in Exploder right from Firefox.
> 
> Reason this happens is the Micro$oft realm has non open source components that many shops use rendering their sites Micro$oft $pecific.
> 
> Don "hate it when that happens" Bolton


Thanks .... it still sucks but makes it a bit less sucky.


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## ghontz1 (Mar 25, 2010)

A lot of times I had to boot up in safe mode to make system restore work.


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Cholly said:


> As I recall, there is an IE plugin for Firefox that supposedly gets around those problems. Of course, Microsoft *demands* that you use IE for updates to their products.


IN Windows XP you can use the Help and Support Application and in Windows 7 Windows update is a separate application.

ON a separate note I'm not sure why the hate for Internet explorer. I've used both, IE & FF. Both have strengths and weaknesses.

I used to have to use IE to create warranty claims and order parts for Toshiba. They've now totally changed to a different system and either will work.

Knock wood! I haven't seen a BSOD on Windows on my computers for many years. OTOH I don't just keep blithely loading stuff into windows without thinking about it.

I did Hit a malicious site with FF and Ctrl-Alt-Del FF to close it. I ended up having to pull the Ethernet cable to let FF load and then close the windows since it kept trying to open the malicious site.


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Lord Vader said:


> That doesn't always work. There is a specific website of an Illinois government department that will NOT work at all with IE9 or any version of FF.


I have had problems like that with various commercial websites that we need here at work.


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

A certain transportation company that I'm working helpdesk for - their internal sites only support up to IE7 - not IE8 nor IE9. Same problem with too new version of Firefox. We've gone to telling the employees to download FF 3.6 if they need to access them from their home PC - and do not let FF do any updates !


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

Lord Vader said:


> That doesn't always work. There is a specific website of an Illinois government department that will NOT work at all with IE9 or any version of FF.


Then I am most appreciative I don't have to deal with that state government:grin: Between the feds and the state of Oregon, I can barely sit down as it is:eek2:

Don "they claim they are here to help us" Bolton


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

Lord Vader said:


> That doesn't always work. There is a specific website of an Illinois government department that will NOT work at all with IE9 or any version of FF.


The IE View merely passes the URL to your current version of IE and executes it so if doesn't work there, you have a compatibility issue with your IE version.

Don "the wonderful world of software. You pay for something flawed and then pay again to fix it" Bolton


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

scooper said:


> A certain transportation company that I'm working helpdesk for - their internal sites only support up to IE7 - not IE8 nor IE9. Same problem with too new version of Firefox. We've gone to telling the employees to download FF 3.6 if they need to access them from their home PC - and do not let FF do any updates !


We've had similar issues here internally and have worked around most of it by putting the URL into a CITRIX environment running a compatible browser in there rather than their desktop. Stick around the cloud will fix everything

Yeah the browser wars and the various non standard implementations of what was supposed to be an open source ubiquitous environment has proven once again we all just can't play well together even when paid to do so.

Don "maybe I mis understood Open Source maybe they meant Open Sores?" Bolton


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

lugnutathome said:


> The IE View merely passes the URL to your current version of IE and executes it so if doesn't work there, you have a compatibility issue with your IE version.
> 
> Don "the wonderful world of software. You pay for something flawed and then pay again to fix it" Bolton


No, it's not a compatibility issue with my version of IE. The website itself states that users cannot complete what they need to complete unless they use IE8 or lower. IE9 or FF will not work. Period.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

firefox was a cool movie and game


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

houskamp said:


> firefox was a cool movie and game




Don "somebody just had to say that" Bolton


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox hangs#w_hang-loading-first-window

Don't know if this will help the OP or not

Also in the firefox profile directory at the user level it is possible teh places.sqlite (history file) has corrupted. Removing it may clear things, it will remove history.

Same directory sessionstore.js session file. Make sure there aren't any of these in the directory

in XP/2000
C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows login/user name>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile folder>

in Vista/7
C:\Users\<Windows login/user name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile folder>.

Much information on the support website off the Firefox Mozilla Links bookmark MozillaZine

Don "just a quick look I took" Bolton


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## drded (Aug 23, 2006)

You can defeat session restore in Firefox. That and a lot more info can be found at: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Session_Restore

Dave


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