Mozilla stopped working

[Gnubie]

I am using 9.2 and I installed mozilla 1.4.1 and all went well until today when for some reason it wouldn't load up at all. I tried loading it from the shortcut, from the run thing, and from a terminal, and in every single case nothing happened. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and still nothing. I then uninstalled it and deleted every mozilla directory I could find then reinstalled it and still nothing. So now I am using Firebird, which is quite good and I can live without Mozilla but it would be nice to get it back. :unsure:

[Gnubie]

Seems no one can help me.

[mystified]

When you ran it from terminal did you get any error messages?

[chris z]

when you say that you deleted every Moz directory you could find, does that include the hidden ./mozilla directory in your /home directory? that ./mozilla directory contains user specific/profile info. if it got corrupted or damaged somehow, that could be causing Moz to crash. if you didn't delete the aforementioned directory, try doing so. or, just to make sure, if you're using KDE, do the following:

 

open Konqueror file manager, click on "view", click to "show hidden files", go to "kicker"->configuration->file tools (or something like that.......not at the 'nix box right now)->find files. run that, type moz in the find box, set it to look in all directories (/). delete whatever Moz files it finds. but make sure you enable hidden file viewing first. that way you'll know for sure if you deleted all old instances of Moz.

 

one other thought.........did you install or upgrade Sun Java recently? some Versions of Sun Java are incompatable with certain versions of Moz & will cause it to crash.

 

also, here's a Moz trouble shooting page that may help you out.....

 

Mozilla Help Page

 

finally, if all else fails, do as mystified suggested & run Moz from terminal & post any error output.

 

Chris

[Gnubie]

When you ran it from terminal did you get any error messages?

I don't get an error message or anything. :unsure:

 

By the way, I upgraded to mozilla 1.5 and still have the same problem.

Edited November 18, 2003 by Gnubie

[Gnubie]

when you say that you deleted every Moz directory you could find, does that include the hidden ./mozilla directory in your /home directory? that ./mozilla directory contains user specific/profile info. if it got corrupted or damaged somehow, that could be causing Moz to crash. if you didn't delete the aforementioned directory, try doing so. or, just to make sure, if you're using KDE, do the following:

 

open Konqueror file manager, click on "view", click to "show hidden files", go to "kicker"->configuration->file tools (or something like that.......not at the 'nix box right now)->find files. run that, type moz in the find box, set it to look in all directories (/). delete whatever Moz files it finds. but make sure you enable hidden file viewing first. that way you'll know for sure if you deleted all old instances of Moz.

 

one other thought.........did you install or upgrade Sun Java recently? some Versions of Sun Java are incompatable with certain versions of Moz & will cause it to crash.

 

also, here's a Moz trouble shooting page that may help you out.....

 

Mozilla Help Page

 

finally, if all else fails, do as mystified suggested & run Moz from terminal & post any error output.

 

Chris

Yep, I deleted that directory too.

 

I didn't install Java, but I did install a flashplayer rpm which I'm thinking may be the cause of my problem. I have already uninstalled that though, but the problem persists. And it's not really that mozilla is crashing, but that it isn't starting at all.

[chris z]

okay.........i'm (still) at work so i can't play on my 'nix box, but a few more questions.......

 

what type of installation of Moz are you doing? rpm? tar.gz? i can't remember exactly now (it's been a while since i did the Moz1.4 install) but if your using the tar.gz package, you have to run Moz as root first & i THINK the command is ./mozilla from the main mozilla directory. (IE: /usr/share/mozilla, for instance.......) also, i had a problem with the Flash plugin in Moz1.4. it caused symptoms similar to what you're describing. BUT, when i tried running Moz from terminal i was getting errors about my xfont server blah, blah, blah. what i did was reboot (yeah, bad Windows habit, i know :P ), uninstalled everything Moz, unistalled all plugins, reinstalled Moz, ran once as root from terminal, then installed plugins one at a time & tested each one. i got the Flash plugin from the Macromedia site. other than trying those steps, or the ones you've already done, i'm at a loss at the moment.

 

also........i really should be doing some work! B)

 

post back with any updates on your end. i'm sure somebody here can help you through this.

 

Chris

[Gnubie]

okay.........i'm (still) at work so i can't play on my 'nix box, but a few more questions.......

 

what type of installation of Moz are you doing? rpm? tar.gz? i can't remember exactly now (it's been a while since i did the Moz1.4 install) but if your using the tar.gz package, you have to run Moz as root first & i THINK the command is ./mozilla from the main mozilla directory. (IE: /usr/share/mozilla, for instance.......) also, i had a problem with the Flash plugin in Moz1.4. it caused symptoms similar to what you're describing. BUT, when i tried running Moz from terminal i was getting errors about my xfont server blah, blah, blah. what i did was reboot (yeah, bad Windows habit, i know :P ), uninstalled everything Moz, unistalled all plugins, reinstalled Moz, ran once as root from terminal, then installed plugins one at a time & tested each one. i got the Flash plugin from the Macromedia site. other than trying those steps, or the ones you've already done, i'm at a loss at the moment.

 

also........i really should be doing some work! B)

 

post back with any updates on your end. i'm sure somebody here can help you through this.

 

Chris

I was using the official 1.4.1 mozilla that came with mandrake 9.2 and it was an RPM. That didn't work, and yesterday I found an 1.5 rpm and that doesn't work either. :o

 

I don't know if this means anything or not, but I am using the epiphany web browser and that depends on mozilla to be installed and it works fine.

[chris z]

still at work........still stumped by your problem. unfortunately i'm busy tonight so i won't be able to offer anything new 'til tomorrow. between everything you've tried & has been suggested, i'd think one of those solutions would have worked.

 

i'm using MDK9.1 & Moz1.4 install from tar.gz. maybe your problems are MDK9.2 specific, in which case i wouldn't be able to help much more. :unsure: i've never used Epiphany, nor do i use Gnome so i can't comment on the relationship between Moz & Epiphany, either. (lotta help i'm being, huh? :o )

 

maybe a MDK9.2 user of Moz can come up with something for you. if not, i'll have time tomorrow to research & play a bit.

 

good luck,

 

Chris

[mystified]

Well I'm a Mandrake user but I don't use Mozilla. When you install are you doing it from command line? If not try uninstalling and reinstalling using urpmi and see if you get any error messages. I'd be sure and remove everything first. Like I said I'm not a Mozilla user but that's what I'd try. HTH

[fuzzylizard]

I think it is the Flash player that is the problem here. I had the same problem. Mozilla was working fine until I installed Flash and that just killed it. I would try to launch it from the command line and wouldn't get any errors. Mozilla would just not work.

 

I was able to install Mozilla 1.5 (downloaded from the mozilla.org website) and get it to work. However, I had uninstalled mozilla, deleted my .mozilla folder, and removed Flash and any corresponding dependancies.

 

If you do a search, you should find several other threads all dealing with the same problem (including mine).

 

However, I am not sure what to tell you to help solve the problem. Here is what I did:

 

deleted everything to do with Mozilla off my computer

uninstalled Flash

rebooted my computer and waited several days before doing anything else (this step may not be necessary)

installed Mozilla 1.5 (downloaded from the mozilla.org website and not the rpm install either) and installed that to its default directory

created a link on the desktop to launch it with

 

The above worked and I have been using Mozilla now for about 3 weeks like this.

 

Good Luck

[Gnubie]

I think it is the Flash player that is the problem here. I had the same problem. Mozilla was working fine until I installed Flash and that just killed it. I would try to launch it from the command line and wouldn't get any errors. Mozilla would just not work.

 

I was able to install Mozilla 1.5 (downloaded from the mozilla.org website) and get it to work. However, I had uninstalled mozilla, deleted my .mozilla folder, and removed Flash and any corresponding dependancies.

 

If you do a search, you should find several other threads all dealing with the same problem (including mine).

 

However, I am not sure what to tell you to help solve the problem. Here is what I did:

 

deleted everything to do with Mozilla off my computer

uninstalled Flash

rebooted my computer and waited several days before doing anything else (this step may not be necessary)

installed Mozilla 1.5 (downloaded from the mozilla.org website and not the rpm install either) and installed that to its default directory

created a link on the desktop to launch it with

 

The above worked and I have been using Mozilla now for about 3 weeks like this.

 

Good Luck

Yeah, I think we can be pretty sure the cause of the problem is that flashplayer rpm. I installed Mozilla 1.5 using a rpm package I found, it didn't work. :unsure:

 

Anyway, thanks everyone for the suggestions. If I don't get mozilla back I'll be fine, epiphany is not a bad browser at all. B)

[chris z]

a few more thoughts & things to try if you haven't already........

 

found some info on the Moz troubleshooting site........

 

- If Mozilla's user interface looks or acts weird, or if you double-click on the Mozilla icon and nothing happens (i.e. Mozilla won't start) it can be due to the following file: XUL.mfl (Linux: XUL.mfasl).

This file is used to cache Mozilla's user interface. Delete the file (Mozilla will re-create it) and the problems should disappear.

 

note: even though the following says different versions of Moz or Netscape, it could be a profile conflict with Epiphany. (just a guess :unsure: )

 

- Are you sharing one profile with Mozilla and Netscape 7 or different versions of Mozilla (e.g. 1.4 and 1.5)? While it is possible to have both Mozilla and Netscape 7 or different versions of Mozilla on the same PC (not recommended, in the latter case the different Mozilla versions need to be in separate directories) you need to create separate profiles for each application. Otherwise, you will experience profile corruption and problems with Mozilla. To learn how to create shortcuts that point to a specific profile, see this FAQ entry.

 

and here's a link to the proper Flash plugin & some instructions for install & compatability issues: (since you said you installed a Flash rpm, you may wanna try this tar.gz install instead)

 

Moz Flash Plugin

 

and (yet again) one more final thought.........

 

you keep saying that you're installing Moz from rpm's. if you haven't tried this already, try installing Moz from the tar.gz package instead.

 

Moz1.5 downloads

 

might be worth a shot. B)

 

Chris

Edited November 19, 2003 by chris z

[Gnubie]

a few more thoughts & things to try if you haven't already........

 

found some info on the Moz troubleshooting site........

 

- If Mozilla's user interface looks or acts weird, or if you double-click on the Mozilla icon and nothing happens (i.e. Mozilla won't start) it can be due to the following file: XUL.mfl (Linux: XUL.mfasl).

This file is used to cache Mozilla's user interface. Delete the file (Mozilla will re-create it) and the problems should disappear.

 

note: even though the following says different versions of Moz or Netscape, it could be a profile conflict with Epiphany. (just a guess :unsure: )

 

- Are you sharing one profile with Mozilla and Netscape 7 or different versions of Mozilla (e.g. 1.4 and 1.5)? While it is possible to have both Mozilla and Netscape 7 or different versions of Mozilla on the same PC (not recommended, in the latter case the different Mozilla versions need to be in separate directories) you need to create separate profiles for each application. Otherwise, you will experience profile corruption and problems with Mozilla. To learn how to create shortcuts that point to a specific profile, see this FAQ entry.

 

and here's a link to the proper Flash plugin & some instructions for install & compatability issues: (since you said you installed a Flash rpm, you may wanna try this tar.gz install instead)

 

Moz Flash Plugin

 

and (yet again) one more final thought.........

 

you keep saying that you're installing Moz from rpm's. if you haven't tried this already, try installing Moz from the tar.gz package instead.

 

Moz1.5 downloads

 

might be worth a shot. B)

 

Chris

Hmm, I dunno... it stopped working before I installed epiphany so I'm pretty sure that isn't the problem.

 

Where might I find this xul file? I have already deleted all the mozilla directories so if it was in there I have already deleted it, and it didn't work.

[chris z]

Where might I find this xul file? I have already deleted all the mozilla directories so if it was in there I have already deleted it, and it didn't work.

 

i'm at work on the Win2K box, but if my memory serves me well, that file should be located in:

 

/home/yourusername/mozilla/profiles/default/bunchofnumbers& letters.slt/

 

if i'm a bit off in that path, you could always do a search files & find out of it's there that way.

 

but, if you truly have deleted all things Mozilla, then that file may well not be there. note, that Mozilla directory is hidden, so you need to have hidden files viewable as i noted earlier.

 

if you haven't gotten Mozilla working yet & still want to, i would try as i mentioned above. get the tar.gz file from the Mozilla download site & install Mozilla that way. it's very easy to do, just read the provided install info at the Mozilla site. your troubles with Moz may have something to do with a corrupted or bad rpm install. if you go this route & Moz works, then move on to getting your plugins installed. do one at a time & test after each one. that way it'll be easier to catch a problem & know what's causing it. and, for Java, i would suggest using the Java rpm in the dowloads section of this forum. Java can be a pain to get working properly in Moz. the rpm provided here seems to work perfectly & you won't need to bother with symlinking & going through Java install hell.

 

Chris