So I installed a new Fedora Core 5 on my laptop, and was trying to build the drivers for the wireless. Step one was to do an upgrade of the OS.

In the midst of doing this, I was attempting to listen to a podcast from Firefox. I don't know whether this happened as a result of the upgrade, or of the podcast, but at some point, Firefox crashed, taking down all running instances of it. And it wouldn't reload. When I click on the icon, I get a little tab in the taskbar saying "Starting web browser" which hangs on for a few seconds, then disappears.

I completed the upgrade, and rebooted. But Firefox still won't load. I removed it with yum, and then reinstalled it. Firefox still won't load.

Does anyone know what's going on, and how to fix?

[Update on Wednesday morning]

OK, I removed Firefox, removed the folder containing its settings and reinstalled. All is well now. Except I had to resurrect my settings from scratch.

I've had this happen when the system was out of memory (or some other critical resource). I hate to ask (this being Linux) - but have you rebooted?

If you have, then the problem is definately with your Firefox settings, in your home directory.

Yes, I did reboot. What kind of problem with the settings? What would I even look for?

Might ROAR it too.. Rip Out And Reinstall.

Mac

I did that. I did 'yum remove firefox' and then 'yum install firefox'. No joy.

Maybe I should remove it, then blow away the settings, then reinstall.

I've had this phenomenon a couple of times on my Windows laptop, so it's not just your OS that this happens with.

I ended up uninstalling Firefox and deleting the folders that contain the settings separate from the software (Firefox's way of ensuring your settings and extensions survive the upgrade priocess). Then as I was reinstalling extensions I identified one that was apparently creating the problem.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case here too.

The firefox settings are probably saved (seperate from the program) in a hidden directory in your home directory (ls -a, or no doubt there are settings in file managers to see it). Maybe it's trying to reload a web page it can't display properly or something...

First, though, try launching firefox from the command line to see if you get a helpful error message. If you want to get really hardcore, you can install "strace" and use that to see exactly what firefox is doing.

Some of the firefox command-line options might be helpful, too (-jsconsole, or maybe -ProfileManager)?

Yeah, unistall it, then manually clean your registry with a search for "firefox"

Also remove any lingering folders that may be related, that should take care of it. BTW, be careful with the registry, as if you need to hear that. :)

Mac

Hey Rand

............

You know what I mean.

Dennis

"trying to build the drivers for the wireless"

Build The Drivers? :(

Also, after uninstalling and removing folders etc., shut the machine down and let it sit for about five minutes, even with a laptop, that should clear out resident memory, where a lot of these programs can reside.

Final though on registry cleaning, also search the registry for "run" keys and make sure nothing is running at startup that doesn't need to run.

REGEDIT EDIT Find "run" (minus the quotes) and select keys only. then check each entry it finds and also be sure to look at the next folder on the left, you may see "run now" or others, check those folders too.

Mac

Yeah, unistall it, then manually clean your registry with a search for "firefox"

There is no registry, and "regedit" is useless. This is Linux.

Build The Drivers?

Yes. It's not as bad as it sounds. There's program that runs, and finds the firmware in the Windows driver, than autoconverts it to a Linux module which can then be installed.