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Firefox help?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by efusco, Dec 30, 2008.

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  1. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I've been using FF for a long time. Had the latest version installed on a Vista laptop.

    A few months ago I started, occasionally, getting hang-ups when the browser tried to install some add-on updates. I'd first get a message saying it was unable to install due to another incidence of FF running, then it would go back to the install progress bar, seem to go to the end, then I'd get the 'another incidence' error and the cycle would begin again. This went on indefinately. If I shut down and rebooted and tried to open FF it would do the same.

    I found I could reinstall FF and it would work fine...so I assumed the software was getting corrupted somehow.

    So, tonight, I had the same issue. But this time when I tried to reinstall I got an error message box titled "7-Zip" that reads "Can not create temp folder archive". I uninstalled firefox thinking that would be the problem, but to no avail, same problem.

    I'm waiting for a Chat session at Mozilla, but no one is responding there. I've searched the "Knowledge Base" and found nothing. I googled and found a spanish or Italian site that seems to discuss a similar problem, but can't get it to translate enough to be of any help. So I seem to be stuck with IE on this laptop.

    Anyone have any good ideas how to get my FF to work again?
     
    #1 efusco, Dec 30, 2008
  2. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Were you logged in as an administrator when you did the re-install? It sounds like it could be a privilege issue.

    Tom
     
    #2 qbee42, Dec 31, 2008
  3. Mjolinor

    Mjolinor New Member

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    If you are using Windo$e then Google Chrome is worth looking at. I know it doesn't fix your Firefox and browsers are pretty personal but maybe it will fill you in till you find a fix at least and you never know, you may like it.
     
    #3 Mjolinor, Dec 31, 2008
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Evan, do you have any aggressive security software running? Sometimes this will lead to installation problems. You might want to turn it off for the duration of the installation.

    Tom
     
    #4 qbee42, Dec 31, 2008
  5. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    1)Yes, as admin
    2)Tried Chrome, don't like it as well and I like the features of FF.
    3)Nothing too aggressive and it's been on my PC forever without previous issues. I can shut it off, but I think it has something to do with the 7-Zip software.
     
    #5 efusco, Dec 31, 2008
  6. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    That makes sense. Rereading your OP, I wonder if the 7-Zip is trying to do some sort of automatic archive during the new installation? If it is 7-Zip, I would expect the problem to be in one of two areas:

    1) 7-Zip has done something funny to your registry and/or shared files and as a consequence your computer is borked up (technical term).

    2) 7-Zip is installed correctly but is running rouge.

    Have you considered uninstalling 7-Zip just to see what happens?

    Tom
     
    #6 qbee42, Dec 31, 2008
  7. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I got a reply from someone at the FF help forum (he has nearly 24k posts) who suggested a clean install and deleting my FF file folders...so I'll give that a try.
     
    #7 efusco, Dec 31, 2008
  8. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Oh, and I looked for that 7-Zip thing and couldn't find a program or anything...but I didn't search as thoroughly as I'm capable.
     
    #8 efusco, Dec 31, 2008
  9. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    7-Zip is an open source archiving program. It works like pkzip on steroids. Here is some information:

    7-Zip

    Hope the clean install works. What a pain.

    Tom
     
    #9 qbee42, Dec 31, 2008
  10. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Nothing's working so far. Here's the thread at the Firefox Support forum.

    Hang on update and can't reinstall due to 7-Zip error

    So far I've deleted all mozilla folders, uninstalled FF, deleted all my temp folders, and attempted clean installs multiple times. But it immediately hangs as soon as I hit the 'open' button with that same message.
     
    #10 efusco, Dec 31, 2008
  11. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Okay, Evan, this is starting to make a little more sense. One of the last posts replying to your question states that the Firefox installation program is a self-extracting 7-Zip archive. This means that the Firefox download has been compressed using 7-Zip, and it should expand automatically during the installation. Your error message suggests one of two things:

    1) The Firefox download is corrupted. If this is the case you need to re-download the Firefox installation file.

    or

    2) The Firefox download is okay, but you are running it in such a way that it can't create the temp directory necessary for expansion. When you start the Firefox installation, the self extracting file needs to create a temporary folder with an uncompressed copy of all of the files needed for the installation. The error message says that it can't create this folder. That can happen if the file and folder properties are set wrong, or if you run the installation as an unprivileged user. Look at the folder where you are running the Firefox installation and see if anything is funny.

    Tom
     
    #11 qbee42, Dec 31, 2008
  12. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Highly doubtful as I've downloaded it multiple times directly from the Mozilla site.

    or

    Thanks Tom, that makes sense...but I don't know exactly how to do what you're suggesting in that last sentence. I'm using IE to download the file and run it from there.
     
    #12 efusco, Dec 31, 2008
  13. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Try making a folder on your C: drive. Name it Install or something else that you can remember. Once you create the folder, right click on it and click on security or whatever name is used in Vista. You are looking for the file and folder privileges. Set all of the privileges to full control for everyone. Download the Firefox file to this folder, then double click it and see what happens.

    Tom
     
    #13 qbee42, Dec 31, 2008
  14. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I think I've got it...it has something to do with IE (big shock right!)
    I installed Google Chrome, downloaded FF, and it's installing right now!!!
    I'll report back when I've finished installation and confirmed all is well.
     
    #14 efusco, Dec 31, 2008
  15. Motobob

    Motobob Seaside Pearl...

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    I have very similar issues crop up in the last 3 weeks. I did a clean install, etc, but still have the issue it stops working, hangs up, and you cannot close it in the processes; says it is still running. I actually transferred my bookmarks and using IE right now with no issue. All speed is back. I "almost" thought it had something to do with "this" site as it seemed to happen after reading the forum.

    Bob

    Vista and firefox- no issues until a few weeks ago.
     
    #15 Motobob, Dec 31, 2008
  16. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I'm alive!!! Still hunting for my favorite add-ons to get back in place, but I'm alive. It's the damn IE loader that was the install issue. Hopefully with this nice clean install I'm good to go for a while!
     
    #16 efusco, Dec 31, 2008
  17. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    As far as Vista, I have a Vista Ultimate machine in my home office, I built it myself. I have had to reinstall Ultimate numerous times, until I updated the BIOS for the MSI motherboard

    There was a security update a couple of weeks ago that may have caused your grief. Some of the computers at the office had random glitches that went away once the updated update (Say that quickly three times, I dare you) came out

    Remember that even though you delete a file or folder, you don't change the Registry values. I don't recommend starting the Registry Editor, as any mistake on your part can really fubar things. A wipe and clean install is safer

    IE can cause issues for downloading. I only log into my Adobe account with Firefox, as I tried for three days to download the Acrobat Pro 9 update without success. First thing tech support told me: install Firefox and login using Firefox.

    Best of luck. Try heavy drinking, that always works for me
     
    #17 jayman, Dec 31, 2008
  18. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    So, how did that heavy drinking go? I'm about to start the rounds myself, so had better sign off
     
    #18 jayman, Dec 31, 2008
  19. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Guess you missed the posts above where I found my fix....but that didn't preclude the drinking. It is/was New Year's Eve!
     
    #19 efusco, Jan 1, 2009
  20. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Good news. I will censor my usual comments about IE and just say "happy new year!"

    Tom
     
    #20 qbee42, Jan 1, 2009
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