FxExt: "An error occurred while trying to find updates for

[nuncus]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.6) Gecko/20091201 Firefox/3.5.6 - Build ID: 20091201220228

Folks:

For the last two versions of Fx at least, every time I go into the Add-Ons dialog window and ask Fx to search for updates to my current extensions, I receive the following message for each search, for each extension:

"An error occurred while trying to find updates for xxxxxxxx extension."

OK, I "searched" the forums on the problem; but, although I got some "possibles," I don't really have an answer to my question.

As I understand from my forum search, the "Mr. Tech Toolkit" add-on has a bug in it. The recommended "fix" is apparently to uninstall Fx, uninstall Mr. Tech, reinstall Fx and then re-install Mr. Tech.

I have verified that Mr. Tech is the cause of the nonstandard "error message" because, when I uninstall Mr. Tech (or disable it), then restart Fx, the search for updates for add-ons proceeds normally and the message, if no update for a particular extension is found, states simply that "No updates for xxxxx were found."

BUT, I also recall seeing something in my search that there are some residual Mr. Tech files that need to be uninstalled along with Mr. Tech's uninstallation in order to get the "fix" in.

So, sould someone please correct the steps I undertook, so I can try again?

Steps I undertook:

1. Disable Mr. Tech;

2. Uninstall Fx.

3. Reboot.

4. Re-install Fx.

5. Re-activate Mr. Tech.

I also tried this:

1. Uninstall Mr. Tech.

2. Uninstall Fx.

3. Reboot.

4. Re-install Fx.

5. Reinstall Mr. Tech 6.0.4.

I still get the error message.

After the uninstallation of Fx, should I just delete everything in the Fx Program folder hierarchy except "plug-ins" folder and THEN reinstall Fx?

If I delete it all except for the plug-ins folder, does that mean I literally have to rebuild my entire Fx all over again from scratch? Or is this just a matter of getting rid of a corrupt .rdf file in the Fx Installation folder. I am recalling that Mr. Tech can cause some corruption in the .rdf file in the Fx Installation Folder.

In other words, if possible, I'd like to shoot this problem with a rifle instead of with the proverbial shotgun.

Perhaps one of you knows "which" specific file I should delete in the Fx Installation Folders to wipe out any alleged Mr. Tech corruption prior to reinstalling Fx, or prior to reinstalling Fx on top of itself, as the case may be.

Alternatively, does anyone know if this is a "true bug" caused by Mr. TEch or whether, instead, the Mr. Tech folks are simply using an error message instead of the standard Fx message (absent the presence of Mr. Tech) when "no update" is found. From the screen graphics, even with Mr. Tech installed, and the "error" message notwithstanding, it "appears" that the add-on search is occurring nevertheless inasmuch as the progress bar proceeds across the "thermometer" space and, when done, informs me that there are no updates to be found. Plus, a couple of add-ons that get updated frequently, like Noscript and Flashgot, always seem to get spotted when I start Fx (when there are updates for these extensions), get downloaded and installed just like they should, the Mr. Tech error message notwithstanding when I manually "REQUEST" a search for updates.

So, I am wondering if this is really a bug or whether Mr. Tech is just using a different text message when a search for updates produces no updates.

Any enlightment or guidance on this matter will be greatly appreciated.

TIA.

Best regards,

Nuncus

[Ken Saunders]

Hi Nuncus,

First of all, thanks for bringing this up because it motivated me to finally look into this for myself. I've just been too lazy to address it and because as long as you have Firefox set to search for Add-ons updates automatically (Tools > Options > Advanced > Update), your add-ons will stay up to date anyway.

Here is the reason for the issue and a fix taken from http://www.mrtech.com/forums/index.php/ ... 410.0.html.

"According to the thread on the Mozillazine forum the problem turns out to not be the MR Tech extension after all. The problem is caused by forcing the add-ons page to display in a tab instead of a separate window. If you don't tell MR Tech to display the extensions in a tab then FF will successfully check for updates. According to one poster on the other forum this is a FF 3.5 bug and it is not fixed by the 3.5.1 release."
The bug obviously hasn't been fixed yet.

In the future, you should (almost) never (never say never) have to uninstall Firefox due to an add-on issue.
Read up on Firefox's Profile Folder and Profiles (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Category:Profiles). If you do have an add-on issue, after uninstalling the add-on, you should make sure that there are no left-overs from it in your profile folder. There shouldn't be any, but sometimes things get left behind.

Thanks for the post. Now we both know.

[nuncus]

Dear Ken:

Thanks. It worked. Also note, and this confirms the "new tab" diagnosis," that, in correcting the problem, I noticed the following:

1. When I went to "Manager Hacks" > "Behavior" the first time and changed "New Tab" to "New Window," Fx did not initially accept the change upon "Restart Fx." I had to first change "Select Window Target" to "Sidebar," restart Fx, and THEN change to "New Window" and Restart Fx before the change became effective. I also had to "do"-"undo"-redo" the changeover several times before the add-ons "new window" would display the "Disable" and "Uninstall" buttons in the Mr. Tech add-on window. That would seem to indicate a "commit" failure or that Fx is not reading the configuration setting properly.

2. The "An error occurred..." message will also appear if I select the "Current window/Tab" as the target for displaying the add-ons while using Mr. Tech.

3. The "error" message does not display in any of the target locations that do NOT contain "tab." however.

So, using "anything" with "tab" in it as the target for display of the add-ons window seems to trigger the bug.

That was a close one; I was afraid I was either going to lose my Mr. Tech, or have to put up with a convoluted "set-and-reset" procedure to keep using Mr. Tech.

Mr. Tech is one of those indispensable add-ons for Fx that makes a lot of things more convenient than not having Mr. Tech installed. In other words, not having Mr. Tech installed is a little bit like not putting your underwear on before getting dressed the rest of the way: nobody else knows that you aren't wearing underwear, but you sure as hell do.

Thanks again for the heads up. I sure hope that, whatever the bug is, the developers fix it pronto. Since the bug is linked to "tab," lord knows what else in Fx might be affected by the bug. I mean, "tab" has become something of "core level" in the app at this point.

Nuncus

[Ken Saunders]

I've been using MR Tech Toolkit for several years and feel the same way that you do about it.
I consider it to be a default extension.
That's odd about jumping through hoops to get it to open in a new window.

I'm glad that it all worked out.

The underwear comment was pretty funny.