Firefox keeps crashing on startup

[Thasaidon]

Hi Folks

Here's the deal.

From one day onto the next, out of the blue, Firefox (version 18.0.1) refuses to start up.
I get the crash reporter screen as soon as Firefox tries to start, stating that Firefox has crashed.
If I click on "Details" nothing happens.
If I click on "Restart Firefox" I immediately get the next Crash Reporter screen.
No Windows updates were installed, and no Firefox updates either from what I can tell.
I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit with SP1 btw...

So I tried starting Firefox in "Windows Compatibility mode" using Windows XP SP3.
Now Firefox starts, including all plugins, without any problems.

I can also start Firefox in "Safe mode" by holding down the SHIFT key when double-clicking on the Firefox icon.



So while in safe mode, I typed about:crashes in the URL bar witch showed the following:
Submitted Crash Reports

bp-26e20406-2344-4d8a-8573-1fdf12130130 30-1-2013 16:07
bp-78a3f537-246c-4935-b640-463a42130130 30-1-2013 12:22
bp-59fad0f4-2f6f-474f-9728-3c8222130130 30-1-2013 12:22
bp-b7a55e47-00f5-4b3a-baff-5e6502130130 30-1-2013 12:19
bp-22f0a628-9181-40b3-a6fd-29a3e2130130 30-1-2013 12:18
161bf996-c6e4-4bb3-aae1-be96d5fbaff8 29-1-2013 19:45
(in the mean time, I have a whole lot more )

So then (still in Firefox safe mode) I went into the Add-ons Manager and uninstalled all Extensions.
Then I disabled all plugins (which btw are all up to date according to Firefox itself):
Java Deployment Toolkit 7.0.110.21 10.11.2.21
Java(TM) Paltform SE 7 U11 10.11.2.21
Adobe Acrobat 11.0.1.36
Shockwave Flash 11.5.205.146
Silverlight Plug-In 5.1.10411.0
VLC Web Plugin 2.0.2.0
Wacom Tablet Plugin 2.1.0.2

Then I closed Firefox, but when trying to start Firefox again in normal mode, it crashed again.

I have also tried uninstalling Firefox completely, then running a registry cleaner to make sure everything was really gone.
Then downloading and installed Firefox 18.0.1 again.
But as soon as it started it crashed again.

I again uninstalled Firefox, ran the reg-cleaner but this time I installed Firefox version 9 (which I still had on a backup drive), but this version too, crashes on start-up.
And I had the same with version 15 which I also still had on the backup drive.
So whichever version I install, they all crash at start-up unless I start them in compatibility mode or safe mode.

I even uninstalled all the programs which had a plugin embedded in the browser, so there were no plugins left.
And again, uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled it. But still Firefox crashes at start-up.
And finally I even updated my graphics drivers and followed this thread:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/up ... owser=fx18

Since I've done everything I can think off, I'm at a loss as to what the problem could be.
So if anyone has any idea, please let me know.
I hate to switch browsers, and I don't want to run things in "compatibility mode" just to have it working, because it did work before.
Also, the same Firefox (18.0.1) with all of the same plugins and add-ons run fine on all my other systems.

In the mean time, here are some more crash reports:
bp-bf8fa5b0-a0a6-48ce-80b9-645792130130 30-1-2013 18:29
bp-f18b9174-5307-41af-be74-aa9972130130 30-1-2013 18:29
bp-ed27ee58-379f-4fa1-a824-6ce352130130 30-1-2013 18:16
bp-f73252bd-c702-4907-8657-95cc02130130 30-1-2013 18:11
bp-47789933-a64c-4f06-b9fd-282002130130 30-1-2013 18:09
bp-266a8f07-21ed-4f5f-bb5a-ba2f32130130 30-1-2013 18:08
bp-6c391ece-ae68-4935-b604-51ddb2130130 30-1-2013 18:08
bp-b25c1252-34f7-4785-b5ae-a8a462130130 30-1-2013 18:06

I really hope someone can help here, because I've been trying to fix this for a few days now, and it's really stating to frustrate me.

Any help would be appreciated.

[DanRaisch]

Uninstalling and reinstalling the application itself has absolutely no impact on your Profile, which is where saved preferences like your home page and user selected settings reside, and where most problems arise.

Do you have the same problem if you create a new profile and test it with no extensions or non-default themes installed?
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager

[smsmith]

Did you try turning off hardware acceleration in Tools -> Options -> Advanced, General: Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available?

[Thasaidon]

@DanRaisch

yup, after installing Firefox, I removed all files and folders related to Firefox and then ran the registry cleaner to clear the registry of all related items.
But that didn't work

@smsmith
yup, like I said in the start post, I even updated to the latest video drivers and followed the instructions on the below page, which include disabling the hardware acceleration.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/up ... owser=fx18

However, I did all this with Firefox version 15, because I didn't trust version 18 anymore, because that's the version that started the trouble.
I am currently in the process of uninstalling and removing everything related to Firefox and will reinstall a clean copy of version 18 again.
Then I will try the hardware acceleration setting again.

Both of you, thanks for the quick reply.
I'll keep you posted.

[Thasaidon]

Just a small update...
I tried running a portable version of Firefox which I had on my USB stick... same problem.
The same goes for my TOR Browser (which uses Firefox too), it too crashes when the embedded Firefox is started.

Both however, always worked just fine on the same system and still work fine on any other system I have.

---edit---
Well I finished uninstalling and removing everything Firefox related on my system (also ran the reg-cleaner again).
I downloaded and reinstalled Firefox 18, but it still crashes.
I ran it in safe mode, disabled the hardware acceleration, and ran it again in normal mode...

guess what... it works again!

The weird thing is, I already tried disabling the hardware acceleration but it didn't work.
So why it works now? I haven't got a clue.
The other weird thing is... why did this problem occur in the first place... There have been no changes to my system, no updates, nothing.

Ah well, I guess I'll never know. But at least it's working again.

Thanks for the help guys!

[dfoulkes]

The weird thing is, I already tried disabling the hardware acceleration but it didn't work.

I've read some posts around here... and, maybe it's dependent on either some Hardware or other software... or, many a combo... but, anyway... some users have had to not only restart Firefox but have ad to reboot their comp. ... so, maybe during your work a reboot was performed that worked out. Other than that... it's the mystery of this damn boxes

[smsmith]

I remember seeing something about that, too, now that you mention it. Weird. Maybe we should start asking those that required a reboot what type of graphics card they are using.

[dfoulkes]

Yeah, and I seem to recall that one of the more-used cards was having problems too... not sure it was specially causing crashes though.

EDIT... it was this one...
Firefox 18 slow and laggy UI and scrolling • mozillaZine Forums

[Thasaidon]

I have an ATI Radeon HD 6800 (2gig version) if that helps.
But I have this card in my system for quite some time now, and it never gave any problems with Firefox.
Also, the last time I updated the drivers (beside from this week to try and solve this problem) was more than 6 months ago.

So I just don't get it...

I would understand a problem like this appearing after some update or system/program change. But that just wasn't the case.
Also, what I failed to mention was that after every uninstall, removing all Firefox files and registry cleaning, I rebooted my system.
So why disabling the hardware acceleration didn't work the first time, and worked another time... I don't know.

And what's even weirder, is that when the problem was there, it was there in ALL versions of Firefox.
I tried version 9, version 15, version 18, the beta 19, and even the portable version 17 and 18.
Even the embedded Firefox version in the TOR browser
They all had the same problem, just out of the blue from one day onto the next.

go figure...