Blank TB screen after version change to 68.4.2

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kruppe
Posts: 3
Joined: February 8th, 2020, 11:51 am

Blank TB screen after version change to 68.4.2

Post by kruppe »

Hello everybody, I had an update at Debian Linux testing for TB to 68.4.2 (64-Bit). Since that time a get only a blank TB screen, no mails, no folder, accounts. After a few minutes the password widget appears and I can put in the password. Sometimes I get a notification for a new mail. My TB installation is rather large 3.2 GB of mails and I have one extension: enigmail. I guess it has something to do with the new version of TB and it needs to create a new index for all my mails of 3.2 GB. And it seems that TB is pretty busy because when I start TB together with strace there is a lot of activity. But I waited now for several hours to let TB reorganize it's index. Now Im running out of patience. What can I do save my mails?

Thank you in advance
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tanstaafl
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Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Blank TB screen after version change to 68.4.2

Post by tanstaafl »

Thunderbird doesn't need to create new folder indexes when you upgrade. That normally only occurs when a folders content changes. The SQL database used by global search/indexing can get corrupted causing it to keep indexing forever. It builds a search index, which is something quite different than folder indexes. You might be running into that, though normally if that occurs it has nothing to do with a upgrade.

Try unchecking tools -> options -> advanced -> general -> "enable global search/indexing" and restart. If that works around the problem then delete the "global-messages-db.sqlite" file (might want to delete global-messages*.* instead to play it safe as there are journal files) in the profile and restart. Thunderbird should rebuild the database. That will cause temporary performance problems but shouldn't make Thunderbrid unusable, and I'd expect it to be back to normal within an hour.

help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder will launch windows explorer at your current profile.

If that doesn't help, just to be thorough, try starting Thunderbird in safe mode either via "help -> restart with add-ons disabled" or by holding down the Shift key when double clicking on the Thunderbird shortcut.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Search_-_Thunderbird
kruppe
Posts: 3
Joined: February 8th, 2020, 11:51 am

Re: Blank TB screen after version change to 68.4.2

Post by kruppe »

Hello tanstaafl, if you mean edit -> preferences -> advanced then I cannot reach this dialoge. I can only open the Help -> About Thunderbird window. I can open the address book but it's also blank. Activity Manger is also responding but it's also empty/blank
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tanstaafl
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Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Blank TB screen after version change to 68.4.2

Post by tanstaafl »

edit -> preferences is the equivalent of tools -> options under Windows. help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder will launch whatever file manager your distro uses at your current profile.

I suggest you delete the global-messages*.* files in your profile. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1276755 mentions that works for some people (look at last two posts).
kruppe
Posts: 3
Joined: February 8th, 2020, 11:51 am

Re: Blank TB screen after version change to 68.4.2

Post by kruppe »

Hi tanstaafl, you saved my .... month. This really worked. I ended TB made a backup of the whole .thunderbird dir deleted global-messages-db.sqlite and started TB again. And I have everything back again.
This issue is solved

Thank you very much :)
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