Firefox stuck in a search loop!

User Help for Mozilla Firefox
jacks91
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Joined: October 4th, 2005, 3:50 pm
Location: Southern CA

Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

When I turn on the desktop (Dell XPS8910) Firefox 72.0.2 comes up stating "searching for updates", then just continues searching. Never stops which of course won't let me access the net. If I then do a restart of the computer, it usually works OK but there's no reason this should happen. Been driving me nuts for a few weeks! So far only workaround seems to be another restart! Note that Google Chrome does not have the problem but I'd prefer to use my old standby, Firefox. Only way I can get out of it is a restart or shut down and reboot. Would appreciate any advice as to how to solve this. :cry:
Jack
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malliz
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by malliz »

How do you shut Firefox down?
And what security software and or cleaning software if any do you use
What sort of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.
"Terry Pratchett"
jacks91
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Joined: October 4th, 2005, 3:50 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

I shut it down only when I turn off the computer at bedtime using the standard W10 Pro shutdown procedure. Don't use cleaning software at all. Security is ESET Internet Security 13.0.24.0 along with Malware Bytes Premium 4.0.4. This did not happen prior to Firefox 72.0.2.
Jack
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malliz
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by malliz »

Do you shut Firefox down First before closing your computer?
To me it looks like one of your security programs is stopping Firefox checking for updates somehow
What sort of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.
"Terry Pratchett"
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therube
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by therube »

As a test, create a new clean Profile & see if that opens up cleanly?

If it does, go back to your original Profile & see if that also opens cleanly?

If it did not, then... try...

A place like; C:\ProgramData\Mozilla\updates, with FF closed, rename the updates directory to \updates-OLD.

Start FF & see if that changes anything?
If not delete the newly created \updates directory, & rename the \updates-OLD back to \updates.
(about:support should show you the actual location of the updates directory in case it differs from above.)
Fire 750, bring back 250.
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jacks91
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Joined: October 4th, 2005, 3:50 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

I'm not sure about how to shut down Firefox correctly. FYI, I'm now age 92 - old retired communications engineer When I started in electronics radios still glowed in the dark LOL. Body falling apart but brain still mostly functional (I hope). Haven't made any changes to system as far as I can remember. I just tried re-installing Firefox earlier today by overwriting the existing installation and it just sat there saying it was installing for over 30 minutes. Never completed. Frankly I'm not at all familiar with profiles, etc. as I never had any problems in the past so have no experience with them. BTW, I'm on Pacific time. I'll look into it today and see what happens. I'll try some of the suggestions and get back to you all. Thanks for the help!
Jack
jacks91
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

Still unable to locate the profile folder. Murphy appears to be alive and well. I'll wait to hear from someone who can at least set me on a proper course. Guess I have a case of the galloping stupids today! :?
Jack
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BuddhaNature
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by BuddhaNature »

To find your profile folder do the following:

1. In Firefox click to open a new tab.
2. In the address bar of the new tab enter this address about:support then hit the return/enter key.
3. Look at the table titled Application Basics and in that table, in the blue column, look for an entry titled Profile Folder.
4. To the right of that title/entry you will see a (grey) button titled Open Folder. Click on that button and Firefox will open the profile folder for you in Windows Explorer.

I think that if you are going to do any work in the Profile Folder then it is best to shutdown Firefox before doing any work inside the Profile Folder. Once you've finished doing your work in there, then restart Firefox.

When people are advising to shutdown Firefox properly at the end of a session they mean just close the Firefox window(s) by clicking on the 'x' close window button -- just like you would do for any other windows. Do not let Windows close down Firefox for you at the end of a computing session -- close Firefox down manually.
OS: Windows 10 Pro. x64
jacks91
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Location: Southern CA

Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

So after three restarts this morning I finally got Firefox to state "Firefox is up to date". The "searching for updates" problem seems to be getting worse. I have always shut down Firefox by simply shutting down the computer. So now I'll try to find the profile folder and see where we go from here. I'll be in and out today with physical therapy appointments so will work on this as I have time. Might just leave the computer on until I can get things solved!
Jack
jacks91
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

OK so I found the folder. Is this the place where I rename the profile folder to *.old, then shut Firefox down and restart it? Or do I shut down the computer to get the proper restart?
Jack
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LIMPET235
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by LIMPET235 »

Hello Jack,
You wrote...
I have always shut down Firefox by simply shutting down the computer.
What "BuddhaNature" mentioned about closing Firefox MANUALLY & not letting Windows shut it down is very important.
It has to finish writing to disc before it closes, so it need a few seconds, like 10 or more.

&...Just so as you know a little more about the Profile folder, please ref; this KB article...
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder
[Ancient Amateur Astronomer.]
Win-10-H/64 bit/500G SSD/16 Gig Ram/450Watt PSU/350WattUPS/Firefox-115.0.2/T-bird-115.3.2./SnagIt-v10.0.1/MWP-7.12.125.

(Always choose the "Custom" Install.)
jacks91
Posts: 201
Joined: October 4th, 2005, 3:50 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

So now I'll try this tonight when I shut the computer down: Normally I just hit the shut down button in Windows 10 Pro. So I shall manually shut down Firefox by using the exit button in Firefox, wait about 30 seconds, then hit the shut down button. We'll see what happens in the morning. It only seems to happen when the computer is turned off for several hours. Does this make sense? BTW, everything in my home (two computers, router, modem and TV) are on separate UPS power supplies. We don't' have many power glitches but just in case!
Jack
jacks91
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Joined: October 4th, 2005, 3:50 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

So - Firefox just automatically installed V73.0! Think I'll delay any more testing until tomorrow and just see if the problem is still there. Note that it only happened with V72.0.2! Let's hang loose and I'll update this post tomorrow sometime. Crossing the fingers, toes, etc.
Jack
jacks91
Posts: 201
Joined: October 4th, 2005, 3:50 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by jacks91 »

Curioser and curioser! Shut Firefox down last night, waited about 30 seconds and hit the shutdown key for Windows 10. This morning system including Firefox booted normally and Firefox showed "up to date". I thought the problem was solved - until I accessed Firefox to look at a banking account. Nothing happened (again!). Checked Firefox and sure enough, it was searching for updates! Only way out of it - again! - was another computer restart. Did that and now it's working just fine. Firefox shows up to date with version 73.0. Now what do I do next?

When I get to the profiles folder - is this where I rename the folder to "old" (without opening the folder) then restart Firefox to create a new profile folder?
:?
Jack
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BuddhaNature
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Re: Firefox stuck in a search loop!

Post by BuddhaNature »

Hello Jack,

"therube" suggested two ways to try and get some kind of handle on what may be implicated in the problem you are experiencing.

(1) -- Create a new 'test' profile and see if you still have the same problem while using the test profile.

(2) -- Depending on the result of the first test (with the test profile) rename the 'updates' folder to 'updates-OLD' Then test to see if that solves the problem.

So take this one step at a time and for now just create the new profile and see what happens with that. To do that do the following:

1. In Firefox open a new tab and in the address box enter about:profiles and then hit the return/enter key.

2. You will now see a list of the profiles you have that Firefox can use. In your case this will likely only show one profile and if you look carefully at the table of information on that profile you will see that it is set as the Default Profile -- indicated by the yes in the table. In any case, from here on in I'll refer to that profile as your original profile.

3. In the table look for the entry that is titled Root Directory. To left of that entry there will be a (grey) button titled Open Folder -- click on that button and Firefox will open that directory in Windows Explorer.

4. In Windows Explorer go up one level in the profile folder -- so that you can see your original profile folder but none of its contents. Now leave that Explorer window open, you just want to see what happens in there when you create your new profile.

5. Still keeping the about:profiles tab open, open another tab to this webpage: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/pr ... x-profiles
There will you will find instructions on how to create a new profile. Look under the section of the instructions titled Manage profiles when Firefox is open. Under that title you will see the following instructions:
Create a new profile: Click Create a New Profile and follow the prompts in the Create Profile Wizard (see the Creating a profile section below for details). After you finish creating the new profile, it will be listed in the Profile Manager. Click Set as default profile underneath that profile, if you want Firefox to use your new profile the next time you start Firefox.


Note that the last sentence of those instructions is in error. When you create the new profile Firefox will automatically set that new profile as the (new) Default Profile. (So just ignore that last sentence of the instructions.) In any case, when you create the new profile just name it as test -- I will refer to that new profile as test from here on in.

6. Now look carefully at the about:profiles table and you will see that Firefox has automatically set your test profile to (now) be the Default Profile. This means that the next time you shutdown and subsequently re-launch Firefox that Firefox will launch and load your test profile (not your original profile).

6. Now that you have created the test profile look in the Explorer window and you will see that Firefox has indeed created a folder titled test in the Profiles directory. Note that Firefox will append to the name test a string of random characters, so don't let that throw you off.

7. Now shutdown Firefox and give it a little while to exit cleanly.

8. Relaunch Firefox and it will launch and use the test profile.

9. Use Firefox for a while to see if the problem still shows up while using that test profile.

10. Whatever happens, report back here and let folks know what happened.

11. To revert back to using your original profile do the following:


1. In Firefox enter about:profiles in the address box and then hit the return/enter key.

2. In the about:profiles table look for the entry that is the entry for your original profile. At the bottom of that entry look for the (grey) button titled Set as default profile. Click on that button -- Firefox will then set your original profile as being the Default Profile. Shutdown Firefox, give it a little while to shutdown gracefully. Relaunch Firefox and you should find that on launch it is back to loading your original profile.


If at the end of the day you want to completely delete your test profile do the following.

1. Make sure that Firefox is using your original profile as the default.

2. Look at the entry for your test profile and below it you will see a (grey) button titled Remove. Click on that button and Firefox will offer the choice to delete or not delete the profile files. Choose according to what you want -- if you really are finished with the test profile then it will do no harm to delete the files.
OS: Windows 10 Pro. x64
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