'profile is in use, choose another...' after hard crash

[Guest]

1.5 on Linux. Hard crash due to CPU temp limit. Everything is up and running, but Mozilla goes to the Profile Manager and refuses to start with my only profile.

There are NO tasks 'moz*' running anywhere.

This is stored in a file someplace, and I need to get Mozilla running ASAP. (I'm a web developer, and need to verify that pages look correct under Mozilla. It also happens to be my preferred browser, and it's got all of my EMail).

Thanks in advance!
Rick S.

[Guest]

But (a) My 1.5 obviously includes that code; and (b) the fix wasn't verified under linux.

I'll happily open a bug... what I'm hoping to get here is a hint about which file and which content specifies that the profile is currently in use. That's what I need to edit, ASAP.

Thanks again!

[Guest]

within the xxxxx.slt directory of the profile, there is a symbolic link file named "lock". The link points at a port number, or maybe a PID (???) on my own machine. The link is dead, so I copied the profile (for backup) and then removed the "lock" file from the real profile.

Everything now works. Off to BugZilla....

[fondacio]

The lock is supposed to be there. It was originally implemented to prevent two instances of Mozilla from using the same profile at the same time. So it's not a bug, it's a feature. However, it's understandable that after a crash the lock is still there and you need to manually remove it.

[Guest]

ROFL! This was a widely used joke among many Developers and Support Persons in my former location (Minnesota, USA... Cray Research, CNT, Comten) whenever our code did something really stupid. The relevant bugID is <A HREF="http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=151188">151188</A>

There was another bug which more precisely matches my complaint (The UI should tell the User what symlink/file to delete if the user is SURE that the profile is not currently in use.) But this was closed as a Dup of 151188

I didn't find 151188 until, via my nervous research, I found that my problem was related to something named "lock". The summary for 151188 doesn't even contain the phrase which was offered by the Profile Manager error message, "in use", and so I didn't find it.

If it made <B>me</B> nervous (searching bugzilla and this forum, and backing up my profile, and wondering how long it would take to get back to my Email), then there is a definitely problem for which <B>normal</B> end users need a hint in the UI. I've added a comment to 151188, which has been open for 15 months as a "severe" bug. Thanks for your discussion!

[fondacio]

ROFL! This was a widely used joke among many Developers and Support Persons in my former location (Minnesota, USA... Cray Research, CNT, Comten) whenever our code did something really stupid.

And not only there. So it's no coincidence I put it like that.

[wmgoree]

I'm running Moz 1.4 on Gentoo, so as usual I'm not sure whether this problem is in the application or the distro. After a kernel upgrade and hard crash I got the "choose a profile" dialog box. I only had one profile, and I chose it, but all of my preferences were lost once I chose it. I also can no longer save any preferences except for bookmarks between Mozilla sessions (even things like "don't keep asking me to confirm sending unencrypted information").

I didn't have the "lock" file I've heard mentioned related to this, so I couldn't delete it.

I have a file in ~/.mozilla/$WEIRD_STRING.slt named $SOME_NUMBER.s that contained encrypted usernames and passwords, but Mozilla isn't recognizing them anymore (password manager comes up empty and the browser doesn't remember my passwords for me anymore. Have I lost the decrypt key to this file entirely? Where would it normally be?

Is there a way to get Mozilla to start using this password file again? And is there a way to get it to start remembering my preferences between sessions again?

Thanks...

[wmgoree]

Hmm.. mozilla created another password (*.s; this appears to store passwords but I'm not sure) file. But it's not using it or the other one (it still doesn't remember any passwords and password manager is empty).

Does anybody have an idea what's going on here? Why doesn't Mozilla remember anything anymore?

[Guest]

I emerged firebird 0.6.1 and copied the original files to the .phoenix folder. Fixed the problems; just as well since I like firebird better anyways.