Mozilla Troubleshooting

1. All image files now open in Mozilla.
2. Mozilla won't run after installation.
3. My screen display settings change when I open Mozilla.
4. Personal Toolbar is gone.
5. Mozilla saves a file with a wrong file extension. (or) When I click on a link to a WMV file, Mozilla displays text.
6. Mozilla keeps crashing in xpcom.dll.
7. Mozilla keeps crashing in APPCOMPS.DLL.
8. Registry.dat is getting bigger and bigger.
9. Corrupt, or Disappearing Address Book.
10. Lost or corrupt profile.
11. There are many bookmarks files in my profile folder.
12. Back and Forward buttons don't work.
13. The Sidebar always opens, when I do a search.
14. Nothing happens, when I click on "Get Messages".
15. I can't find messages that I marked to Send Later.
16. Sent messages are not being saved.
17. I can't make the preferences window larger.
18. Startup Configuration Warning: Syntax Error.
19. Whenever I start Mozilla, I get a message saying a drive is "not accessible. The device is not ready."
20. Unable to download files. ( "C:\Windows\Temp\xxxxx.xxx could not be saved because the source file could not be read").
21. Junk Mail Controls are taking a long time to train.
22. After I close Mozilla, it stays in the task manager.
23. I want to uninstall Mozilla, but it is not listed in "Add/Remove Programs".
24. Mozilla appends the same extension to every download.
25. Error: "redirection limit for this URL has exceeded its limit - cannot download page."
26. I cannot get any popup sound other than the default.
27. When I try to do a search on a news server, it doesn't work (XPAT not supported).

1. All image files now open in Mozilla.

In Mozilla, go to Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> System.
In the top section, uncheck the file types associated with images.

2. Mozilla won't run after installation

You've tried running the Mozilla EXE file directly and you also tried running the Profile Manager, without success. The problem is located within Gecko Runtime Environment (see About XPIs), which means you'll have to reinstall Mozilla, and make sure new GRE files are created.

Solution:
-Uninstall Mozilla using Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs.
-Uninstall Netscape 7 if installed.
-Restart the computer.
-Delete the C:\Program Files\Common Files\mozilla.org\GRE\ folder....THIS IS IMPORTANT!
-Delete the leftover \Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\ folder if it exists, and all its contents (save your Plugins folder, if you wish, to a backup location).
-With your antivirus program disabled and all other programs closed, reinstall Mozilla using an offline installer.

3. My screen display settings change when I open Mozilla.

Right-click on the Mozilla icon, which you usually use to load Mozilla, and select Properties. Click on the Compatibility tab, and uncheck everything under Display Settings.

4. Personal Toolbar is gone

Open the Bookmarks Manager, select your personal toolbar folder, and go to View -> Set as Personal Toolbar Folder.

5. Mozilla saves a file with a wrong file extension. (or) When I click on a link to a WMV file, Mozilla displays text

This is not a Mozilla bug; it's a webserver configuration problem.

Windows bases everything on the file extension, which works well until the extension is changed or corrupted. Changing a *.gif to *.jpg cannot be achieved simply by changing the extension to ".jpg".

Unix and Apple ignore the extension, and look at the file itself, which it can't do when that file is on a web page. So the Content-type identifies the content of the page.

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/types.html#h-6.7

In many WMV cases, the server is set to send WMV files as plain text. The next time you save a file and Mozilla adds the wrong extension, or renders as plain text, check out the http headers the server sends it with: http://web-sniffer.net/
copy the link into the box, and click view page to display the http headers information. You can also go to View -> Page Info.

So what can you do about it? You can notify the webmaster that he/she should configure the server correctly.

What about the saved file? The file will still download fine. Simply rename it.

Mozilla 1.7.x (and above) also combats this forcing an "Open with" prompt for certain file types.

6. Mozilla keeps crashing in xpcom.dll

First try reinstalling xpcom.xpi, which can be found on the Mozilla server. (See About XPIs)
If that doesn't work, create a new profile, and migrate only your essential data. (See the Profile FAQ)

7. Mozilla keeps crashing in APPCOMPS.DLL

Delete history.dat, history.mab and the cache folder.

8. Registry.dat is getting bigger and bigger

This is an old bug that was fixed many releases ago. If you are experiencing this, please upgrade.

Other ways of fixing it are:
While Mozilla is running, delete registry.dat. It will be recreated, when you close Mozilla. Note: only do this, if you have one profile.
You can also mark the registry.dat file as read-only. Make sure you remember th you did this, because you won't be able to add more profiles, when the registry.dat is write protected.

9. Corrupt, or Disappearing Address Book

- Close Mozilla
- Go to your profile folder, and move abook.mab to a safe location.
- Start Mozilla, and open the address book window (This should create a new file in your profile folder). Close Mozilla.
- Using a text editor, such as Notepad, open both your old and new abook.mab files. In the old one, you'll approximately 25 lines of header info, followed by a blank line, then another section which contains your address book entries.
- Copy and paste everything after that first blank line into your new abook.mab file to replace everything underneath the first blank line in your new abook.mab.

10. Lost or corrupt profile

In most cases, a lost or corrupt profile is due to a system crash, or unproperly shut down computer. If you've started Mozilla, and found that your mail accounts are gone, it is most likely because your prefs.js file wasn't saved, and Mozilla started a new one. Logically, if you've got a backup, just close Mozilla and restore the backup (That's what they are for). If you don't have a back up, move your profile folder to a safe location, and transfer selective info to a newly created profile.

11. There are many bookmarks files in my profile folder.

Search for a file called bookmarks.html.moztmp. If it exists, delete it.

12. Back and Forward buttons don't work

Make sure your history isn't set to zero.

13. The Sidebar always opens, when I do a search.

Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Internet Search.
Under "Search Results", uncheck "Open the Search tab in the Sidebar when search results are available"

14. Nothing happens, when I click on "Get Messages".

Click on the offline icon in the bottom right corner, to go into offline mode.
Click on it again, to toggle it back to online mode.

15. I can't find messages that I marked to Send Later.

By default, Mozilla puts unsent messages within your Local Folders account. If you find that your messages not appearing within Unsent Messages folder, you can reset that.

In the Mozilla browser, enter about:config in the location bar.
Search for the setting mail.default_sendlater_uri.
Right-click on it, and select Reset.

16. Sent messages are not being saved.

First, go to Edit -> Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings -> <your-account-name> -> Copies & Folders. Make sure the setting for Sent messages is correct.

If you find that setting is not sticking, close Mozilla, go to your profile folder, and open the prefs.js file in a text editor. You'll find some lines that contain the text "mail.identity.id1.fcc_folder". The id number may different for your account, so have a look at the surrounding lines, to find which id applies to the one you're having trouble with. Remove the mail.identity.id#.fcc_folder line, and the mail.identity.id#.fcc_folder_picker_mode line.

17. I can't make the preferences window larger.

You can install the Preference Menu Resizer extension.

OR, you can open the preference menu in a browser tab, by entering
chrome://communicator/content/pref/pref.xul
in the browser location bar.

OR, you can add the following script to your userChrome.css file (See Editing Config Files):

#prefDialog{
width: 60em !important;
height: 50em !important;
}

Change the 60 and 50 to whatever values you like.

18. Startup Configuration Warning: Syntax Error

This means that one of the lines in your prefs.js has bad syntax. The error message should even tell you which line. See Editing config files, to find out how to edit your prefs.js file, and what the correct syntax is.

Alternatively, you can delete the prefs.js while Mozilla is running. Mozilla saves preferences, when it shuts down; so a new prefs.js will be created, with all of your preferences in tact.

19. Whenever I start Mozilla, I get a message saying a drive is "not accessible. The device is not ready."

This is caused by saving a file to a removable device. The next time you try to save a file, Mozilla wants to open the file picker in the last folder you downloaded to; but if that removable device is not connected, Mozilla can't find the folder.

To get rid of the message, follow these steps:
In the Mozilla browser, enter about:config in the location bar.
Search for the preference browser.download.dir.
Right-click on it, and select Reset.

20. Unable to download files. ( "C:\Windows\Temp\xxxxx.xxx could not be saved because the source file could not be read")

Close Mozilla, and delete the file C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\components\compreg.dat

21. Junk Mail Controls are taking a long time to train.

Be sure to take the time to mark good messages as "Not Junk". This is because Junk Mail Controls actually have 3 status', not 2. The first two are obviously "Junk" and "Not Junk", but the third is "Unknown". Mozilla will indicate if a message has been marked as "Junk", but there is no indicator to tell the difference between "Not Junk" and "Unknown".

If you would like an indicator for the "Unknown" status, you can install the Mnenhy add-on.

22. After I close Mozilla, it stays in the task manager.

Open the Mozilla Mailnews client, and go to Edit -> Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings -> <account-name> -> Server Settings, and uncheck the option "Empty Trash on Exit".

If you have more than one mail account, be sure to verify the setting on all accounts. This is a common problem with IMAP accounts.

23. I want to uninstall Mozilla, but it is not listed in "Add/Remove Programs".

Re-install the same version that you already have installed.

24. Mozilla appends the same extension to every download.

- Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Helper Applications.
- look for the entry "application/octet-stream"
- delete it

25. Error: "redirection limit for this URL has exceeded its limit - cannot download page."

The usual problem is that you have too restrictive of a cookies setting. Often a server will try to set a cookie along with a redirection. If the cookie is not [cannot be] set, then the server will try to set the cookie again via a redirection. This usually repeats until the browser's redirection limit is reached.

Have a look at your cookie setting to see if you are blocking any cookies that the site may want to set. Note that the cookie may be coming from a different site.

26. I cannot get any popup sound other than the default.

It is a bug specific to Win95/98/ME installs.

- Close Mozilla.
- Go to your profile folder, and open your prefs.js file in a text editor (such as Notepad).
- Look for a line that starts with: user_pref("privacy.popups.sound_url",

In that line, you should see a file path listed. Preface that file path with file:///
So, instead of "C:\\dir\\sound.wav", it would be "file:///C:\\dir\\sound.wav"

27. When I try to do a search on a news server, it doesn't work (XPAT not supported).

Mozilla's 'Search Messages' tool uses XPAT search, which pools messages from the server. Some news servers have XPAT support disabled, due to the strain it puts on server resources. To search local newsgroup headers, either switch to offline mode before opening the search window, or use the search bar [View-->Show/Hide-->Search Bar].