Opensuse 11.3: Firefox won't start

English Applications
#1

After i click on it, it looks like its about to start normally, but no GUI appears. Checking with System Monitor, it looks like it is waiting for something, god knows what or why. Screenshot: http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6026/firefoxwontstart.png
OS: OpenSuse 11.3, updated to latest
DM: Gnome 2.30
Xulrunner version: provided by the Software Manager, 1.9.2
Firefox version: provided by the Software Manager, 3.6.13 (build on december 2010)

I have tried installation of firefox with both versions of xulrunner (1.9.1 and 1.9.2) and still nothing.

I have tried:

  • MozillaFirefox-branding-openSUSE 3.5.16
  • MozillaFirefox-branding-upstream 3.6.13
  • uninstallation of any Firefox related addon, plugin and reinstallation
  • deleting ~/.mozilla

Nothing worked. I`m about to crack. Please help me fix this issue. I cannot use Chrome either, due to a possible bug in the latest version - when i try to upload something, it crashes. Opera not an alternative.

~ Blănoz.

#2

Open a konsole, and in the konsole type:

firefox

and then copy and paste any error messages you get here. That might explain the problem, or give you a hint as to the problem.

also provide here the output of running the following command in a separate terminal:

rpm -qa '*ozilla*'
#3

blitz@linux-vqh4:~> sudo firefox
Error: no display specified

because while running under normal user, nothing happens (if i check with System Monitor, you have the image from above. the very same one).

blitz@linux-vqh4:~> rpm -qa ‘ozilla’
mozilla-nss-certs-3.12.8-1.1.1.i586
mozilla-xulrunner191-gnomevfs-1.9.1.16-0.2.1.i586
mozilla-nss-3.12.8-1.1.1.i586
MozillaFirefox-translations-common-3.6.13-0.2.1.i586
mozilla-xulrunner192-1.9.2.13-0.2.1.i586
ca-certificates-mozilla-1.62-2.3.noarch
mozilla-js192-1.9.2.13-0.2.1.i586
MozillaFirefox-branding-Moblin-3.5-3.2.i586
mozilla-xulrunner191-1.9.1.16-0.2.1.i586
mozilla-xulrunner192-translations-common-1.9.2.13-0.2.1.i586
mozilla-xulrunner192-gnome-1.9.2.13-0.2.1.i586
mozilla-nspr-4.8.6-1.1.1.i586
MozillaFirefox-3.6.13-0.2.1.i586

#4

Before trying to start firefox as a normal user in terminal, did you killed the already running applications ?

In terminal do this :


kill 7749
kill 7744

After this, try firefox in terminal again.

#5

Here is what I have, using the mozilla repo

rpm -qa | grep mozilla
ca-certificates-mozilla-1.62-2.3.noarch
mozilla-xulrunner192-gnome-1.9.2.13-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-nss-3.12.9-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-nss-32bit-3.12.9-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-kde4-integration-0.6.3-17.2.x86_64
mozilla-js192-1.9.2.13-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-xulrunner192-1.9.2.13-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-nss-certs-3.12.9-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-nspr-4.8.7-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-xulrunner192-translations-common-1.9.2.13-3.1.x86_64
mozilla-nspr-32bit-4.8.6-1.1.1.x86_64
mozilla-nss-certs-32bit-3.12.9-3.1.x86_64

Then switch to it
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Switcher%20Pics/mozilla-switch.png
Gnome switching is a little different. I have an example but it’s a packman one:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Switcher%20Pics/packman%20in%20gnome.png
Same principle

#6

@ DaaX: I have done that. See the image from the first post. Those two waiting channels “do_wait” and “pipe_wait” keep on showing up regardless of what im doing. Im not very new to Linux :stuck_out_tongue:

THANX

@ caf4926: in progress

#7

Not sure this is good: MozillaFirefox-branding-Moblin-3.5-3.2.i586

I have: MozillaFirefox-branding-openSUSE-4.0-7.3.x86_64

#8

That is because i tried all 3 brandings: Moblin, Opensuse and upstream. Ofc, none worked.

#9

Sorry…

That is weird, I am sure they prevent Firefox from starting…

Maybe a deconnection of your session to see if they persist ?

The branding package only add the branding in the About dialog of Firefox.

#10

On 02/15/2011 10:06 PM, Blanoz wrote:
>
> blitz@linux-vqh4:~> sudo firefox

would it be possible to do as oldcpu asked? just firefox in terminal…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

#11

You should have went a little more with the reading: “because while running under normal user, nothing happens (if i check with System Monitor, you have the image from above. the very same one).”

@caf4926 althou i have 2 or 3 posts of yours as bookmarks, this time your solution did not work. The same annoying do_wait & pipe_wait comments appear in System Monitor.

#12

Hmmm … If you ‘killed’ them as DaaX suggested, and they kept reappearing, then there is a process that is restarting them. Yes ? Any idea as to what is restarting them ? [besides you clicking on Firefox icon]

#13

What does that mean ? “nothing happens”.

I confess I share DenverD’s puzzlement.

When you say nothing happens, do you mean you type “firefox”, press <enter> and get no command line feedback?

… and when you type:

ps -A | grep fox

you get something like:

Blanoz@frustratingpc:~> ps -A | grep fox
7744 ? 00:00:00 firefox
7749 ? 00:00:37 firefox

#14

Please note I did not ask you to do that ‘sudo firefox’ , nor am I likely to ask that.

IMHO doing that just confuses the issue wrt your removal of ~/.mozilla. I recommend you RENAME (don’t delete - you might have something useful there! ) ~/.mozilla to ~/.mozilla-old and try again as a regular user and not with root permissions. Apologies if you already did that but its not clear to me that you did with that mention of sudo. Running as sudo to try and solve a problem IMHO is simply not the best way to go about this.

#15

@oldcpu : i find a screenshot more relevant.
So this happens after i write in terminal, normal user, “firefox”: ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting
And regardless what i do, these two values come up in System Monitor: do_wait and pipe_wait ( http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6026/firefoxwontstart.png )

Indeed, a very frustrating PC :slight_smile:
Thanx.

LE: lets skip the sudo command, i do not wish to make an argue. Please. ^ here, you have it running as you asked.
LE2: i`m too lasy to edit the screenshots.
LE3: nothing is returned while running “ps -A | grep fox” even after i am clicking on Firefox and it enters that dieying state.

#16

They did not kept reappearing. They come up ONLY after i click on the program, normally.

#17

.
Blanoz if you don’t believe me about running ‘sudo firefox’ is a really bad idea, then surf on this, and get the view of others. This is not an isolated opinion that I made up to annoy an understandably frustrated user who is having a really really really bad day.

Then that suggests a bad configuration for Firefox. There could be various reasons. One could be you added repositories you should not have added and totally messed up the environment in which firefox was to run in. Please, what is the output of:

zypper lr -d

Also, when you completely removed all Mozilla apps and re-installed the ‘stock’ ones from openSUSE’s OSS repos, did you also remove the ~./mozilla BEFORE attempting to run firefox again for the first time ? You could also restart your PC for the first time as well (in that case) before re-running firefox, not because it is essential, but because it is a quick and easy way to kill some errant processes that takes more than average knowledge to detect.

#18

On 02/15/2011 10:36 PM, Blanoz wrote:
> That is because i tried all 3 brandings: Moblin, Opensuse and upstream.
> Ofc, none worked.

i think it highly likely that you have tried too many things…the
fact is that firefox runs real nice in a sweet 11.3, i know because i
installed both three weeks ago and firefox is absolutely the best i
have ever seen it:

so, i suggest you do this, in order:

-remove all firefox add-ons
-open YaST > Software Repositories, disable every repo other than
oss, non-oss, update and packman (and only one of each of those)
-then YaST > Software Management, search on firefox and mark every FF
package for uninstall, then at the top, click on Options and check
“Cleanup when deleting packages.”, then click on Accept
-then, go to your /home directory and rename ~/.mozilla to something
like ~/.mozillaBAK
-now, back to YaST > Software management and search on firefox, then
check to install MozillaFirefox (nothing else) then click on “Accept”
it will show you a list of things it also wants to install, let it
install all it wants, and nothing else (do not “try” brands or any else)…

when the install is complete, open a terminal, type in “clear”, press
enter, type in “firefox” and (NOT sudo anything) hit enter…DO NOT
SHUT DOWN THAT TERMINAL!

use firefox for a few minutes, go to the wiki maybe (no need to try
java apps, or youtube yet)…after five minutes shut down firefox with
a click and then go to the terminal and copy paste everything there
back to herre…

if firefox does not start, copy/paste the terminal output to here…

good luck…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

#19

On 02/15/2011 11:06 PM, Blanoz wrote:

> You should have went a little more with the reading: “because while
> running under normal user, nothing happens (if i check with System
> Monitor, you have the image from above. the very same one).”

i did read, and i don’t believe it because i’ve never ever seen anyone
type firefox in terminal and hit enter and nothing happen…

how long did it not do anything? one minute? more?

did the cursor stay still at the end of the word firefox?
was it blinking there, or steady?
or, did it move down to the next line and stay there, blinking (or not)?
did it later move down to lower lines?

once it seems that the cursor has stopped going down (maybe a minute)
then hold down the left Ctrl key and press “c”…

what happened then?
now is there any output?

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

#20

Hi Blanoz,

If you want to make firefox working, try at least what I told you before. If you can’t kill the 2 process related to Firefox I saw in you’re first post, just deconnect from you session (or restart the computer) and reconnect. Once it is done, make sure those 2 process aren’t there anymore. Star Firefox in terminal NOT from the menua or any other way. Provide the output please.