Mozilla-Firefox & TBird - unreadable tools etc?

[Hawkeye]

Hi guys & girls - sorry but have been battling with this problem for last couple days.

PCLos 2009 (2.6.27.31 tex5) all been running well for so long until re-boot the other day.
Noticed that my desktop icons and fonts had changed slightly (running compiz - emerald)
No big problem I thought (in fact was quite nice to have the change in appearance) however when I loaded TBird to check email I couldn't get any text within the entire window. ie: no text next to tool bar icons, no mail box folders, no email body text ??
Tried re-loading TBird - no avail - closed down and re-booted - same problem?
All other programs appear to be functioning perfectly except Firefox
Firefox (too) had the same problem/s - no text next to icons and all the icons crunched up together on the left?
The pages would load in and view OK.

OK - copied my ~/.thunderbird & .mozilla folders to safety first then from Synaptic tried to re-install - no change?
Re-booted - no change.
Synaptic and Removed Completely - Rebooted then Synaptic re-install - Rebooted but still no change?
Copied ~/.thunderbird (and then .mozilla) back into ~/ (after renaming the newly made folders) and still no change?
Rebooted - still no change.
However - if I login as root both TBird & Firefox run fine.
From root I copied my original (home) /.thunderbird folder to root and all my emails & folders  show up just fine?
Just can't figure out what has gone wrong here. I have tried with Compiz disengeged as well - no luck.
Here is a snippet of what I get .... attached.

Can anyone make a suggestion how to correct - thanks.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[caerhays]

Hi hawkeye,

Suggestion.  Since after trying all that you have you still have the same problem it suggests that a configuration is being carried forward each time.

I would try :

Backing up all your .Thunderbird files (ie. email) to a new area/drive.

Uninstall completely Firefox and Thunderbird.

Go into your /home directory and delete any remaining .Mozilla and .Thunderbird directories.

Re-install Firefox and Thunderbird. This will re-create new configuration files in new directories for both programs.

Copy back your email folders into the .Thunderbird directory. You will have to re-install any Firefox add-ins.

I had a similar problem with Thunderbird a while ago and it worked for me.

[menotu]

You will have to re-install any Firefox add-ins.

If you do go the route suggested by caerhays, you may want to consider (unless you have already   ) trying a FireFox addon named FEBE which allows you to backup your Addons into a specified folder; Plus if you use the associated CLEO addon, Cleo allows you to "Pack" all the addons (which you've backed up with FEBE) into ONE File - called a Cleopack

After a fresh install of FireFox you can then simply re-install the "Cleopack" backed up addons in one hit. (You re-install the Cleopack by doing a File > Open File > and going to where your Cleopack is located and selecting it)

Note: I make a backup of my Cleopacks and add them to my online storage - DropBox - which enables me to install those addons on any PC I have in one quick go...

[Hawkeye]

Thanks for your attention there menotu & caerhays.

The add-ons weren't the problem (can always re-install) but thanks for the info re CLEO - shall impliment that one once I have sorted this problem out.

Unfortunately - as I said, I have already tried un-installing (several times) both TBird & Firefox and prior had moved my ~/. (folders) to safe keeping - have tried running both new installs without the original ~/. (folders) and then again with them copied back into place. No avail ? Have even tried installing earlier versions out of desperation.
The only thing I haven't tried so far is to install from outside PCLos Repositories (don't like to do that unless really necessary) - besides I have to consider that it is something outside of these two Mozilla programs causing the events as they have been working well for yonks (untill the other day). And to top that one off, they do work still from Root.
Got to be a local user setting that has caused this anomally - just not sure where to look.
I am intending on upgrading to 2010 shortly - have been holding off untill a few of the problems have been tweeked out by some of our more dedicated users 
However, shall keep plodding on and see if I can't unravel this mystery - still open to any suggestions with thanks.
 

[menotu]

However, shall keep plodding on and see if I can't unravel this mystery - still open to any suggestions with thanks

One possible thing - have you considered setting up a new account and trying it in there? Having a virgin area may give you some pointers.

[Hawkeye]

Yep - same wavelength huh - was giving that some thought during the night myself menotu - thanks for jogging my 2do list 

Unfortunately I am (always) muking with many things - Nova S TV card at moment - was able to setup Terestial card but have gone Satelite with this one - But that's another post.

Will advise outcome of new user account - thanks.

Edit: Have made new user "test" and both FFox & TBird open as they should do - however, once I copy my original ~/. (folders) accross to this new "test" ~/ neither seem to want to open.
Error is another instance of TBird is running ?? - if I open Sysmon she down't show up ?? from that user instance or from the original user instance. So still unable to get to a stage where my emails are along with settings for accounts etc. ??
Have checked that the folders are / have permissions for new user "test".
Funny though - cause can access these by copying them to the Roots ~/ so I know that they are accessible but naturaly don't want to be running from root for that sort of thing.
Will try other avenues as they come to me & update - thanks again.

[menotu]

Unfortunately I am (always) muking with many things - Nova S TV card at moment - was able to setup Terestial card but have gone Satelite with this one -

As long as you don't go Ballistic!!     

Edit: Have made new user "test" and both FFox & TBird open as they should do - however, once I copy my original ~/. (folders) accross to this new "test" ~/ neither seem to want to open

I don't use TBird anymore so please bear with me  Have you tried to copy over just one folder at a time?
OR, try copying over only the data within the folder(s)

Error is another instance of TBird is running ?? - if I open Sysmon she down't show up ?? from that user instance or from the original user instance. So still unable to get to a stage where my emails are along with settings for accounts etc. ??

Do you have TBird set to auto-start at log-in? If so try disabling that and logging back in; if its not set to autostart, try a full reboot and when you log back in don't open any apps at all, and then do your folder copying/moving etc. Also, do all your copying using Konqueror - Super User Mode to give you root access

Does TBird have an option to import mail? If so, give that a whirl.

[Hawkeye]

Hi menotu - thanks again for your input - alas, I have since created (and deleted) 3 new users and tried these programs - first bare then again with complete ~/.thunderbird copied across and then was about to try just copying the mail folder but....
What was the point ? - thought if it don't work bare then the problem must lay with something set or running along side that has/is causing the problems.
I'm lost - don't know what to do next so will most likely just end up doing a re-install (start from scratch - again) over this long weekend (Easter) - boohoo.
I'll try first leaving my ~/home intact - if that don't work I'll need to get serious with an almost full hard drive  

Anyways - thanks for your efforts - I'll leave this open until I've actually done the change just in case someone manages to enlighten my mind over this crazy problem.
Happy Easter to you.

Well - the bunny has gone  
Here I am back and have gone from bad to worst
Decided to re-install the OS from a updated live DVD that I had created couple months back - knowing that this had worked prior as I had installed a copy onto a Laptop back then.
However - my problems were still with me   and that is even after creating a new user so considered that my problems must have been there originally and had just not surfaced untill last week (can't understand that one either though). Two attempts at re-installing from this Live DVD - 1 keeping current user and settings - 2 creating a fresh new user. So decided to go right back to the original 2007 Live CD. Big step back but no other choice.
However - whilst booting from the original Live CD (2007) I encontered "unable to mount live cd" during the boot process - above that "no IDE interface found" or something akin. My drive is a 500GB SATA.
Now I'm really flummuxed - and to top that off I re-installed from the last Live DVD and thought that I would continue to work on the problem from there only to find that now TBird & FFox won't load at all (error:floating point exception in both) and on top of that again Synaptic won't load (error:(synaptic:9638): Gtk-WARNING **: Default font does not have a positive size).
Went to Synaptic Repair Tool and after running that got an error:
Cleaning RPM cache..
./synaptic-repair.9844: line 135:  9995 Floating point exceptionapt-get clean
Done
Updating package lists..
./synaptic-repair.9844: line 140:  9999 Floating point exceptionapt-get update
Done
Checking for broken packages..
./synaptic-repair.9844: line 145: 10005 Floating point exceptionapt-get -f install
Done
Updating system, please wait..
./synaptic-repair.9844: line 149: 10006 Floating point exceptionapt-get dist-upgrade
Current file sources.list backed up as sources.list.old
synaptic-repair is now finished.

Would you like to launch synaptic now? [Y/n]
and on Y it bombs out again  

So now I'm back up that creek without a paddle.
I have considered hardware changes and just recently (prior to problems) I upgraded my Motherboard and RAM to a GB-UD3 type with 2x 1Gb DDR3 1060 DIMMS - original was a GByte type with DDR2 800 - maybe this new hardware is what is causing my problems (clutching at straws).
So my original MB&RAM is in another box - I shall see what happens if I install PCLos to that (it currently has XP and Ubu installed - was trying Koala) - shall destroy that OS & Home and install PCLos - see what happens there.
Will report back after task completes.

extra - seems that with Firefox, TBird and now with apt-get (synaptic) all the errors point to this "floating point exception" ??  -- on searching forums, most likely cause is faulty fonts or libcairo
but changing fonts don't seem to be helping and can't get apt-get to work so stuck with problem still.

[Hawkeye]

Well - thanks to those whom added assistance.
Did not resolve issues re TBird & FFox.
However, did find a DVD with a remaster I had made a while back and after re-installing and updating
have now got a system that seems to be functioning again.
Just having to get the little adjustments back into place 

Shall mark this abandoned.
Thanks again.