Question

Firefox Extremely Slow Startup on XP and Vista after Network Drive IP Changed

Asked by: brian2k1

Firefox on my XP and Vista machine, both using the same profile after copying them and keeping it in sync, is extremely slow on startup. It happened in the past anytime my file server at 192.168.100.100 was shutdown or offline in anyway. The solution was to simply turn it back on. Recently this past week I had to change the ip address to 192.168.1.100 and so all the references to the original ip had to be changed. This of course makes fifefox think it's offline and the slow startup behavior reappeared.

I don't have a clue why firefox knows the file server is offline but I know it is causing the slow startup behavior. I originally started disabling and then uninstalling the add-ons I had installed. nothing changed. I then uninstalled the network printers installed (thinking firefox was pinging the network for printers or something), nothing changed. What DID work is creating a new blank profile. So something in the profile is referencing the old file server ip and causing firefox to open the first web page slowly. It does this on popup as well and makes surfing a pain.

I'm looking for a solution to fixing my original profile and not just using the new one.

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Asked On
2008-02-02 at 17:02:15ID23132610
Topics

Web Browsers

,

Firefox Web Browser

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: mtz1of4Posted on 2008-02-04 at 06:55:07ID: 20814854

brian2k1,

List any Add-ons that you have installed in your original Firefox Profile. Perhaps we can spot something that is looking at your file server.
 It may be something as easy as a Bookmark checker to see if they are still valid or not and if you have a bookmark set to a location there, like a home page, then it will cause slowdowns if it can't find it.

 

by: brian2k1Posted on 2008-02-04 at 07:38:06ID: 20815304

I uninstalled ALL plugin's on my laptop which is Vista and having the exact same issue with slow initial page rendering. It happens on any new instance of FireFox including popups. I went through the diag steps suggested by Mozilla FAQ and even after basically recreating all the core files it still had this issue. It's something in the profile and at this point I guess I'm just going to have to use a new profile and try to migrate my settings and bookmarks. I hope I can merge the sessions and saved passwords as well because having those auto insert makes using firefox productive.

 

by: mtz1of4Posted on 2008-02-04 at 12:15:05ID: 20817552

saved passwords require
key3.db, signons.txt for old versions of passwords, signons2.txt for newer versions.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Signons2.txt


This page should help, as well.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile

 

by: brian2k1Posted on 2008-02-04 at 13:27:35ID: 20818195

First - THANKS!

I've narrowed it down to the bookmarks.html file. I copied the bookmarks file from the "new" profile to the original profile and the problem went away.

Do you know of any diagnostic steps to take with the bookmarks.html file? I can't figure out why a network resource has anything to do with the initial page load or the bookmarks.html file.

 

by: mtz1of4Posted on 2008-02-04 at 22:06:21ID: 20820982

Well, I can see if the Bookmarks contain a link to the network resource, typically either a Home page or perhaps a Live Bookmark located in the Bookmark Toolbar, that might effect it.  Another thought is if you have an Add-on that Checks your bookmarks to confirm they are still valid.  Perhaps you need to delete any Live Bookmarks.  

Or what you could do, is download and run TCPView here.  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/TcpView.mspx
After it is running, make sure you change the settings to not Show Unconnected Endpoints and then Start Firefox and watch what IP's it tries to hit on loading.  If you see it going for the network resource, you may be able to pinpoint what it is looking for.

 

by: astaecPosted on 2008-02-05 at 11:23:39ID: 20825947

I believe you're on the road to recovery here, and that mtz1of4 has helped you.  I'd just add that similar issues on one of our systems was not resolved until we uninstalled all traces of firefox and installed the newest version in Admin role.  But we're on VISTA Ultimate, and "may" be related, may not.

 

by: brian2k1Posted on 2008-02-05 at 12:16:34ID: 20826418

yes I believe it will work out. I just haven't had time today to test it. I will later tonight and award points as well.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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