Firefox 3 cannot save files or access file system

[Michael]

Binary package hint: firefox-3.0

I cannot save anything from Firefox 3, regardless of whether I do Ctrl+s, File->Save Page As, or if I right-click on an image and try to do "Save Image As." Whenever I do any of these actions, nothing happens. That is, the dialog box that should ask where to save the file never appears.

In my Edit->Preferences->Main tab, I have selected "Always ask me where to save files" (which was the setting that I had in Firefox 2). I tried to change this setting to see if Firefox could download anything, but when I select the "Save files to" option, the box indicating the location to use is greyed out (see attached file). When I click "Browse," again, nothing happens. It appears that Firefox 3 cannot access anything about my file system.

This bug may be related to #222916, but it seems that the author of that post is at least seeing something starting to be saved. So the behavior is different, but I would be tempted to guess that the cause of both problems may be the same or similar.

Furthermore, I have seen this behavior previously. While I was still using Gutsy Gibbon, I installed the beta version of Firefox 3 and saw this behavior then. I thought it was a bug in the beta version, and simply reverted to Firefox 2 at the time.

# lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.04.1
Release: 8.04

# apt-cache policy firefox-3.0
firefox-3.0:
  Installed: 3.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.2
  Candidate: 3.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.2
  Version table:
 *** 3.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.0~b5+nobinonly-0ubuntu3 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Jul 24 22:37:28 2008
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
Package: firefox-3.0 3.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.2
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/home/username/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox-3.0
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-19-generic i686

[Michael (mkirkpat13)]

Here's some new information. I just tried to right-click and save a file again, but this time I had the Error Console open. I get this message every time I try to save anything:

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80570016 (NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE) [nsIJSCID.getService]" nsresult: "0x80570016 (NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://global/content/contentAreaUtils.js :: getTargetFile :: line 431" data: no]

Any ideas what this means or how to fix it?

[Michael (mkirkpat13)]

And I sometimes also get this exception:

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80570016 (NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE) [nsIJSCID.getService]" nsresult: "0x80570016 (NS_ERROR_XPC_GS_RETURNED_FAILURE)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://browser/content/browser.js :: anonymous :: line 936" data: no]

[donfouts (don-fouts)]

I have not received any errors but when i try to save a picture for example - it even pops up with a prompt asking me to save or open - i hit save and nothing happens...

[Michael (mkirkpat13)]

Interestingly enough, I no longer have this problem. I had encountered the original problem after upgrading from Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) to Hardy Heron (8.04). Since then, I had to wipe my hard drive and start over with a fresh install of Hardy. After the re-install, I have not experienced this bug. So it seems that something was different between the upgraded version and the installed-from-scratch version.

donfouts, if you are experiencing this bug after upgrading, I would recommend doing a fresh install of the OS. Sure, it sounds like a drastic measure to fix a browser problem. But the fact that a fresh install fixed the problem makes it seem that it was actually a problem with Ubuntu, not Firefox.

[Patricio Loncomilla (ploncomi)]

    I have the same problem described in the first comment. I have Ubuntu 8.04 installed from zero, and upgraded firefox to 3.0.2 and the problem started. The problem does not solved when upgrading to firefox 3.0.4. I tried running firefox using sudo (sudo firefox), but this does not solve the problem, then it is not a rights problem.

[Patricio Loncomilla (ploncomi)]

    I deleted the contents of the ~/.mozilla folder and the problem solved. I don't know if this is a general solution for this problem or I had luck this time.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

seems nobody can really reproduce anymore. If you see it again reopen and _keep_ your .mozilla folder for forensics :).

[mp89 (mp89)]

a day ago I had the same problem. I fixed it also by cleaning the .mozilla/firefox folder.

I have these files already and they can be used to reproduce this bug. (I've tried it already ^^)

[mp89 (mp89)]

I have traced the problem to the downloads.sqlite file. If I deleted this file ->> firefox works normaly.

I also was stunned to see what firefox saves in these sqlite files... -> So I don't post or send these files. If someone had a question concerning them please ask and I will look.

[Mervyn Moore (mervyn-moore)]

New at ubuntu so I'm not sure about a few things that you people have mentioned but I'm getting the same problem, although I can save the Images as desktop background when I try and do "save image as" nothing happens. Please can you tel lme where this mozilla folder is located, I've searched for it and found 4 different instances which one do I need to delete the contents.

[mp89 (mp89)]

The folder under Ubuntu is at

/home/YOUR_HOME_FOLDER/.mozilla/firefox

Folders with a "." are not displayed in the normal folderview but you can navigate to them with pressing STRG + L and enter the correct path.

I recommend first try to delete only the downloads.sqlite. If the problem is still there delete the rest of the folder. BUT FIRST SAVE YOUR BOOKMARKS.

Hope this helps.