Unable to run Pale Moon

[TundraDragon]

Whenever I tried to run Pale Moon, the process of palemoon.exe will appear (as seen in Task Manager). However, it only use around 30k memory, when usually it can consume over 100k. However, after 20 seconds or so, the process will suddenly be terminated. Even after I tried to open it again, the problem still persists up to the point that I cannot use Pale Moon again. This just happened recently, as I still could use Pale Moon normally before. I believe that I didn't install any software or add-ons during that point, though I did update my anti-virus (Avast!).

OS: Windows XP SP3
Pale Moon v8.0

[Moonchild]

Have you tried downloading the installer, switching Avast! off, then re-installing Pale Moon and running it?

If that works, and switching your antivirus back on breaks it again, Avast is doing something bad to the browser and this should be reported to them immediately.

If it remains broken even with Avast turned off, then it may be because something in your profile got corrupted; you will then have to create a new profile:

1. Start Pale Moon from the Run... dialog box with

   Code: Select all

   palemoon -profilemanager

2. In the dialog box you get then, click the appropriate button.
   (see also: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_manager#Creating_a_new_profile)
3. You might want to uncheck "don't ask at startup" until you have resolved your issues

If that fixes it, you may want to have a look at the following page to transfer data from the old to the new profile:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Firefox
Note that Pale Moon stores profiles in C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data\Moonchild Productions\Pale Moon and not Mozilla\Firefox

[Night Wing]

My backup computer is running the Windows XP operating system and my antivirus program running on it is Avast. I have Pale Moon v8 running on that machine as my default browser and there are no problems with Avast.

[satrow]

My backup computer is running the Windows XP operating system and my antivirus program running on it is Avast. I have Pale Moon v8 running on that machine as my default browser and there are no problems with Avast.

Avast! has had a program update available for the last day or two, there may be some new bugs waiting to be ironed out once more users have upgraded.

[megaman]

Running avast! on my W7U, no problems. I always have the latest of my programs as well. Yes, some manual settings impede programs to work on someone's OS, so that's where we need to investigate.

[TundraDragon]

Have you tried downloading the installer, switching Avast! off, then re-installing Pale Moon and running it?

If it remains broken even with Avast turned off, then it may be because something in your profile got corrupted; you will then have to create a new profile:

1. Start Pale Moon from the Run... dialog box with

   Code: Select all

   palemoon -profilemanager

Both don't work. Pale Moon's process is still terminated after 20 seconds, even with -profilemanager.
My Avast! version is 6.0.1367. I disabled it so that all of it "shields" were off during the reinstallation. I uninstalled Pale Moon with Revo Uninstaller Pro 2.5.5 in Advanced setting, so there is no left-over file, folder, and registry, then installed it in the same (custom) location, then after no success, reinstalled in the recommended location (Program Files), with no success either.

[megaman]

Uninstall with Revo again, Clean the computer's junk files, Registry clean/repair. Try again.

Too many things that can hold the browser back, junk files and Registry errors can be 2 of the top most things.

[Moonchild]

If the Profile manager closes as well, then it's definitely something unrelated to a corrupt profile or the likes. Add-ons wouldn't be a problem either, since they aren't initialized yet before the profile is loaded.

Does it even show the profile manager dialog box or not?

Also, it may help if you can PM me a Hijackthis report so I can see what all is running, if there are any BHOs that may interfere, etc.

[megaman]

Also, it may help if you can PM me a Hijackthis report so I can see what all is running, if there are any BHOs that may interfere, etc.

One thing that I suggest users, in the game I play, is to check Event Viewer to get the technical details for finding a solution. Event Viewer tells you what went wrong and why, it can be deep-technical but it's worth a shot.

Try the portable to see if that works.

Off-topic: Wow! I didn't know that you were into HijackThis!, I use it often. Fast way to find errors or virus/spyware-related issues. (No, it doesn't mean that we are going to hijack your computer, TundraDragon.)

[TundraDragon]

Does it even show the profile manager dialog box or not?

No, there is no pop-up, dialog box, or window that shows up.

Also, it may help if you can PM me a Hijackthis report so I can see what all is running, if there are any BHOs that may interfere, etc.

Alright, I have sent the logfile

Off-topic: Wow! I didn't know that you were into HijackThis!, I use it often. Fast way to find errors or virus/spyware-related issues. (No, it doesn't mean that we are going to hijack your computer, TundraDragon.)

Haha, it's alright, I already know about HijackThis, megaman, though, I didn't know that it is quite popular
By the way, I have tried Pale Moon Portable 8.0, which, also produces the same result. Though it did show a pop-up (the splash screen).

[satrow]

Does it even show the profile manager dialog box or not?

No, there is no pop-up, dialog box, or window that shows up.

Also, it may help if you can PM me a Hijackthis report so I can see what all is running, if there are any BHOs that may interfere, etc.

Alright, I have sent the logfile

While the HJT log is being scanned, could you test by booting XP in Safe mode with networking into the Administrator account and trying Pale Moon, please?

It reads like a security issue, perhaps old AV or firewall remnants blocking it from starting (ZA, Norton and McAfee are the usual culprits - but any bad uninstall can cause similar), DEP not allowing PM to write to a 'protected' folder (http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/566/xp-s ... ature-dep/), possibly the new Avast! version did not update itself correctly... there's a full uninstaller for Avast! (http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility), in case the problem lies there.

[Moonchild]

OK,

The HijackThis log didn't show anything odd. No malware or something that I see.
Which leaves something forcefully preventing Pale Moon (specifically palemoon.exe) from initializing. In the portable, the splash screen is displayed by the loader, not the browser, so it runs the loader, but isn't allowed to start the browser.

I agree with cymroly that probably something went wrong with your update of avast and that you should completely remove it (and any files and settings it may offer to keep), then see if Pale Moon runs (try reinstalling pale Moon if it doesn't). If OK, re-install avast.
If not OK, Try restarting windows in safe mode with networking as suggested (hit F8 when restarting to get the boot options menu) and then running Pale Moon.

Using the Windows Event viewer would indeed be a good idea to get more information, especially if there are 'error" entries in the system or application log.
You can find this in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer

[TundraDragon]

I agree with cymroly that probably something went wrong with your update of avast and that you should completely remove it (and any files and settings it may offer to keep)

I have uninstalled it, but Pale Moon still behave the same. Just to avoid problems, I will have it uninstalled during this thread.

Using the Windows Event viewer would indeed be a good idea to get more information, especially if there are 'error" entries in the system or application log.

Err, actually, there is not any error entry related to Pale Moon in the "Event Viewer".

On a side note, I can run Mozilla Firefox 8.0.1 just fine.

[satrow]

I agree with cymroly that probably something went wrong with your update of avast and that you should completely remove it (and any files and settings it may offer to keep)

I have uninstalled it, but Pale Moon still behave the same. Just to avoid problems, I will have it uninstalled during this thread.

Did you also use the Avast! uninstall tool (http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility) to ensure it was all removed?

Did you try PM from Safe Mode with networking (hit F8 when restarting to get the boot options menu)?

Using the Windows Event viewer would indeed be a good idea to get more information, especially if there are 'error" entries in the system or application log.

Err, actually, there is not any error entry related to Pale Moon in the "Event Viewer".

On a side note, I can run Mozilla Firefox 8.0.1 just fine.

Pale moon may not be mentioned in the logs, the error may be logged as something else, best to check for events from around the time you tried to launch PM.

Do you have, or have you ever, had any software firewall(s) installed? If you have and you list them, we can find uninstallers to ensure they're all gone - same goes for other AV's.

Did you check DEP (http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/566/xp-s ... ature-dep/)?

I have sometimes found that I've had to start Windows firewall - even though I was running a 3rd party firewall - to allow new or updated software to startup. You can try that, start the firewall, start PM.

[TundraDragon]

Sorry for the late posting. I believe I had posted a reply some days ago, though, since it isn't here, I will post again.

My computer had a system crash around 3-4 days after my last post, thereby removing some of my data, including Pale Moon (Unfortunately, I didn't have any backups). So, my choice was to reinstall my Windows XP, which consequently, "fixes" Pale Moon. I am sorry that I cannot report anything else again, since now Pale Moon runs just fine. Though, before the crash, I could confirm some things:

[*]I have uninstalled Avast! completely, so, possibly it was not the source of the problem.
[*]The "Event Viewer" at that time didn't list Pale Moon-related entries or anything else when I ran Pale Moon.
[*]I didn't have any firewall installed, except the Windows XP built-in one. I turned it on, but, because it never caused any error like that, I didn't turned it off. Possibly not the source of the problem.
[*]DEP in my computer was only set to turn on only for essential Windows services and program.
[*]I had uninstalled Pale Moon with Revo Uninstaller many times to make sure that the installation wasn't corrupted, and also checked Pale Moon installer whether it was corrupted. Both were not corrupted.

Well, that's all that I could confirm at the time. I am sorry for unable to continue analyzing the problem, and thank you for all of your kind guidance.

[satrow]

Ah, I'd wondered what had happened to you. Not a great way to fix the problem though, I hope whatever caused the Windows crash and data loss was a one-off.

Thanks for the update.

[TundraDragon]

Yeah, not a good way indeed, but since New Year is near, better reinstall it . Well, the crash problem is caused by a broken SATA cable. I don't know quite well, but probably that caused problem with Pale Moon.

[satrow]

Well, hardware overrides software every time. At least you've found the cause, now you can sleep easy