"There was an error starting zotero."

betweenfloors@
I've been going through the posts, and trying to learn the best way to solve my problem, and to pose questions to help others help me -- I hope I've made sense of it. Here goes:

I'm running a MacBook with Leopard, and when I replaced my internal hard drive (using super duper to make an exact replica of my old hard drive on the new one) Zotero stopped operating. At first I kept getting messages on every webpage I opend that said there was a problem interfacing with the Open Office plug in. I've since uninstalled open office and Firefox, but the ""There was an error starting zotero" message continues to appear in the bottom right, and I can't open the Zotero panel at all. When I went to the error console a whole bunch of different errors appeared. They include:

#1:
Warning: Error in parsing value for 'margin'. Declaration dropped.
Source File: chrome://zotero-platform/content/overlay.css

#2:
Warning: Selector expected. Ruleset ignored due to bad selector.
Source File: chrome://zotero-platform/content/overlay.css
Line: 217

#3 (this message appears 2 times):
Warning: Error in parsing value for 'padding'. Declaration dropped.
Source File: chrome://zotero-platform/content/overlay.css
Line: 334

#4 (this appears a few times):
Error: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsILocalFile.remove]" nsresult: "0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/integration.js :: anonymous :: line 70" data: no]
Source File: file:///Users/bernardgeoghegan/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/pzf5lfab.default/extensions/zotero@chnm.gmu.edu/components/zotero-service.js
Line: 134

#5:
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://zotero/content/include.js :: <TOP_LEVEL> :: line 4" data: no]

#6 (this appears a few times):
Error: Zotero is undefined
Source File: chrome://zotero/content/browser.js
Line: 808

Following directions I saw on another page, I clicked on these errors to get details, but each lead to a couple pages of material that I didn't think I should post here all at once. Does anyone have tips on where and how to get started fixing these problems?

-b
  • Simon
    edited June 29, 2010
    The relevant error is #4. This is a known bug in Migration Assistant, but perhaps it also occurs with other disk duplicating software. In technical terms, named pipes owned by the user somehow become directories owned by root. Try this thread for a solution.
  • betweenfloors@
    Hi Simon,
    Thanks for the speedy response. I followed the directions on that thread, entered the suggested commands in Terminal, and then my password, but I still have the same Zotero error. Just out of curiosity I tried re-entering the commands within Terminal, and nothing really happened the second time (well, it didn't ask for my password the second time). Any ideas on what else to try?
    -b
  • Simon
    That's almost certainly the problem. What commands did you try? Does

    ls -la /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe*
    still show anything? If there is still a file there, then you need to remove it. If there is no file, you may have to disable and re-enable Zotero within Firefox to get it to work.
  • betweenfloors@
    Hi Simon,
    When I enter the command you just gave me, I get this:

    ls -la /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe*
    prw-r--r-- 1 root admin 0 Jun 29 14:20 /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_bernardgeoghegan

    How do I manually locate and remove the file, if necessary?

    What I did was before was enter this stuff:
    ls -la ~/.zoteroIntegrationPipe
    ls -la /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe*
    ls -lad ~
    ls -lad /Users/Shared/
    Then, I tried this "sudo rm -f /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_sc" , followed by my password.

    Thanks again,
    -b
  • Simon
    The file is still there. Try

    sudo rmdir "/Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_$USER"
  • betweenfloors@
    I entered, and this is what I got:

    Last login: Tue Jun 29 19:52:49 on console
    bernard-geoghegans-power-mac-g5:~ bernardgeoghegan$ sudo rmdir "/Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_$USER"
    Password:
    rmdir: /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_bernardgeoghegan: Not a directory
    bernard-geoghegans-power-mac-g5:~ bernardgeoghegan$

    Unfortunately Zotero still won't start up :(
  • betweenfloors@
    I entered it, and got this:

    Last login: Tue Jun 29 19:52:49 on console
    bernard-geoghegans-power-mac-g5:~ bernardgeoghegan$ sudo rmdir "/Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_$USER"
    Password:
    rmdir: /Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_bernardgeoghegan: Not a directory
    bernard-geoghegans-power-mac-g5:~ bernardgeoghegan$

    Unfortunately I still can't open Zotero.
  • Simon
    Sorry, try

    sudo rm -f "/Users/Shared/.zoteroIntegrationPipe_$USER"
    It should work this time.
  • betweenfloors@
    Simon, you are a worker of wonders! It is up and running, completely intact. I thank you -- and my dissertation thanks you!

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