Report 40053326 Zotero 2.1.1 never starts corectly

spicedreams

The update on 28 March to Zotero 2.1.1 appeared to go OK (though it could not find my OpenOffice installation) but now every time I start Zotero I get "An error has occurred. Please restart Firefox."
Restarting firefox does not improve the situation. I have completely lost the use of my Zotero installation just by taking the automated upgrade.
Firefox 3.6.2 on Windows XP SP2

dstillman

Does this still occur if you disable all your other Firefox extensions?

If so, please provide a Debug ID for Firefox startup through opening the Zotero pane and getting the error.

spicedreams

Hi,

I took the upgrade to 2.1.2 and still got the error; then, I disabled all Firefox addins other than Zotero, restarted and still got the error. Only now, the option on the gears menu to "Report errors" is greyed out.

Debug ID is D1840490278

Thanks
Graham

dstillman

'QueryInterface' => function(...){...}
'message' => "Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsIFileInputStream.init]"
'result' => 2152857621
'name' => "NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED"
'filename' => "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/translation/translator.js"
'lineNumber' => 304
'columnNumber' => 0
'location' ...

Check the permissions on all the files in your Zotero data directory, particularly in the 'translators' subdirectory.

This could also be caused by security/anti-virus software.

spicedreams

Dan,

Every file in my Zotero translators directory is owned by RATA\Graham, which is my login. Same for every other file I checked in my Zotero directory D:\Documents and Settings\Graham\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\nqv335r6.default\zotero\

Upgraded to 2.1.5 and there's no improvement.

dstillman

You should also make sure no files in the directory have the read-only flag set. (Right-click on the data directory folder, select Properties, and make sure the Read-Only box is empty.)

This isn't a bug in Zotero. If it can't access files, there's nothing it can do about it.

spicedreams

Thanks Dan

I can confirm that there are no read-only files in my entire zotero tree D:\Documents and Settings\Graham\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\nqv335r6.default\zotero\ and every file is owned by my login.

In what way could antivirus be involved? If I just disable my antivirus should zotero start to work again?

dstillman

Yes, security/anti-virus software could cause this. But I'm afraid we can't tell you the cause—simply that something is interfering with Zotero's ability to access files in its directory.

spicedreams

This evening, Zotero suddenly started to work again. I clicked the Zotero icon on the Firefox status bar and Firefox froze for several minutes. I did some work in Open Office writer and eventually firefox unfroze, though Zotero didn't appear. I went back to firefox and clicked the Zotero icon again, and after a few seconds the Zotero pane appeared.

The only thing I can imagine was different this time to the previous several times when I clicked the Zotero icon and got an error, is that this time I was running Open Office writer (including the Zotero toolbar). I haven't done that for a while- previous times I was just hunting for a reference, not while writing a paper.

spicedreams

Ah, and now the error is back. I had closed down Open Office (leaving Firefox/Zotero open) then tried to select a different collection, and the error returned. I closed Firefox, opened Open Office writer, started firefox- still can't start Zotero without getting the error.

spicedreams

I have uninstalled Zotero, both the Zotero addin and the OpenOffice link addin. Then I have restarted Firefox several times (and restarted the PC several times, then reinstalled Zotero 2.1 and the OpenOffice link addin.

The result is the same. I sent another debug message 1228423833. The error message included a reference to a file db.js which I could not find anywhere on my system.

Hope this helps,

spicedreams

Having "upgraded" to zotero 2.1, can I reinstall an older version and regain access to my database?

dstillman

(NS_ERROR_FILE_IS_LOCKED)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/db.js :: anonymous :: line 981" data: no]

You're getting a different error now.

Is your Zotero data directory stored on a network or external drive?

Is there a 'journal' file in the Zotero data directory when Firefox is closed? If so, move it somewhere else and restart Firefox.

spicedreams

My Zotero data directory is stored on a local disk D:\Documents and Settings\Graham\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\nqv335r6.default\zotero\ where d: is a hard disk in the PC.

I have renamed the journal to zotero.sqlite-journal.bak and wil reinstall Zotero 2.1 and try again.

spicedreams

OK, reinstalled Zotero 2.1.6 and tried again. Same result. New report ID: 493237790

Thanks

spicedreams

zotero.sqlite-journal has been re-created. Is it any use for me to send it to you?

spicedreams

And today, Zotero opens fine. The antivirus has not changed, nor anything else I can think of.

spicedreams

I should have followed up on that. It was a one-off, as I had experienced previously.

I still cannot open my Zotero database from within Firefox on 95% of attempts; and I have to restart in order to try again.

So I have downloaded Zotero Standalone which opens the database just fine, thanks.

I could live with that outcome, if only I could work out how to create new Zotero entries from web pages, articles etc that I browse using Firefox. Do I have to use Chrome, just so I can carry on working with my Zotero database?

adamsmith

no, unfortunately there is no FF connector for the standalone, at least not at this time.
Can't help with the underlying database issue.

adamsmith

though I just saw that this may change very soon - Simon just committed a FF connector for standalone - you'll have to wait a little until there is a working version, but this looks like it's going to be pretty soon:
https://www.zotero.org/trac/changeset/9471