An error has occured. Please restart firefox.

schwa0

When I first start Firefox, I can open Zotero and it seems to work normally. I can close and reopen the Zotero window and it still works. But if I do something else for a while and come back to Firefox and try to open Zotero or save a document to Zotero, I get an error.

Per the advice in other Forum posts on this error message, I checked database integrity (no errors) and reset translators and styles, but I'm still getting the same error.

I'm on a Macbook Pro 2013 vintage, running OSX 10.8.5. Firefox version is 27.0.1. If any other information would be helpful, please let me know.

adamsmith

could you confirm your Zotero version, please? (under tools --> add-ons?)

Can you produce an error report ID when you get that error?
http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs#provide_a_report_id
or is Zotero entirely unresponsive?

Is your database in a custom location?

schwa0

Zotero version: 4.0.17.1

Zotero is entirely unresponsive when the error occurs. At that point I need to restart Firefox to do anything with Zotero. If there's another way to gather the information you need, please let me know.

schwa0

For now, here's the report ID that I get after restarting Firefox:
708826888

dstillman

Error reports are cleared when you restart Firefox, so that wouldn't have anything relevant. But when you say you get an error, what's the actual error you're getting?

dstillman

Oh, sorry — I see it in your title.

It doesn't look like you're using syncing, but in case you're using a different account, you could try disabling auto-sync in the Sync pane of the preferences. (If there's no username and password entered there this wouldn't be relevant.)

dstillman

If this is easy to reproduce, you could enable real-time debug output before leaving your computer idle (pressing Cmd-K in Terminal to clear the output immediately before you leave) — then when you come back and find it frozen, if there's any output in Terminal, you can save that to a text file, zip it, and email it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread.

adamsmith

Beyond what Dan says, I'm still curious about

Is your database in a custom location?

schwa0

Sorry, forgot to answer that. Yes, my DB is in a custom location (a folder within the "Documents" folder).

I don't use auto sync.

I'll set up real-time debug and post the output when I come in tomorrow morning.

adamsmith

Does that folder sync with anything else? A network drive, dropbox or the like? That could well lock down the database and cause that error.

schwa0

No, it doesn't sync with anything else (e.g., Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, etc.)

schwa0

Dan,

As requested, I've just sent an email to Zotero Support with the Real-Time Debug info you requested.

dstillman

zotero(3)(+0000001): Clearing full-text cache file for item 2193

zotero(3)(+0000000): 'toString' => function(...){...}
'message' => "Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsIFile.remove]"
'result' => 2152857621
'name' => "NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED"
'filename' => "chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/fulltext.js"

I'll fix this error to not crash Zotero for 4.0.18, but this indicates that either there's a permissions problem in your Zotero data directory or security software on your system is preventing Zotero from writing to the disk. Make sure that all folders and files within your data directory are owned and writeable by your user account — you can do that from the bottom of the Get Info window for that folder in the Finder. (You may need to click the lock icon first and enter your password to unlock the settings.)

dstillman

(And you probably don't need to leave the computer idle for more than about 10 seconds for this to occur, though you won't see it until you try to click somewhere else in Zotero. Manually reindexing a file might also trigger it, though I'm not sure.)

schwa0

Thanks for the quick response Dan. I already had my Zotero data directory set to read & write permission. However, I clicked the gear icon and applied the same permissions to all enclosed files and folders, in case they weren't already set to read & write.

I started having this crash problem only a few weeks ago, but I've never touched the permissions on my Zotero folder. Assuming permissions are the problem, do you have any idea why that would suddenly become an issue now?

dstillman

Not really. Permissions problems are pretty rare on OS X. The most common cause is when a data directory is copied from another computer or user account.

schwa0

I'm still getting the "An error has occurred..." message, even though I reset the permissions for the Zotero folder. Is there something else I can do to try and fix this? Should I send in real-time debug output again?

dstillman

Did you reset permissions for all subfolders as well?

If it's not freezing and you're just getting an error you can probably just provide a Debug ID. Otherwise, you can email real-time debug output again.

schwa0

Yes, the permissions for all subfolders are "Read & Write" (just for my account, not for "everyone").

I'll see if I can get a Debug ID once Zotero freezes. If not, I'll send the real-time debug output.

schwa0

I've submitted the Debug Output. Debug ID: D1008389641

schwa0

Just checking in to see if the debug output turned up any problems that can be fixed.

dstillman

Same permissions error as above. Are you running any sort of security software? There are really not many explanations for this other than security software or file permissions.

In case this is Firefox-specific (which is likely in the case of security software), you can try installing Zotero Standalone, letting it share your existing data directory (which is the default), and trying to reproduce with that.

schwa0

My computer is running McAfee Security version 1.2.0 and Anti-malware version 9.2.0 (4692). Are there particular settings I should check?

Also, I already have Zotero Standalone installed. I'll start it up and see if I get an error.

dstillman

You should try disabling them. If that fixes the problem, you'll have to figure out how to prevent them from interfering with Firefox's ability to write to the Zotero data directory. We can't really tell you more than that.

schwa0

I'm getting a similar error ("An error has occurred. Please restart Zotero.") in Zotero standalone. I sent an Error Report to Zotero. The Report ID is 1078709035. Then I restarted Zotero and turned on Debug Output Logging. Once Zotero crashed again, I submitted the Debug output to the Zotero server. The Debug ID is D1024061579. Please let me know if anything turns up that would diagnose the problem.

dstillman

Have you completely disabled both pieces of security software? We really can't tell you much more than that something is interfering with Zotero's ability to write to the disk, and it's almost certainly one of those two pieces of software.

schwa0

Unfortunately I can't completely disable McAfee because it's installed by the IT folks and internet access is disabled (by another program called SafeConnect) if you turn it off. Are there any McAfee settings I can change that might help?

dstillman

You'd have to ask your IT people about that. You'll need to configure it to allow Firefox and/or Standalone to write to (and, specifically for the error messages you're getting, delete files from) the Zotero data directory.

schwa0

Is there absolutely nothing else that could be causing this problem? I ask because I haven't had a single problem with Firefox or McAfee that's caused any other program to fail repeatedly like this. In addition, I've had McAfee on my computer for a year, but I've had this problem "only" for a few months.

dstillman

We can't keep going back and forth — I've told you that this is almost certainly due to security software, and that's an issue you'd have to deal with with your IT department. This generally happens when security software blocks access to parts of the Firefox profile directory in an attempt to stop malware. There's absolutely nothing Zotero can do about this.

If you can't change your security settings, you can try moving your Zotero data directory to a different location and pointing your Zotero data directory there from the Advanced -> Files and Folders pane of the Zotero preferences. (Temporarily disable auto-sync in the Sync preference pane in both Zotero Standalone and Zotero for Firefox before you start moving the data directory around, in case you mess up.)

For example, you can set Standalone to use its default data directory location instead of pointing to the Firefox location. Restart it and you should then have an empty library. Then move its data directory out of the way and copy the Zotero for Firefox data directory into the same location (so that you're replacing one 'zotero' directory with another). Then restart Standalone and you should see your library, and try syncing. If that works, point Zotero for Firefox there instead of its default location.

Note that, if that works for Standalone, you could still potentially have trouble in Zotero for Firefox in full mode, since the security software could easily also prevent Firefox from accessing outside of its profile directory, but you'd at least be able to sync from Standalone.

schwa0

I've always kept my Zotero data directory in a custom folder that Firefox-Zotero and Zotero Standalone both point to.

I totally understand if you can't keep working on this issue. I'll see if I can work something out with my IT folks, but I don't have high hopes on that front.