No icon in address bar

mkosmala
I have been using Firefox (23.0.1) and Standalone Zotero (4.0.11) on Windows 7 for several months now, and have on-and-off problems with the Zotero icon appearing in the Firefox address bar on any site. For the past several weeks, I haven't been able to get it to appear at all. I've done everything on http://www.zotero.org/support/troubleshooting_translator_issues and nothing has worked. Still no icon.

Here are a couple pages where I don't get an icon, but should:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pollan
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=beef&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C47&as_sdtp=

I used to be able to disable the Zotero extension, restart Firefox, enable the extension, and restart Firefox again to get it to work. But that no longer does it.

I have made sure I'm on current versions of everything, updated my Translators on Standalone. My privacy settings are fine (and have not changed since I was able to use this setup). My system time is correct. When I disable all other Firefox extensions and restart, I still do not get an icon. I have not received an unresponsive script warning. And I have even Reset Translators.

"Report Errors..." is grayed out, so I cannot provide a Report ID.

When I enable Debug Output Logging, and then perform tasks such as loading the above pages, no lines are written to the log.

I'm out of ideas. Any thoughts?
  • adamsmith
    you only mention your Zotero Standalone version. What's your version of the Firefox plugin? You need both installed.
  • mkosmala
    The version of my Firefox extension is 4.0.12.
  • adamsmith
    and if you keep Standalone closed and load those pages? Still no url bar icon? And the error report option (in the Firefox add-on) is still greyed out?
  • mkosmala
    Actually, if close Standalone (and restart Firefox), I DO get the icon. (But not if I don't restart Firefox.)
  • adamsmith
    Simon, Aurimas, any ideas?
  • aurimas
    When standalone and Firefox are open, can you open Zotero inside Firefox? What happens if you first open up Firefox (verify that you get an icon and that you can open Zotero inside Firefox) and then open Standalone?
  • mkosmala
    1. If Standalone and Firefox are open, and I try to open Zotero inside Firefox, I am unable to. I get the error: "There was an error starting Zotero."

    2. If I open Firefox and AM able to get an icon, but then try to start up Standalone, I am unable to, and I get the error: "Your Zotero database is currently in use. Only one instance of Zotero using the same database may be opened simultaneously at this time. If Firefox with the Zotero extension is open, please close it and restart Zotero Standalone."
  • aurimas
    Simon would be able to tell you more perhaps, but do you have any security software enabled that could be blocking communication between Zotero Standalone and the Firefox add-on? Try disabling it.
  • mkosmala
    I am running an old version of ZoneAlarm. I've checked its logs and it doesn't appear to be blocking anything. I'm kinda loathe to disable it.
  • aurimas
    This would just be for testing purposes. You can enable it again after checking if Zotero starts working or not.
  • mkosmala
    Disabled ZoneAlarm, but still do not get the icon.
  • aurimas
    edited August 28, 2013
    At this point, the thing to test would be whether you get an error when trying to open Zotero in Firefox while Zotero Standalone is open. The normal behavior for that would be for Zotero Standalone window to come into focus. But I'll assume that "no icon" means the same.

    I'll wait for Simon/Dan to chip in before I suggest anything more drastic.
  • aurimas
    Actually, one more thing that comes to mind, you wouldn't be starting Zotero or Firefox with the '-no-remote' flag, would you? You can check by right-clicking on the shortcut you're using to start each and checking the Properties. The flag would be at the end of the "Target" box. (You would have to Shift-Right-click if you have the shortcut pinned to the task bar)
  • adamsmith
    (FWIW, for past ZoneAlarm issues, disabling wasn't enough, it required unistalling. But we haven't had any such issues in a long time, so I'd hold off on that).
  • aurimas
    @adamsmith, but perhaps this is the case, because
    I am running an old version of ZoneAlarm
  • mkosmala
    aurimas: as I mentioned before, 1. If Standalone and Firefox are open, and I try to open Zotero inside Firefox, I am unable to. I get the error: "There was an error starting Zotero."

    Since that's not normal behavior, any suggestion on whether additional info about this error is stored anywhere?

    No "-no-remote" flags.

    Hmm about ZoneAlarm. I've had this version for a long, long time (years), and was successfully running Firefox with Zotero Standalone several months ago...
  • aurimas
    I meant that when you're testing if something fixes the issue, you should be testing if that error goes away, not if the icon appears (since the icon issue may, in addition, be caused by a different problem).

    The additional info comes from you trying to open Standalone after Firefox
    Your Zotero database is currently in use. Only one instance of Zotero using the same database may be opened simultaneously at this time. If Firefox with the Zotero extension is open, please close it and restart Zotero Standalone.
    This tells us that both Zotero Standalone and Zotero for Firefox are trying to read/write to Zotero database at the same time (big no no). This normally does not happen, because when you open Zotero Standalone, it tells Zotero in Firefox to back off from directly accessing the database and go through Zotero Standalone instead. Somewhere that communication is being intercepted. Typically this happens because some security software is blocking this communication.
  • mkosmala
    FWIW, I just installed the most up-to-date version of ZoneAlarm.

    I'm still having the same experience with no icon, errors, etc.
  • mkosmala
    Wait! Correction.

    After installing the new ZoneAlarm AND rebooting my computer, major progress:

    1) I no longer have an error when I have Firefox and Standalone open and try to open Zotero from Firefox. Instead it refocuses attention on Standalone, like it's supposed to.

    2) I no longer have an error when I have Firefox open and try to start Standalone. It starts just fine.

    3) If I open Firefox first, and then Standalone, I am now getting icons in the address bar. Yay!

    The only thing that still seems strange: If I open Standalone first and then Firefox, I do _not_ have icons in the address bar.
  • aurimas
    What page are you testing on? (shouldn't matter, but just in case)

    If you open Standalone _first_ and _then_ Firefox and you click on "Zotero" icon in Firefox, does it focus Standalone like it's supposed to?

    See if you can submit an Error Report. If not, try to submit a Debug log for reloading the page that's supposed to have an icon.
  • mkosmala
    Okay. Tested on both Google Scholar and on Amazon. Same links as above.

    If I open Standalone first and then Firefox and choose "Zotero", then yes, it does focus Standalone like it's supposed to?

    I still cannot get an Error ID or get anything written to the Debug log.
  • aurimas
    Actually, nvm on the Debug log. It doesn't look like under normal circumstances there is anything being written to it anyway.

    @Dan, Simon, is there any way to get detectWeb debug code for Zotero for Firefox in connector mode (besides real-time debugging)?
  • Buffning
    Not sure if this helps, but I have the same problem as mkosmala while running same versions of firefox and zotero (I use bitdefender and not zone alarm). I did the same steps listed here and have been getting the same response.

    Just letting you know that the problem isn't only the one computer...
  • adamsmith
    not sure what you're saying - mkosmala's issue seems mostly solved. Is that the case for you as well? If so what did it?
  • Buffning
    I have to load firefox first and then Zotero standalone for the translators to appear. My impression was that this was still the case for mkosmala. Not that this is really problem now that I know how to get it to work.
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