[Solved] "There was an error starting Zotero" -- Exception in chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/db.js

xebtl
Hi,

Since I upgraded Zotero [under Firefox/Iceweasel under Debian], it won't start anymore. I upgraded to the latest Firefox, Uninstalled Zotero and installed it again, removed compreg.dat and xpti.dat but the problem persists. The Error Console shows the following error:

Error: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80630002 [mozIStorageService.openDatabase]" nsresult: "0x80630002 ()" location: "JS frame :: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/db.js :: anonymous :: line 1058" data: no]
Source File: chrome://zotero/content/xpcom/zotero.js
Line: 341
When I open the Zotero Preferences (that still works), the Console repeats the first error and adds:

Error: Zotero.Proxies.proxies.slice is not a function
Source File: chrome://zotero/content/preferences/preferences.js
Line: 1716
The Zotero Debug Log shows no errors:

(3)(+0000000): Using data directory ...

(3)(+0000000): Opening database 'zotero'

(3)(+0089263): Getting Zotero sync password

(3)(+0000005): Opening database 'zotero'

(3)(+0000256): Cached 16 styles in 19 ms

(3)(+0000000): DATE: retrieved with algorithms: ({year:2009, month:8, day:14})

[...]
and several more messages like the last one, 20 lines total.

There is a thread in the forum with a similar problem where Check Database Integrity worked, but that does nothing for me.

One more detail: I'm on a Debian stable system and have been using the default Iceweasel 3.0.6; in my attempt to solve the Zotero problem, I installed a Firefox 3.6.10 binary.

What can I do?
  • dstillman
    Are you using a custom data directory? Are you running security software (AppArmor, SELinux, etc.)?
  • dstillman
    And the prefs error is irrelevant—Zotero didn't load, so the preferences won't open without error.
  • xebtl
    Data dir: No, I'm using the Firefox profile directory.

    Security SW: Not as far as I know or can tell (I'm not an admin on this machine).

    Thanks,

    Elias
  • dstillman
    edited October 1, 2010
    Is this a local drive or a network drive?

    If the former, you might want to talk to your admin—there's not really anything else we can tell you without a more specific error (which you can almost always get by deleting compreg.dat and xpti.dat and restarting Firefox, but perhaps not in this case).

    And if the latter, well, that's likely the problem.
  • dstillman
    But there's a pretty good chance this is AppArmor or other security software.
  • xebtl
    It's a network drive (AFS). All home directories here are on an AFS, I don't think I have the option to use a local data directory.

    I did delete compreg.dat and xpti.dat and restarted, but the only error messages (after setting showInConsole and checking 'Enable Debug Log after Restart' in Zotero Preferences) were the ones I posted.

    Our admin says there is no security software, but also pointed to AFS as a possible issue.

    Thanks,

    Elias
  • xebtl
    A colleague of mine is using the same versions of Zotero and Firefox, also no custom data directory (and also on AFS), but doesn't have a problem.
  • dstillman
    Same OS and OS version?

    You can try creating a new Firefox profile, installing Zotero into it, and pointing it to your current Zotero data directory.
  • xebtl
    Yes, he is on the same OS (only with different hardware).

    When I did what you suggested, at first Zotero started normally with the new profile but crashed again once I had entered the custom data directory.

    I have my Zotero data on my laptop too and sync via the Zotero server. Since Zotero started with a clean profile, can I just completely remove it, and get my data from the laptop or the server? As I said in the first post, I tried selecting Uninstall in the Firefox Extensions menu, but that didn't do the trick.
  • dstillman
    edited August 28, 2013
    Well, first, is the default profile location (that works) stored on AFS?

    If not, the test would be to point Zotero to an empty custom data directory on AFS.

    If so, is there a zotero.sqlite-journal in your existing custom data directory with Zotero closed? If so, delete it and try again. [Edit for posterity: Don't do this. It could result in database corruption, and if it helped it'd be due to some other root cause that needed to be fixed.]
  • dstillman
    On the off-chance that this is database corruption that just isn't showing a proper error, you can also try the DB Repair Tool.
  • xebtl
    Thank you, Dan, removing zotero.sqlite-journal did the trick.

    FYI, everything was on AFS.
  • dstillman
    Yeah, it's still likely AFS that's the issue—network file systems sometimes have different locking behaviors that interfere with the deletion of the (normally temporary) database journal file.

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