Unable to start Firefox

Huamin · 05-25-2011, 11:00 PM

Hi,
Here is my Linux version
Scientific Linux release 6.0 (Carbon)

I don't know why it can't be started

Best regards

Nylex · 05-26-2011, 01:15 AM

How are we supposed to help with such little information? How are you trying to start Firefox? What happens when you do so? If you're not running it from a terminal, then try to do so, as there may be error messages.

Huamin · 05-26-2011, 02:21 AM

Many thanks Nylex. Now I type this in the terminal then nothing happens. The problem is like this.

[oracle@webserver ~]$ firefox
[oracle@webserver ~]$

John VV · 05-26-2011, 04:05 AM

? is this machine connected to the net ?

this is sl6 and you posted in the "server" section
did you even install firefox ? it is not default for a server install but is for the desktop install .

Huamin · 05-26-2011, 04:28 AM

Thanks John. How can I check full firefox setup is there? But I'm sure that my partner did set it up.

John VV · 05-26-2011, 04:47 AM

well what did you install ?
the headless ( or not) server version or the desktop version ?
to see where it is installed ( if it is ) run this

Code:

which firefox

the output should be "/usr/bin/firefox"

are you text only ?
or is Gnome ( or KDE or xfce or ? ) desktop used ?

also if you run

Code:

yum grouplist

in the "installed groups" section should be
"internet Applications " and "internet browser" & "Desktop" & "desktop Platform" & "General Purpose Desktop"

Huamin · 05-26-2011, 05:22 AM

Many thanks. I've got these

http://www.4shared.com/photo/KvkQe2ey/fig122.html

John VV · 05-26-2011, 05:43 AM

odd sl and the redhat RHN ????

that bit in the warning about yum not running as root so the RHN repo is not listed
that is odd

mixing the PAID FOR rhn for RHEL6 on sl6 (i guess that "yum-rhn-plugin " is installed )

do you have a desktop gui ?

rerun as root

Code:

su -
-- your root password --
yum grouplist

Huamin · 05-26-2011, 05:52 AM

Many thanks.

I've rerun it
http://www.4shared.com/photo/XdtZxl3S/fig123.html

Here is the desktop
http://www.4shared.com/photo/Ip6SkHLj/fig124.html

John VV · 05-26-2011, 07:05 AM

this is making no since
seeing as

Quote:

But I'm sure that my partner did set it up.

ask your partner what they did

16pide · 05-26-2011, 09:12 AM

I think it could be you already have firefox running (although not displaying).
please run:

Code:

ps -edf|grep -i firefox

I suggest you kill the existing firefox processes before trying again.
then run firefox again from the command line, and tell us what it says.
If it still does not tell you anything, then here is what you can do:

/usr/bin/firefox should be a text file (a script). Edit it being super user, and change the first line to be:

Code:

#!/bin/sh -x

Then as your own user, run firefox again from the terminal, and post the output

Huamin · 05-26-2011, 11:33 PM

Many thanks all.

John,
Do you mena from the screenshots, the firefox was not set up yet?

Pide,

Here is what I've got

[oracle@webserver ~]$ ps -edf|grep -i firefox
oracle 4159 4129 0 11:26 pts/1 00:00:00 grep -i firefox

How to kill the existing firefox process?

And this file "/usr/bin/firefox" is readonly. Why do I need to change it?

yancek · 05-26-2011, 11:54 PM

What are permissions on the file, run in a terminal: ls -l /usr/bin/firefox
post the output.

John VV · 05-27-2011, 12:05 AM

Do you mena from the screenshots, the firefox was not set up yet?

maybe

a different poster did point out that ff might be already running BUT NOT VISIBLE
this dose happen
rebooting or killing the process using the pid fixes that

ask the person why set up the computer HOW thew installed firefox and the desktop
that output from "grouplist" makes NO SENSE

according to it
there is NO desktop installed
and no web browsers
and no mail client
no nothing that is in a default desktop install .

16pide · 05-27-2011, 03:40 AM

@huamin, the ps output means firefox is not already running. So no need to kill anything.
FYI, if you have to kill a process, you could have run:

Code:

killall firefox

And to answer your question, the edit to the firefox script I advised above means to run it in trace mode. it will tell you everything it does command by command, and we should be able to understand what is going wrong.
NB: you need to be root to edit that file