Mozilla profile not restored at browser startup
 

Each time I start Mozilla (1.7.12), it shows the profile selector dialog.
I can't choose "default" as "the directory containing the profile cannot be found" (huh?, that should be /media/hde1/home/robert/.mozilla/default, and it does exist).
When I create a new profile, a new folder and files structure gets created, the cache gets saved. However, when I re-open Mozilla, the newly created profile won't show up and the same game begins.
Obviously, checking "Don't ask at startup" cannot either work.

Any ideas?
Thanks