I do not understand the problem.Maybe a screenshot will make it clearer.Is the problem in Firefox Search bar or is it in Search bar of Firefox custom search page with all icons ? I tried in both of them,it is working properly,but I'm on 7.May be an addon is a culprit.

please see if installing the search reset addon can resolve the issue: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/searchreset/ (a restart of the browser is necessary afterwards).

Installing the search reset addon and restarting Firefox had no effect. To gagmani: My version of FF starts showing the search bar with several icons underneath. I assume this is what you mean by the custom search page? If you really need a screenshot then I'm afraid you'll have to tell me how to produce and post it. The search bar that still works is to the right of the page selection bar, directly underneath the tabs. This can show icons for several search engines. If I select google and either double click and enter text or just enter text immediately, I get the response I would expect.

Current Firefox versions use the default search engine (pref: browser.search.defaultenginename) to set the search engine that is used on the about:home page.

Check the browser.search.defaultenginename pref on the about:config page and make sure that it is set to the default value Google.

• browser.search.defaultenginename

Currently selected search engine:

• browser.search.selectedEngine

You can check if you have the XML files of the default search engines including Google in the browser\searchplugins folder in the Firefox program folder.

If not then you need to reinstall Firefox.

I am afraid you have just baffled me. What is the about:config page and how do I get to it? I have checked for the XML files which are all present.

Type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key to open the about:config page, just like you open a website by typing the URL in the location bar.

• If you see a warning message then you can confirm that you want to access the about:config page.

• use the Search bar at the top of the about:config page to locate preferences more easily
• preferences that have been modified and do not have the default value show as bold (user set)
• preferences that are user set (bold) can be reset to the default value via the right-click context menu
• preferences can be changed via the right-click context menu: Modify (String or Integer) or Toggle (Boolean) or by double-clicking the line with the pref
• preferences can be created via the right-click context menu: New -> String, Integer, Boolean

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

If you do not keep changes after a restart then see:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Preferences_not_saved

Thanks Cor-el that has done the trick. It was set to Yahoo (why didn't this work?) in fact thanks to everyone for giving your time.