Do you mean Firefox Safe Mode or Windows Safe Mode?

If you had to restart Windows, I suspect you tested in Windows Safe Mode. What happened when you tried to restart Windows normally? (This may be more of a Windows problem than a Firefox problem.)

Firefox Safe Mode is where I'm trying to get back out of, and get back to normal Firefox mode. Absolutely nothing changed in Firefox, post-restart or post-shutdown.

This may sound like a dumb question, but if you are not holding down the Shift key when you start Firefox, and choosing Safe Mode from the little dialog with the choices of Safe Mode and Refresh, how do you know you're in Firefox's Safe Mode?

1.) Because I followed Firefox's instructions from the other troubleshooting I was doing to get into Safe Mode.

2.) All of my bookmarks are no longer listed in the sidebar but are still there when you go to show your bookmarks/show all bookmarks in the window that comes up.

3.) My regular homepage doesn't automatically come up on launching Firefox, but a nearly-blank grey page with Firefox's logo comes up instead.

Also I have tried Refresh since I got stuck as there seemed to be an insinuation in the troubleshooting tips(for if you're stuck) that it might get you back to normal.

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.

• https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/places-maintenance/

See also:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Locked_or_damaged_places.sqlite
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file

If the Places Maintenance extension can't repair the places.sqlite database then remove all places.sqlite file(s) in the Firefox profile folder to make Firefox rebuild the places.sqlite database from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

• keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unable_to_process_the_backup_file_-_Firefox

You can use the button on the "Help -> Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page.

• Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Directory:
  Windows: Show Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

Helpmehplz said

1.) Because I followed Firefox's instructions from the other troubleshooting I was doing to get into Safe Mode.

Got it. When you exit out of Firefox and start up again without click the Safe Mode button, you should be in a regular session.

2.) All of my bookmarks are no longer listed in the sidebar but are still there when you go to show your bookmarks/show all bookmarks in the window that comes up.

That's odd. But try cor-el's suggestions.

3.) My regular homepage doesn't automatically come up on launching Firefox, but a nearly-blank grey page with Firefox's logo comes up instead.

Also I have tried Refresh since I got stuck as there seemed to be an insinuation in the troubleshooting tips(for if you're stuck) that it might get you back to normal.

That might be related. The Refresh sets you back to the built-in Firefox home page, but that page should have some functional icons at the bottom. I'm attaching an example for comparison.

Your pre-Refresh settings folder (Firefox profile folder) should be inside an Old Firefox Data folder on your desktop. If you find that, hang onto it for a while in case you discover later that you need something from it.

Thanks Jscher, yes that is my definition of "nearly blank", compared to most webpages at least.

jscher2000 said Got it. When you exit out of Firefox and start up again without click the Safe Mode button, you should be in a regular session.</blockquote> That's part of the problem. I can start up again all I want and not revert back to normal.

Yes the "Old Firefox Data" file automatically came up on my desktop when I did the refresh.

Also, in case I was missing the obvious, I changed my homepage from Firefox's to my normal one. Since my normal homepage is still near-unresponsive under this older version of the browser, changing the homepage didn't do much, except that now it's not Firefox's.

I may try cor-el's suggestions at another date since there are multiple steps and I've had a lot come up to keep me busy the rest of the week; there may not even be time to get on my desktop until sunday, as a rough estimate.

I'm also thinking of trying a few other things I have in mind, like dropping my net connection for my desktop, which would solve the issue of the browser rather neatly. I have other methods to do internet if I need to. But first as I say I have other fixes I want to try on my own.