Cluttermagnet Posted October 11, 2005 Share Posted October 11, 2005 More often than I'd care to remember, I have downloaded the latest Firefox or Thunderbird version only to get a 7-Zip error upon clicking the install file. This means the install is aborted and will not proceed. It is quite repeatable on any given 'bad' software download. This seems to happen randomly, i.e. only with some versions of the software and not others. I once tried completely re-downloading a file, and got the same 7-Zip error when trying to install the newer one. What is causing this? Am I getting garbled downloads via my slow dialup link? BTW only rarely have I found any other downloaded files to be corrupt. This seems to happen with a much higher frequency with Mozilla downloads. Lately, the Firefox 1.0.7 release has come to me in this unusable form. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted October 11, 2005 Share Posted October 11, 2005 If you uninstall 7-Zip do you still get the same error or does install proceed?I assume you are downloading the Windows installer version, the main link on the Firefox download page. The installer should have nothing to do with 7-Zip at all, so maybe it's the culprit, or possibly Windows shell extension handlers.It's doubtful you would get multiple bad downloads (unless connection is really bad). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted October 11, 2005 Share Posted October 11, 2005 The download for windows from the Mozilla page http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ is NOT zipped. It is a 4.7 meg exe file. Where are you getting the FF from? I'd cross that download site off my list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil P Posted October 11, 2005 Share Posted October 11, 2005 7-zip is used in mozilla binaries...are you getting an error that says "7-zip: unspecified error"? The only solution seems to be download the file again, sadly. If you're getting your file from bouncer (zlim's link, http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/, uses bouncer), then it's possible that you're getting a corrupt download. Try grabbing it directly from FTP, and maybe see if that fixes it.Hope that helps Note: This is not a problem with 7zip on your machine (if you have it). It's a self-extracting installer, so something is screwed up with that. (7zip was implemented here, it's part of the reason the download was reduced so far in size) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Do you actually have 7-Zip installed on your computer, and is it showing the error? Or is the installer itself reporting the " 7-Zip error"? Also, does the installer actually start, with the Firefox splash screen?I have had problems where the Windows shell throws up a completely different command to what's expected. Or (wildly possible) , Windows may have somehow associated ".exe" files with 7-Zip. Try right-clicking on it and select "Open" to see if that gives the same result.To ensure that your file is downloaded correctly you should download the md5sum file and use md5summer ( in Windows) to verify. Linux has the command-line md5sum utility included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webb Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 If you're getting them from Steeler Fan's FTP site get the checksums along with the zip files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted October 12, 2005 Author Share Posted October 12, 2005 (edited) Thanks for the great replies. I'll try to answer the questions raised, as best I can, without doing any 'research'. First of all, I have never installed 7-Zip on this computer. My problem does seem to come from the unzip utility bundled with the software. FWIW, I do all unzipping using Winzip- but of course Winzip is not invoked at all while doing a Firefox install. The randomness of this problem is rather striking. It's as if certain versions of Firefox or Tbird are simply jinxed. If the 7-Zip problem exists, I can rest assured that any subsequent re-downloads of that version will exhibit the identical problem. But I have not yet tried alternate download sites, as I didn't know of their existence (HTTP). As for ftp, please see below.My downloads have always been from the main Mozilla Firefox page. My browser handles it- HTTP method, I guess. I never did get to be any good with ftp'ing. I'd have to learn how to use the wsftp free utility I have and never use.No, I never see the Firefox splash screen, I simply get that little window with the 7-Zip error message, and yes, it's the one where it is called an unspecified error. I do assume it is the bundled unzip utility that is generating the message, especially since I never see the splash screen and don't have 7-Zip on my hard drive.Yes, I am downloading the formal releases, not nightlies, and they are of course .exe's, not zipped files. That's what made the problem so puzzling when I first encountered it.Now, the most important finding: sunrat's suggestion that I right click and select Open does work. I just tried it and the software proceeds to unpack its archives. So I'll go ahead and install 1.0.7 'soon', in the next day or two.One other question- is it still necessary to first delete your previous version, or can you get away with installing 'over top of'? It's a pain with a slow dialup connection to have to go out every time and reload all extensions. That's some 10 or 12 that I use presently.Thanks, guys. :thumbsup:P.S. I know the importance of always creating a new Profile for every new install. I have always prevented the software from launching after install and then invoked the profile wizard from a command line with the -p switch. But it looks like Firefox always launches the wizard the first time out, anyway. And I guess it always at least creates a Default profile if you don't create one yourself. Comments?P.P.S. When working with 'jinxed' versions of Firefox or Tbird, I have seen the problem repeat if I transport a copy of that download to another machine. Same exact behavior on the other box. May have been that most or all of these incidents had in common that they were also on 98SE machines like mine. But I'm not positive, as my friend does have one XP machine. May well have seen the problem on his XP machine, too.Last thought- it appears that Firefox has never solved the memory leak problem, at least where 98SE machines are concerned. Yeah, I know, get XP. Sure, Officer. Hey! What's that over there?! (Cluttermagnet suddenly disappears) Edited October 12, 2005 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Cluttermagnet, I have this tweak for the memory problem:open about:configright-click a blank area and select NEW --> INTEGERtype in browser.cache.memory.capacityclick ok, then type in 16000 (this will limit the browser to 16MB of RAM) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted October 13, 2005 Author Share Posted October 13, 2005 Cluttermagnet, I have this tweak for the memory problem:open about:configright-click a blank area and select NEW --> INTEGERtype in browser.cache.memory.capacityclick ok, then type in 16000 (this will limit the browser to 16MB of RAM)Thanks, Liz! I'll try that and let you know what results I get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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