Firefox won't start (!)

[David Abrahams]

All of a sudden I can't launch firefox.  Clicking on the icon adds an
entry to the task panel called "Starting Firefox Web Browser" for some
20 seconds or so, and then it disappears.  Running firefox from a
shell prompt seems to either hang, or exit immediately, with no
diagnostic output whatsoever.

I've tried apt-get remove firefox && apt-get install firefox to no
avail.  I don't even have a clue how to debug this one.  Can anyone
offer help?

Thanks,

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com