After FF28 installed, my history & bookmarks are missing just like #981577 I've tried everything!

Question

I've had this problem for about 5 days, it may have happened prior to that, perhaps as early as 4/23/14 but I'm not well (inoperable brain cancer) and just began using my laptop again about 5 days ago. I became aware of the problems about 5 days ago, during which I have tried searching the Mozilla support forums and the web for some clue as to what else I can try, hence the reference to question #981577, which looks like it could have been written by me (my saved passwords no longer work, and I can't open add-ons now, but for the last few days I could use add-ons - the ones for sql lite, but I just tried the troubleshooter add-on listed at the bottom of this page and I can't utilize it, which happened to me earlier today when I downloaded an add-on, I clicked the orange FF button on the top left, then clicked on Add-Ons and it only goes so far as to reach the Add-Ons manager, but nothing happens when you click the Add-On you're trying to use - if it even shows up - it only shows a place marker page with "Disable" and "Remove" - I thought the problem was with the other Add-On I tried because it was over a year old and maybe it just didn't work. Somehow I think that the Firefox Menu Bar with the Orange Firefox button and other tool bars might be part of the problem. If I click on the Navigation Tool Bar and I click on the Bookmarks Button that I added to the bar, it will drop down and show me bookmarked pages (maybe 15) that aren't sorted like my missing ones. If I click "Show All Bookmarks" it opens the window labeled LIBRARY which shows on the left side of the screen. Inside the Library window is a toolbar with fwd bkwk grayed out/can't use, then organize, then views, then Import and Backup - then a box that's Search Bookmarks with a magnifying glass. Below the tool bar is a left screen section with an icon like a book that reads All Bookmarks, there are no bookmarks listed under that heading, and nothing happens if you click it like a button/command. On the right hand side there are two sections, the first section on the right hand side and upper portion under the toolbar is an area with Name and Location headings, and below show the 3 recent Bookmarks I have added lately. Right below the previous section is the heading Name: and then a blank search box. If I click "Show All" when working with Bookmarks OR Toolbars, they somehow default to a blank LIBRARY window. When I click the History area from the Firefox Orange button, it shows several recent websites, when I click Show All - nothing, I just and when I click on Bookmarks, there are several bookmarks that I have made today showing up, BUT NONE of these bookmarks show up in the LIBRARY window when I click Show All. I want to add that I get the same results when I use the Firefox Orange Button Toolbar as opposed to the original Menu toolbar. I have completed every task mentioned in the conversation of question #981577, and for the most part, I have repeated the steps three times each, with additional exits from Firefox and powering down my pc in between for good measure. I have also used Windows System Restore twice with no results, as well as attempting to "downgrade" my version of Firefox to 24 and 27 (which I know is not a recommended step and the first attempt resulted in downloading Firefox 28, which I was already running, and the second time, nothing restored or magically appeared, so I did an un-install and did a clean install of Firefox 28 from the download link on the Mozilla site. There is no indication that the other support-user had her question/ticket answered/resolved. The support communication spanned from 12/26-12/27/13. I wished that the previous conversation had taken place more recently, because it may point to a problem with FF28, but I don't know if it was released back in December. Here is the question/problem from the original poster, and I HAVE taken all of the steps as suggested by the support representative that assisted her.
I would be so grateful to have my bookmarks back because they are my lifeline, and I think I have/had more than 3,500 links. As far as my history, I never delete anything (bookmarks included). I know there must have been thousands of visited websites that I have saved. Here is the question/problem from the original poster, and I HAVE taken all of the steps as suggested by the support representative that assisted her:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/981577?esab=a&s=show+all+bookmarks+show+history+doesn%27t+work&r=20&as=s&page=1
"Earlier today my bookmarks were there. Later tonight, not there.
I've tried the whole restore bookmarks process, I've copied the folder and deleted the places file thing. None of that has worked.
What's weird is if I type something in in the URL box that I know is in my bookmarks, it will show up like it's in the history. But nothing shows up in my bookmarks folder at all.
I need some help on this as I've tried almost every way I've read and nothing has brought them up. And like I said in the title, I have over 800 bookmarks and a lot of them are work related."
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Answer 1

Thanks to everyone who took a look at my problems with missing/lost Library, History, Bookmarks, Downloads, and Passwords files after the Firefox 28 Update (the automated one), especially Debapriyo. Debapriyo, your suggestion was one of the first I tried over four days ago, but I did re-try it each day, and twice today (this morning, and again after I posted my support issue on here). Unfortunately, every time I tried it, I would click start, and I would almost always see the screen flash slightly, then at the top of the window where it says "Library" it would say something like "the program is not responding" and then...nothing, and nothing on "My Computer" showed any changes. I also used Places Management and Places Maintenance to make sure that the files were in my Profile Folder, etc., and I kept getting a clean Places Management with a Deep Check, and I double checked the tables on Places Maintenance - both of these programs as well as Restoration were recommended in previous replies to inquiries similar to mine. In addition to restoring my computer, I did a "Reset" on Firefox that created a new Profile name which is used where my FF files are stored. I think this may have contributed to my eventual success.
Finally, I tried the trick of backing up necessary files into a different folder, then changing the name of the "Places SQL?" I forget the second part of the file name (I blame my brain tumor for my short-term memory issues - really) I think that's the name, so I changed the name. I then clicked File, then Exit and it closed Fire Fox. I was very reluctant to use this method to solve my issues, but after about 4-5 attempts using this, my bookmarks showed up - not just the ones that fit into the drop down box and would only save to Un-Sorted Bookmarks in the Library, it finally showed up exactly as it did before the problems. I found that by using the Menu Toolbar alternately removing it and looking at Orange Button Menu in the top left of the screen it seems like the SQL info is not flowing to both menus the same way. If I clicked on the Orange Button Menu, it started by listing 3-4 websites as Bookmarks. If I used the Menu Toolbar Bookmarks button, it would list Bookmarks to the bottom of that dropdown - about 15 websites (which is crazy for both because I actually have 4,200 bookmarks). I was so frustrated though by clicking All Bookmarks or All History and the pop up window for Library would say "there are no files." I don't really know the final answer or what solved my problems, but I've stayed awake almost an entire 4 days awake trying to fix this, and now it looks likes like I"ve managed to fix it 99.9%, and I'm done with it - I can't take any more. I think my brain tumor has grown it's own tumor over this - I'm definitely no IT expert, that's for sure. Thanks Again!