Firefox 5.0.1 peculiar issue

Hi

I have a few computers in my house. I have a beast of a desktop, a netbook (wifey's), and this laptop currently running (with a few others NOT currently running... working projects, as I call them).

Anyway, I just upgraded Firefox from 4 to 5(.0.1) on this laptop. It's a Sony Vaio VGN-FE670G. Specs as follows:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit SP1

CPU: Intel Core Duo T2300@1.66GHz
1.5GB RAM (upgraded from original)
HDD: WD5000BEKT hard drive (Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB) (again, upgraded)
Security Software: Comodo Internet Security (AV & Firewall)

Issue is as follows:

Every page/tab I open displays the "Connecting..." status on the tab label indefinitely. Most of the time, with the loading Windows 7 "circling circle", and sometimes without. I've already upgraded my wife's netbook (32 bit Windows 7) and the desktop (64 bit Windows 7) to FF5 without this issue.

On each machine, I've done the upgrade of FF from 4 to 5, without uninstalling, just doing the upgrade option. I'd really like to NOT have to uninstall/reinstall FF to fix this, but unless someone else has better advice, it may be the option I have to use.

Other information: This hard drive is only a few months old (last one crapped out within a day or two after the 3 year warranty... go figure), so the hard drive and Windows installation is fairly fresh. I only have a few other programs installed on this machine, as I don't use it much (mostly for use outside the house, which isn't often). I did upgrade Firefox before installing 8 "important" Windows updates from MSFT, though it did this before I installed those updates as well.

If it's not clear yet, I'd like the "Connecting..." to transfer into the correct tab website label once it's finished loading.

Now, for questions:

Has anyone else experienced this quirky issue?

Does anyone have ideas (other than uninstall/install FF) to FIX this issue?

And lastly... what the heck!? Heh.

EDIT: It even does this with the home page (http://www.google.com, to be exact) when OPENING FF5. Screenshot attached.

 

Update: I've uninstalled FF, re-downloaded the FF5 installation file, rebooted (a few times, for other reasons besides just this, including a UAC setting change), and reinstalled Firefox and addons, and the issue no longer persists. Just updating the thread as the uninstall/install did fix the issue, if anyone else experiences this weird phenomenon.

Also, when doing the uninstall, I did NOT check the clear personal settings box. It retained my bookmarks (even though I had a backup of them in case), etc.