Unable to re-install Firefox3

This is a bit long, but it got rather complicated!

In trying to solve one problem, I seem to have created a lot more for myself. I installed Firefox3 some time ago, but at the weekend, it stopped being able to download anything. I would get as far as "save as" then nothing would happen, and when I went to Edit->Preferences and "save to folder", nothing happened when I clicked "browse". It was like Firefox had forgotten the computer existed.

Having tried all the suggested solutions I could find, I decided to try uninstalling and re-installing Firefox. So I followed the instructions at this website: http://jorge.ulver.no/2008/08/06/acer-a ... ngFirefox3, as I'd done last time.

Except this time, when I did sudo yum install firefox and said yes to the download size I got:

Downloading Packages:
Running rpm_check_debug
ERROR with rpm_check_debug vs depsolve:
Package yelp needs gecko-libs = 1.8.1.14, this is not available.

Having tried to look this up, I found it as an open bug on bugzilla, but no indication where/how it had been resolved.

Never mind, I thought. I'll try installing Firefox through the method on the Macles blog that's recommended in this forum. The first stage when fine, except everything seemed to stop after the message 'Firefox Setup 3.0.9.exe.1 saved". When I pressed return and type the next line of code, I got:

tar: firefox-3.0.9.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

At this point, I get the feeling that I just need to take everything off and start again. Either that or find the gecko-libs 1.8.1.14 from somewhere.

Can anyone help me? I'm driving myself insane here!

Edit: I'm just getting more confused. Firefox 2 has suddenly started working. I can download, but I can't access my webmail accounts (gmail and yahoo). I think there's something weird going on with my computer...

Edit2: Thanks to some lateral thinking from my husband, I've managed to get Firefox3 back - we searched the directory for the .exe file and double clicked it, at which point Linpus did the heavy-lifting for us. BUT I still have the original problem of not being able to download anything. Two steps forward, one step back...