diff --git a/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h b/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h
index 23bc4d4572f..86a647296d8 100644
--- a/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h
+++ b/content/base/public/nsContentUtils.h
@@ -305,6 +305,8 @@ private:
   static nsINameSpaceManager *sNameSpaceManager;
 
   static nsIIOService *sIOService;
+
+  static PRBool sInitialized;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp b/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp
index 0b15d0de282..a4c4ebdac8b 100644
--- a/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp
+++ b/content/base/src/nsContentUtils.cpp
@@ -89,36 +89,51 @@ nsIParserService *nsContentUtils::sParserService = nsnull;
 nsINameSpaceManager *nsContentUtils::sNameSpaceManager = nsnull;
 nsIIOService *nsContentUtils::sIOService = nsnull;
 
+PRBool nsContentUtils::sInitialized = PR_FALSE;
+
 // static
 nsresult
 nsContentUtils::Init()
 {
-  NS_ENSURE_TRUE(!sXPConnect, NS_ERROR_ALREADY_INITIALIZED);
+  if (sInitialized) {
+    NS_WARNING("Init() called twice");
 
-  nsresult rv = CallGetService(nsIXPConnect::GetCID(), &sXPConnect);
+    return NS_OK;
+  }
+
+  nsresult rv = CallGetService(NS_SCRIPTSECURITYMANAGER_CONTRACTID,
+                               &sSecurityManager);
   NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
 
-  rv = CallGetService(NS_SCRIPTSECURITYMANAGER_CONTRACTID,
-                      &sSecurityManager);
+  rv = NS_GetNameSpaceManager(&sNameSpaceManager);
+  NS_ENSURE_SUCCESS(rv, rv);
+
+  rv = CallGetService(nsIXPConnect::GetCID(), &sXPConnect);
   if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
-    // We can run without a security manager, so don't return early.
-    sSecurityManager = nsnull;
+    // We could be a standalone DOM engine without JS, so no
+    // nsIXPConnect is actually ok...
+
+    sXPConnect = nsnull;
   }
 
-  rv = CallGetService(NS_IOSERVICE_CONTRACTID, &sIOService);
-  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
-    // If this fails, that's ok
-    sIOService = nsnull;
-  }
-  
   rv = CallGetService(kJSStackContractID, &sThreadJSContextStack);
-  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
-    sThreadJSContextStack = nsnull;
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv) && sXPConnect) {
+    // However, if we can't get a context stack after getting
+    // an nsIXPConnect, things are broken, so let's fail here.
 
     return rv;
   }
 
-  return NS_GetNameSpaceManager(&sNameSpaceManager);
+  rv = CallGetService(NS_IOSERVICE_CONTRACTID, &sIOService);
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
+    // This makes life easier, but we can live without it.
+
+    sIOService = nsnull;
+  }
+
+  sInitialized = PR_TRUE;
+
+  return NS_OK;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -387,6 +402,8 @@ nsContentUtils::CopyNewlineNormalizedUnicodeTo(nsReadingIterator<PRUnichar>& aSr
 void
 nsContentUtils::Shutdown()
 {
+  sInitialized = PR_FALSE;
+
   NS_IF_RELEASE(sDOMScriptObjectFactory);
   NS_IF_RELEASE(sXPConnect);
   NS_IF_RELEASE(sSecurityManager);
@@ -501,12 +518,6 @@ nsContentUtils::CheckSameOrigin(nsIDOMNode *aTrustedNode,
 {
   NS_PRECONDITION(aTrustedNode, "There must be a trusted node");
 
-  // If there isn't a security manager it is probably because it is not
-  // installed so we don't care about security anyway
-  if (!sSecurityManager) {
-    return NS_OK;
-  }
-
   PRBool isSystem = PR_FALSE;
   sSecurityManager->SubjectPrincipalIsSystem(&isSystem);
   if (isSystem) {
@@ -603,12 +614,6 @@ nsContentUtils::CheckSameOrigin(nsIDOMNode *aTrustedNode,
 PRBool
 nsContentUtils::CanCallerAccess(nsIDOMNode *aNode)
 {
-  if (!sSecurityManager) {
-    // No security manager available, let any calls go through...
-
-    return PR_TRUE;
-  }
-
   nsCOMPtr<nsIPrincipal> subjectPrincipal;
   sSecurityManager->GetSubjectPrincipal(getter_AddRefs(subjectPrincipal));
 
@@ -900,10 +905,6 @@ nsContentUtils::GetDocumentFromCaller(nsIDOMDocument** aDocument)
 PRBool
 nsContentUtils::IsCallerChrome()
 {
-  if (!sSecurityManager) {
-    return PR_FALSE;
-  }
-
   PRBool is_caller_chrome = PR_FALSE;
   nsresult rv = sSecurityManager->SubjectPrincipalIsSystem(&is_caller_chrome);
   if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
diff --git a/layout/build/nsLayoutModule.cpp b/layout/build/nsLayoutModule.cpp
index f935986075f..809f61d391b 100644
--- a/layout/build/nsLayoutModule.cpp
+++ b/layout/build/nsLayoutModule.cpp
@@ -170,6 +170,9 @@ NS_IMETHODIMP
 NS_NewXULTreeBuilder(nsISupports* aOuter, REFNSIID aIID, void** aResult);
 #endif
 
+PR_STATIC_CALLBACK(nsresult) Initialize(nsIModule* aSelf);
+PR_STATIC_CALLBACK(void) Shutdown(nsIModule* aSelf);
+
 #ifdef MOZ_MATHML
 #include "nsMathMLAtoms.h"
 #include "nsMathMLOperators.h"
@@ -186,7 +189,9 @@ NS_NewXULTreeBuilder(nsISupports* aOuter, REFNSIID aIID, void** aResult);
 class ContentShutdownObserver : public nsIObserver
 {
 public:
-  ContentShutdownObserver() { NS_INIT_ISUPPORTS(); }
+  ContentShutdownObserver()
+  {
+  }
 
   NS_DECL_ISUPPORTS
   NS_DECL_NSIOBSERVER
@@ -208,18 +213,26 @@ ContentShutdownObserver::Observe(nsISupports *aSubject,
 static PRBool gInitialized = PR_FALSE;
 
 // Perform our one-time intialization for this module
-PR_STATIC_CALLBACK(nsresult)
+
+// static
+nsresult PR_CALLBACK
 Initialize(nsIModule* aSelf)
 {
-  static PRBool initializing = PR_FALSE;
-  NS_PRECONDITION(!gInitialized || initializing, "module already initialized");
-  if (gInitialized)
+  NS_PRECONDITION(!gInitialized, "module already initialized");
+  if (gInitialized) {
     return NS_OK;
+  }
 
-  initializing = PR_TRUE;
   gInitialized = PR_TRUE;
     
-  nsContentUtils::Init();
+  nsresult rv = nsContentUtils::Init();
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
+    NS_ERROR("Could not initialize nsContentUtils");
+
+    Shutdown(aSelf);
+
+    return rv;
+  }
 
   // Register all of our atoms once
   nsCSSAnonBoxes::AddRefAtoms();
@@ -234,7 +247,14 @@ Initialize(nsIModule* aSelf)
   nsXULAtoms::AddRefAtoms();
 
 #ifdef MOZ_XUL
-  nsXULContentUtils::Init();
+  rv = nsXULContentUtils::Init();
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
+    NS_ERROR("Could not initialize nsXULContentUtils");
+
+    Shutdown(aSelf);
+
+    return rv;
+  }
 #endif
 
 #ifdef MOZ_MATHML
@@ -249,7 +269,15 @@ Initialize(nsIModule* aSelf)
 #ifdef DEBUG
   nsFrame::DisplayReflowStartup();
 #endif
-  nsTextTransformer::Initialize();
+  rv = nsTextTransformer::Initialize();
+  if (NS_FAILED(rv)) {
+    NS_ERROR("Could not initialize nsTextTransformer");
+
+    Shutdown(aSelf);
+
+    return rv;
+  }
+
   nsImageLoadingContent::Initialize();
 
   // Add our shutdown observer.
@@ -260,20 +288,28 @@ Initialize(nsIModule* aSelf)
     ContentShutdownObserver* observer =
       new ContentShutdownObserver();
 
-    if (observer)
-      observerService->AddObserver(observer, NS_XPCOM_SHUTDOWN_OBSERVER_ID, PR_FALSE);
+    if (!observer) {
+      Shutdown(aSelf);
+
+      return NS_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+    }
+
+    observerService->AddObserver(observer, NS_XPCOM_SHUTDOWN_OBSERVER_ID, PR_FALSE);
+  } else {
+    NS_WARNING("Could not get an observer service.  We will leak on shutdown.");
   }
 
-  initializing = PR_FALSE;
   return NS_OK;
 }
 
 // Shutdown this module, releasing all of the module resources
-PR_STATIC_CALLBACK(void)
+
+// static
+void PR_CALLBACK
 Shutdown(nsIModule* aSelf)
 {
   NS_PRECONDITION(gInitialized, "module not initialized");
-  if (! gInitialized)
+  if (!gInitialized)
     return;
 
   gInitialized = PR_FALSE;