Looking for a particular situation to match yours is less fruitful than looking at the proper mounting and adjustment for a front derailleur and first making sure your derailleur meets those criteria. The front needs to be at the proper height and angle to the chainwheel, with proper inner/outer adjustment and reasonably low cable friction. If you did read any of the front derailleur threads you may have seen similar to the following:

Go to http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...ur-adjustments and follow the directions from start to finish, skipping no steps.

Do that!

IF you do so and STILL have the problem try to determine if your derailleur cage has been bent, also check to make sure the inside of the cage has not been scored by the chain. A derailleur or chain that has developed side flex from wear can also degrade front shifting. But everything works worse if the derailleur setup is not proper, so do that no matter what.