FF Slows Down, Hangs. FF Restart Doesn't Fix-Win Reboot Does

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Scott_1A
Posts: 207
Joined: March 25th, 2006, 5:12 pm

FF Slows Down, Hangs. FF Restart Doesn't Fix-Win Reboot Does

Post by Scott_1A »

I have been having a regular problem with FF where it suddenly where it either stops loading tabs completely or takes forever to load them (many minutes). I realize that FF will sometimes reach a point where it uses so much memory and CPU resources that it will greatly slow down or even hang itself and Windows. With that problem, I can resolve it by closing FF and restarting it and everything works normally with it and the rest of Windows once more after the restart.

This is not that problem however. When this problem occurs, everything else about Windows (and other apps) continues to work normally and there are still plenty of computer resources such as CPU cycles and memory available. FF is nowhere near tying up the rest of Windows when this problem occurs. FF is the only thing affected when it occurs and restarting it does not fix the problem. Rebooting Windows DOES fix the problem however.

The problem just occurred once more and seemed to be the most severe occurrence of it yet. I went ahead and tried loading FF in Safe mode when this problem occurred and it wouldn’t load tabs that way either. It just hung completely when in Safe mode which led me to believe that the problem wasn’t related to any extensions. I also created a completely empty, test profile with all default settings and no extensions or any other type of modifications made to that profile.

I had the same problem with that test profile. Even with just one tab open, I couldn’t get it to load any website. I had finally reached the point where I was about to try refreshing FF (which I have never done before) when I had one more thought. I figured this time may be the same problem I had been having before where it loaded tabs slowly but rebooting it corrected it. I went ahead and rebooted Windows and sure enough, FF once again was running quickly and normally once more. I hadn’t had to do the refresh.

I have verified that the problem is not related to my internet connection (ethernet connection, not WIFI) since all other applications and Edge browser work normally when the problem occurs. I don’t think it could be related to my extensions since it occurs in Safe mode and also with a completely blank, empty test profile. I also wondered if it could be related to my AV software (which had been Avast and Malwarebytes Premium) so I took off Avast and am now running with Windows Defender and MB Premium instead. The problem still occurred after that change.

There are no other Windows apps other than the AV software, Msoffice 2016, and PicPick (a screenshot program) running when the problem happens. It seems to me as if the problem is something in Windows interfering with FF However. I am running Windows 10 Pro, build 9200. FF was at 76.0.1 when this occurred and I am about to upgrade to version 77. This problem has been occurring over many months and many versions of FF however so I doubt if upgrading to a newer version is going to solve the problem. I am also running on a Dell Inspiron with 16GB Ram and 3GHz dual core processor. The system is on a 1TB hard drive with about 33% of the HD empty, and I never let the drive get any more full than that.

Obviously, the problem isn't TOO serious since I can resolve it by rebooting the system (at least so far). I would prefer not to have to keep doing that however and am hoping that someone here has some ideas about what might be going on. Thanks.
garyreno
Posts: 14
Joined: July 9th, 2015, 10:02 am

Re: FF Slows Down, Hangs. FF Restart Doesn't Fix-Win Reboot

Post by garyreno »

I am having the same problem! Started about the same time I upgraded to Win10 in January. Did most of the normal troubleshooting with new profile, no joy. I do not use edge but every once in a while I click on it and it starts instantly, any ideas?
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therube
Posts: 21703
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: FF Slows Down, Hangs. FF Restart Doesn't Fix-Win Reboot

Post by therube »

I have run into instances where FF greatly (negatively) affects entire system performance:

Playing video on Videobin.co results in high CPU - in ntoskrnl.exe, Windows 7
& the (various bugs associated with) Layers hardware acceleration causing high memory consumption on theguardian.com.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
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