100 % CPU usage makes Firefox unusable :-(

Discussion of bugs in Mozilla Firefox
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AnotherGuest.
Posts: 2158
Joined: December 22nd, 2004, 11:47 am

Post by AnotherGuest. »

If I tally up the votes, I get:
1 XP with Athlon 64
1 MSN
1 FF version <1.0
1 FF glitch
1 SwitchProxy
1 delay during PDF
1 A9 + Flash combination
6 Flash

<b>And the winner is .... Flash,</b> with 7 mentions.
Could this be the problem? Some people claim to have cured all their troubles with FlashBlocker.

What if you all just swear off Flash for long enough to decide if it could be the problem?
Last edited by AnotherGuest. on January 25th, 2005, 10:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
AnotherGuest.
Posts: 2158
Joined: December 22nd, 2004, 11:47 am

Post by AnotherGuest. »

AnotherGuest.
Posts: 2158
Joined: December 22nd, 2004, 11:47 am

Post by AnotherGuest. »

bump. I'm hoping someone will report back. This is a familiar complaint, and a lot of people would like to find the problem.
anazoal
Posts: 1
Joined: January 22nd, 2005, 12:11 pm

Post by anazoal »

Mac OS X 10.3.7 640MB G4 800MHz
...another vote for flash slowdown -- FF beachballs for upto 10+ seconds when opening 6-7 tabs with sites that use flash ads. Sometimes I've had to "Force Quit" FF because it hangs completely when the Mac comes out of sleep and several tabs with flash are open. I've just installed Flashblock, and things appear fine so far.

XP SP2 256MB PIII 700MHz
FF is unreponsive for several seconds when opening large (several MB) PDF documents

XP SP2 1GB P4 2.8 GHz
...don't recall any problems
eistea
Posts: 9
Joined: December 14th, 2004, 7:23 pm

Where the hell ... sorry ;) ... is Flashblock?

Post by eistea »

anazoal wrote:Mac OS X 10.3.7 640MB G4 800MHz
I've just installed Flashblock, and things appear fine so far.


All the time I read "Flashblock" and the marvelous things it has done to users plagued by the 100 % CPU issue, but where did you guys find it? I really searched through the extension site several times, but all I found was "FlashGot" (a download manager). Please show me the right direction.

Many thanks in advance!
GondZA
Posts: 3
Joined: January 22nd, 2005, 4:54 am

Post by GondZA »

As much as i see FireFOX is more FireBUGS. This browser is full of bugs and we are now discussing one of them, but no one in here can help us. Probably they're drinking their martini right now while we are bumping our heads in the monitors!!!!
Titanium
Posts: 4
Joined: January 23rd, 2005, 2:26 pm

Post by Titanium »

Guys, what really cause this 100% cpu usage issue are ads & flash.

On my notebook computer: Sony 1Ghz P3 512MB RAM

When I go to dictionary.com my CPU jumps above the 50% usage for Firefox and it stays within that range, but when I use the Adbock extension to block the ad, the CPU usage went all the way down. I try to replicate this on my desktop: (Intel Pentium 4 2.53ghz) but no luck.
eistea
Posts: 9
Joined: December 14th, 2004, 7:23 pm

Post by eistea »

Sorry for repeating myself but it seems nobody knew the answer or saw the post, so I ask again ...

where can I download that Flashblock extension?

thanks in advance
HubbaBubba
Posts: 1
Joined: January 24th, 2005, 1:19 am

Post by HubbaBubba »

eistea wrote:Sorry for repeating myself but it seems nobody knew the answer or saw the post, so I ask again ...

where can I download that Flashblock extension?

thanks in advance


http://flashblock.mozdev.org/installation.html
eistea
Posts: 9
Joined: December 14th, 2004, 7:23 pm

Post by eistea »



Thanks for the link. But my operating system can't handle xpi files.
I suppose FlashBlock doesn't exist for Windows, does it?
jbash
Posts: 101
Joined: November 17th, 2003, 1:39 pm
Location: Chicago
Contact:

Post by jbash »

Eistea: XPI files ARE extensions, packaged to be handled by the extension installer. And FlashBlock works find in windows (XP pro and Win2K at least:-) When you click on an xpi file from the FF browser, a window should open giving you the option of installing the extension. If that doesn't work try downloading the file and then dragging it to the extension manager.

HTH, jim b
eistea
Posts: 9
Joined: December 14th, 2004, 7:23 pm

Post by eistea »

jbash wrote:Eistea: XPI files ARE extensions, packaged to be handled by the extension installer. And FlashBlock works find in windows (XP pro and Win2K at least:-) When you click on an xpi file from the FF browser, a window should open giving you the option of installing the extension. If that doesn't work try downloading the file and then dragging it to the extension manager.

HTH, jim b


ooops :oops:
thanks for your patience and your XPI-Instructions for Dummies, now I got it! \:D/
An best of all: It seems that the 100 % CPU usage problem has gone since I use FlashBlock! :banana:

Nevertheless, things would have been easier if this extension could be found at the official extension download site. And I'd still prefer a Fox that worked with Flash enabled - but this is a good first step. And it seems from this day on I can finally switch to Firefox as the primary browser on my system. 8)

cheers and thanks for your support
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RenegadeX
Posts: 892
Joined: January 21st, 2005, 5:29 am
Location: Canada

Post by RenegadeX »

I too also confirm that Flashblock has cured my Firefox's constant 100% CPU usage problem!!

I am on a PII-233 and run 8-10 apps at any one time, have 40 Firefox extensions installed and usually run 5-10 Firefox Tabs open - so expected my CPU usage to be up there -- but it Firefox was getting ridiculous! CPU usage was always at or close-to 100% even when I was using another app but FF was open. And my Mem Usage was often at 60,000-100,000K -- also ridiculously high.

Flashblock now installed, and:

Right now I have 5 Tabs open and when I am not actively using Firefox, Windows Task Manager Firefox shows a Z-E-R-O PERCENT USAGE (0%)!!!

I've noticed that when you are active - ie: scrolling a page, clicking tabs, loading pages, or even typing a message as I am doing right this second - Firefox's CPU usage climbs .. 16%, 37%, 59%, 88% even when loading a page laden with graphics. BUT AS SOON AS IT IS DONE DOING THAT 'task' -- YOU CAN WATCH THE CPU USAGE % DROP .. 88%, 45%, 33%, 0%. A beautiful sight to behold!!!

Obviously, Flash content playing has a memory leak in Firefox. It takes, but does not seem to release.
Haven't checked out Bugzilla yet - this is obvious a VERY SERIOUS bug - but it needs attention fast - before v1.1 comes out. Using Firefox was getting to the point of being frustrating. No more!

.. But we shouldn't have to disable Flash for Firefox to be usable. Flashblock is a bandaid to the problem.

Thank you everyone for this thread!!!
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RenegadeX
Posts: 892
Joined: January 21st, 2005, 5:29 am
Location: Canada

Post by RenegadeX »

Btw, I went to Bugzilla and searched for a Firefox bug that had to do with 'cpu usage flash' and only came across Bug 256216 (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=256216). There were a couple for 'CORE' as well but all of them were OLD.
Canyonero
Posts: 1407
Joined: April 25th, 2003, 11:02 pm

Post by Canyonero »

GondZA wrote:As much as i see FireFOX is more FireBUGS. This browser is full of bugs and we are now discussing one of them, but no one in here can help us. Probably they're drinking their martini right now while we are bumping our heads in the monitors!!!!

Lol. No one even understands exactly why this bug is occurring. How do you expect them to fix it?

It sounds like the problem is either with Flash or with plugins in general? The question is: does the Flash plugin itself have the problem (in which case you'll have to complain to Macromedia) or is it FF? Is the glitch reproducable on Aviary builds of the Mozilla Suite, or is there slow down when using other plugins? Maybe there's something in the plugin loading code?
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