100 % CPU usage makes Firefox unusable :-(

[apjjr]

I found a cure for the high CPU usage on my WinXP system. FF was using all CPU cycles, making the computer unusable.
1. Backup bookmarks.html from home directory
2. Uninstall FF completely
3. Delete mozilla directory from home directory
4. Install FF2.0 standard with all default settings
5. Import old bookmarks from backup file
Now processor usage is way down. Very tolerable.
Alex

[bmcm]

I've had this phenomenon of firefox going to 100% CPU for a long time, in 1.0, 1.5, 2.0. At various
times I have tried to narrow down through excluding extensions, scripting, plugins etc., but have
never got any repeatable data. It *seems* more common with 2.0, but very hard to quantify.
I currently have to restart firefox at least once a day (but at least it now retains the session
which makes this slightly less painful).

I understand perfectly that this is not a useful problem report in this form.

So to my question: is there any mechanism to get a dump, on request, of where FF is executing?
If there was, this *might* at least allow some narrowing down (or at least see if even that much
is repeatable - i.e. is it always getting stuck in the "same" loop).

For the record, I'm running on linux, debian unstable, using the .tar.gz FF from mozilla.com:
"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1) Gecko/20061010 Firefox/2.0". But as I say,
for me this is not at all sensitive to FF version.

Thanks - Barry.

[tobuscus]

I upgraded to Firefox 2.0. Every time I go to any site with any embedded video, it instantly locks up. I can force it to close, then reopen it, and try to avoid any video... which is ridiculous.

However, the same problem happens to me in IE now too! I can't view any embedded video anywhere or my browser locks up.

I tried deleting everything to do with Firefox to no avail.

Any ideas?

[VanillaMozilla]

tobuscus,
If it happens with IE also, it's not a Firefox problem, is it? In this case I would suspect the video program (Windows Media Player)?

[pins]

I've been having the high CPU usage problem for the last couple of weeks. Right not FF 1.5.0.8 is using 75% of a 2.4g Intel P4 and 86k of 1 gig memory w/14 tabs open, 8 of them FF web sites, and I haven't done anything different. I am running two monitorw and my video card is only 64k but tonight I am going to install a GForce 6800 XTreme with 256mb ddr3.

Do you think that my small video card is using so much memory therefore causing the extra workload on my CPU?

Any assistance will be appreciated.

John

[zaf]

I was also having that cpu usage problem for few weeks(the news page i'm usually visiting changed their advertisings to javascript as i could remark)on some sites with firefox and i was trying to reinstall or restart or so, when i read the messages here about javascript i checked the extensions and installed noscript extension...

so now i'm forbidding the pages(only 2-3 of all i visit usually) that have problems and everything seems to be ok

this might be the solution till that sites solve their problems on that....

[pins]

Thanks. I was closing some tabs this evening and noticed that all at once the CPU usage dropped to where I thought it should be. Unfortunately I didn't catch which tab was the problem.

I'm going to load all the tabs I usually load tomorrow morning, one at a time, and let each one show me if it is the problem.

[VanillaMozilla]

pins, most likely that's badly coded JavaScript or Flash on a Web page. It's perfectly possible to write a Web page that uses the whole processor, just to annoy you with a cutesy banner ad. When you return, the ad may be gone, leaving you mystified.

[pins]

VM, could be, but I open the same pages every day, stock market stuff, at least when the markets are open. But the CPU usage runs up and stays there, not sporadic, so it should be easu to track.

Thanks

[paulmarkj]

Its not a bug, it the settings on your PC. I use
Firefox 1.0, Moxilla 1.7.3, and Thunderbird 1.0
all on a PC .... without a hitch or hogging system resources.

Sorry, but this is becoming a poor excuse for two reasons.

1) Just because your PC is ok does not mean that others are not - even if 99% of PCs are ok, that doesn't mean all is ok. If 99% of XP users have no problems, does that mean that 1% (say, 1 million) cannot complain?

2) A software installation should work 'with' the PC it is being installed on. If the PC's settings are ok for the PC up until now, how is the user supposed to know they should be changed. If you are allowed to say "my PC works ok" then why can't I say "my PC is working ok, it is Firefox that is not working"?

[VanillaMozilla]

pins, if you close all the offending Web pages, the CPU use should return to normal (namely 0 when you're not doing anything). Otherwise, there's something wrong with your setup -- usually a problem with an addon. The standard method is (1) starting in Fx safe mode to disable extensions; (2) if that doesn't work, create a new profile; (3) you may even have to disable Flash. See my signature.

[pins]

VM, I installed the new gorilla video card and stopped leaving open pages that had java headlines and the like and my problem has evaporated. Probably the GForce 6800 XTreme with 256mb ddr3 video card is carrying some of the weight because right now I have 15 tabs open in FF, two windows in IE and Thunderbird open and my cpu usage bounces between 4-11 %.

And I have NAV and Spysweeper running.

Thanks for all your good advice.

John

[VanillaMozilla]

OK, a video driver or hardware problem. Glad you got it solved.

[tcm13]

Another me too! Randomly when navigating to a page I'll get a hang, checking Task Manager shows FF using 99% of the CPU, the only option is to terminate FF in "processes". This has only started to occur with FF2. Also if left in it's hung state for too long it seems to start problems with explorer.exe.

[RobertKD]

Hi All,

Still investigating but Firefox 2.0.0.1 MAC Pro 2GB, x1900xt, OS X 2.4.8 (lattest updates)

symtom cpu usage upto 100% (could this be a forever loop?)
memory usage seems normal


Ok I need to do more research but I have just upgraded from 1.5.x to 2.0.0.1 no updates available as yet
now on certian sites I can experience a freeze on the open window pane and observe one of the cpus (i.e. only one core) at 100% or there abouts. I can open a new window and surf but if I go to the same page you guesed same deal.

Now I can still close the window and open another new window and continue surfing etc. Also I can open safari and point to the same URL and all seems fine same as ,my WIN2K (AMD xp1900 768MB) box.

Looking at the state that the window instance hangs it looks like there is an issue parsing the code on the site, whilst firefox seems to report most errors it encounters on sites and even points to the offending line of code nifty eh! in the hung state it seems like it doesnt get to log the error and point the finger.... shame

I'll try to get some concrete information, urls and details for a bug report soooon, given the time of year &etc i'm sure the development team have better things to be doing about now then wadding through gazillions of lines of code


Oh by the way if and that is "if" this is a bug then thats not to dam bad hey,=D>

Best wishes to all


Robert