Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

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survivor78
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Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

Hello everyone,

I have been having a bit of trouble with FF4 (4.0.1). After having read many posts here and also on Windows Secrets Lounge where I have a thread started about this I am convinced many of us are having the same exact trouble, albeit in somewhat different forms.

FF will freeze/hang, sometimes a very long time, and then resume. This happens more or less randomly, sometimes right after clicking a link, sometimes when switching tabs, other times just scrolling on a page. I have tried these troubleshooting methods: Safe mode, new profiles, run FF with some add ons, or none at all NOT in safe mode. What I have noticed is FF will leak memory constantly, and when that is happening is when she hangs. When memory remains stable, much better. Memory leaks can go up to 700,000k and up, but can drop back down by 200,000k or more remain stable, and then start leaking again.

This occurs on two machines, one a Sony Vaio with i3 CPU, one a HP desktop with i5 CPU, both running Win 7 Home Premium 64. On a third laptop, an HP with core 2 duo CPU and Vista, no such problems exist. Go figure. The problem is exactly the same on both machines, and I have troubleshot both machines the same. The Vista machine runs under 200,000k most of the time while the other two when stable will run well over 200,00k and I have seen both rise to over 700,000k!

I am hoping that the good folks at Mozilla are aware of this and are working on a fix that comes out before FF 5.0.

Anyway, just posting here to hopefully shed some light on what I am seeing as a wide spread problem, and perhaps to find some ideas on how to put an end to this; it is extremely aggravating browsing on two very fast computers with a 22 Mbps internet connection, to find myself waiting, and waiting, and.....
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malliz
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by malliz »

So have you done any thing to try to find out if your leak could be caused by an Addon For instance do both computers use the same Addons do they both use the same AV?
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xed
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by xed »

What security programs are you running on the two systems that you're having trouble on?
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survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

Malliz, I stated in my original post the exact troubleshooting methods I have tried. These include both disabling some or all of my add ons in regular mode and also running in Safe Mode, as well as with new profiles and no add ons installed. Same problem.

xed, I use Norton Internet Security for now, on the Vaio, (Comcast provides this for free), and Avira free antivirus and Comodo free firewall on the HP desktop (as well as the Vista laptop), as I have for years now on several different computers.
The point being: the same EXACT trouble occurs on two completely different sets of hardware with different software setups as well. That, coupled with all the troubleshooting I have been doing points definitively to FF as being the problem.

Don't get me wrong I've been using FF since it was still Netscape, and have seen memory leaking problems with both browsers and other software over the well, decades, that I have been using computers, and I love Firefox, both for it's excellent design and ability to use add ons. It's just that I usually don't do betas and am a bit disconcerted that I am basically beta testing a purported final release. Coupled with all the anecdotal reports here and on other forums, of either the same exact issues or those that perhaps sound different but if looked into I would bet money, would be the same, have prompted me to post here so Mozillaphiles and experts, as well as common users might benefit.
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by xed »

I just haven't seen the problem in my usage of Firefox or it's first cousin, SeaMonkey.

I only have two computers on which to base my observations on though. Mine with XP Home SP3 and my daughter's with Win7. I use Avira AntiVir Personal on both with Win7's inbuilt firewall on my daughter's, mine has Outpost firewall and Mamutu which I got for free recently.

The memory usage doesn't do the up and down thing you're observing though.

I hope someone here can help you out.
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survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

xed,

Thanks for the reasoned response. I am sure there are many folks who have no problems. As I was writing my last two posts I was watching the mem usage in task manager go from about 230,000 to over 500,000. Right now as I write this it stands at about 344,000k. So it dropped almost 200,000k just sitting here. While it rises cpu usage runs about 16-22% for just FF, and when that happens is when the lag occurs. I was just reading another thread here (a less civil exchange) by someone who is having similar troubles, and couldn't find an older version on Mozilla's site. (Mem right now @ 354,000k) Regardless of the original poster's tone, I dislike when 'fans' of anything, including software, seem to disregard evidence presented that point to a piece of software as the cause of a particular problem. (Not describing you, here.) (Mem now @ about 372,000, and rising)

Anyway even though the vast majority of FF users are not experiencing trouble (And I had none until 4.0.1), there seem to be enough of us to raise a flag or two. (Mem now @ 384,000K, 387,000...)

I too, hope someone here can help me, and by extension, anyone else having this issue, out.

(400,000) :?
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by malliz »

survivor78 wrote:. I was just reading another thread here (a less civil exchange) by someone who is having similar troubles, and couldn't find an older version on Mozilla's site.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by Guest »

survivor78 wrote:Malliz, I stated in my original post the exact troubleshooting methods I have tried. These include both disabling some or all of my add ons in regular mode and also running in Safe Mode, as well as with new profiles and no add ons installed. Same problem.

Errr....you are forgetting that with all those methods, plugin autodetection is still active.

Yes, you will find many people complaining about 'memory leaks' in firefox 4. these are the same people that forget to disable their plugins, especially Flash, when trying to troubleshoot.
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by alan_r »

And any third party toolbars you have. From Task Manager memory usage 103MB at the moment, virtually never above 200MB. Not many tabs but quite a few extensions. No third party toolbars.
survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

Malliz,

You quoted my description of the other thread, and nowhere did I say I agreed that one couldn't find the older versions. Not only that but the op apologized and still received a load of grief for it.

And you are correct I had neglected to also disable plug-ins, but have now done so, and still the same leak exists. This is now coming from the desktop, whereas last night I was using the Vaio laptop.

And alan_r I use no third party toolbars. Other than plug-ins and add-ons FF is very basic. Also, it is the same compliment of extensions and plug-ins that I have been using for the longest time on these and other computers over the years. I have had the Vaio for about a year and the HP since August '10, the Vista laptop since '08. All was well until the upgrade to 4.0.1 (it may have been happening with 4.0, but to be honest I don't think it was), but I had no issues in all previous iterations of FF.

Anyway, as stated, I have posted here to help others, and to get help myself. Whenever there are participants whose only wish is to somehow 'prove' that the issues lie with the 'users' and NOT the software, it kind of defeats the purpose of the intent of these fora in the first place. The fact is there are those of us who know a lot about a given subject, and those of us who don't. It is incumbent upon those that do know to assist those that don't with at least a modicum of respect.
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by malliz »

survivor78 wrote:Malliz,

You quoted my description of the other thread, and nowhere did I say I agreed that one couldn't find the older versions. Not only that but the op apologized and still received a load of grief for it.


Actually if it's the thread I am thinking of the OP then proceeded to troll several other threads making a complete donkey of himself and has continued to do so. The purpose of this forum is indeed user help but we are not here to be abused and the constant "This is the worst version ever" is a mantra the long timers have been listening to since Firefox 1 and as such becomes mere white noise when not backed up by facts but at least in your case there is a genuine effort to try to find the cause.
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

Malliz,

Yes, I agree that the individual in question, even in the thread I looked at, tended toward the irritating, and I appreciate your sentiments. It can be frustrating to hear folks make spurious claims, however disregarding the abrasiveness of that poster, his issues seem similar to mine. So do many others' here and in other forums, which is why I started this thread here. I am definitely trying to understand and repair my installations of FF, so thanks for your help so far.

Any other ideas on how to narrow this down? Have you heard any responses from Mozilla recognizing this issue? Oh, and could you provide that link to report a 'bug' to Mozilla?
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

Well, I uninstalled Firefox on my HP desktop, per the instructions I found on this board pointing to the mozillazine article. I had the uninstaller remove everything including profile data and such, deleted the folders pertaining to FF and did a reg clean using JV16 Power Tools 2011. Reinstalled, and same problem. Argh. This was happening before I installed any of my extensions back, and so far have Xmarks, NoScript, BetterPrivacy, Colorful Tabs, Cool Previews and RealPlayer Browser record plugin. I started with just Xmarks, and as soon as it was installed the problem was worse. I disabled it, restarted FF, problem still there.

In the meantime I had installed Chrome as a control and it worked ok, (except for the fact it wouldn't import anything from FF, and my cursor disappears when opening any menus within Chrome!).

Again, argh. :cry:
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malliz
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by malliz »

Unfortunately Safe Mode does not reverse all the changes made by some extensions in about:config
I don't have any experience with Xmarks to know if it's one of those but it is possible it may be conflicting with the built in sync feature although I have not seen any complaints on the boards pointing in that direction. A list of some know extension offenders
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Problematic_extensions
Note: we add to that list when we have concrete information of problems with an extension
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by Frank Lion »

I reckon if the guy has done new profile/disabled plugins and clean reinstall and still has this problem, then I reckon we need to be looking at hardware acceleration. Even another likely - plugin container.exe can be ruled out by the fact of disabling plugins.
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