Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

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survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

Follow up:

At last I wrote (typed, actually) I had reported that i had un- and re-installed FF. When doing so I created, as always, two profiles one for me, one for the wife. Out of curiosity I then opened my wife's profile, and the PROBLEM DOESN'T EXIST! This tells me it IS something specific to my profile... but I did try FF freshly installed and the problem was there.

Can Sync be the problem e.g., it is bringing something with it that is the cause of the lag issue, such as some Preference or something? Right now writing from my profile the issue exists.

I thought I had ruled out all possibilities by running a different, NEW profile before, and the only thing I have not tried as of yet is to run my own profile on the HP Vista laptop (which may be what is the reason the problem doesn't happen to my wife on that machine). I will try that when I get a chance.

I am now hoping it is a simpler problem than FF itself. Good.
survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

The only thing is, on my wife's profile (where I am now) I also have Sync on. Question: If I choose "Deactivate this device" dies that delete all my sync information?? It has a warning box that says it will, but of course as all things computer I'm not sure if that means that I will lose everything or it will simply reset on FF's sync server. I use Xmarks and Last Pass, so I'm not too worried, but my wife so far doesn't use Last Pass, and Xmarks no longer backs up passwords, so if I deactivate Sync in her profile, and then restart it under my account, what will that do?
survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

I dunno, I give up. :( Using my wife's profile I started adding in the extensions I like. For awhile all was well, now I have the same problem in her profile. I had installed Xmarks, NoScript, Colorful Tabs, ok. I then added Personas and then Last Pass, and the same issue started up again. I saw Xmarks perform a synchronization, and that was when ram usage started increasing, so I logged out of Xmarks... no difference. I disabled Xmarks, restarted, NO difference. Disabled IE Tab which I installed last, no difference. I'm tired. I love FF but this is a colossal waste of my time. I _think_ I've tried everything, and I really don't want to use Chrome as my primary browser (IE is out of the question!), but Chrome it will have to be at least until I see this thing remedied.

I'll keep looking here, so if anyone has any other ideas, or if I feel up to it this weekend, I'll try anything once (twice if I like it!), so keep posting folks.

Thanks for all the help so far.
Firefoxforever!
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by Firefoxforever! »

I figured out how to fix the memory leak but still not sure if it is 100% and what I should do with it lol. Yes to the people here I am back on Firefox 3.6 but that is only because I missed Tab Kit and yes I know about Tree Style Tabs. Though from what I seen while on Firefox 4 for around a month or so I was able to drop memory usage down 200 to 500 MB. Use to be around 700 to 900 MB and now around 300 to 400 MB. I easily saw Firefox 4 memory usage drop down from 600 MB after being left on all night to around 350 MB a few seconds later after in use.

Don't get me wrong I like Firefox 4 I just need some of my add-ons, not only Tab Kit. For now I will wait then see what I will do. I am surprised the fix for the memory leak may be so easy. It surprised me because I been trying for over a year to get to the bottom of it. Like I said I am still not convinced but guess we will see if it does fine for a whole 6 months or more.
billko
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by billko »

so enlighten us. how did you do it?
survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

billko wrote:so enlighten us. how did you do it?


Uh...yeah! Waiting for a patent? :shock:
vrm3
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by vrm3 »

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Last edited by vrm3 on June 15th, 2011, 4:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
VanillaMozilla
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by VanillaMozilla »

Survivor78, you are really complicating your case. You have already proven that Firefox works on your computer without problem. We've been trying to tell you how to troubleshoot this the simple way, but you keep reinstalling the problem.

There's one thing you need to know, and I'm going to write it in capital letters: REINSTALLING DOES NOT CHANGE YOUR PROFILE. That's why it works for your wife and not for you. It's never going to work for you as long as you use the same profile, and reinstalling is not going to change your profile.

Just create a new profile and don't change ANYTHING. Use it with the same configuration that Mozilla gave you. DON'T ADD ANYTHING TO IT. THAT MEANS NO EXTENSIONS AND NO THEMES.

Now ordinarily I would tell you to test it this way for a short while, but I'm inclined to think you need to use it FOR A WHOLE WEEK in this way, until you are absolutely certain that it works, beyond any shadow of doubt. Then use it some more just to make sure. Don't even look at any diagnostic stuff like the Task Manager, which just begs for misinterpretation. Just use it. Discover for yourself that there is no problem.

Then, and only then, you can try messing it up making changes again. Do it systematically so you know what you have done to break it. Keep a record of all your changes. When you find the culprit, let us know.
survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

VanillaMozilla wrote:Survivor78, you are really complicating your case. You have already proven that Firefox works on your computer without problem. We've been trying to tell you how to troubleshoot this the simple way, but you keep reinstalling the problem.

There's one thing you need to know, and I'm going to write it in capital letters: REINSTALLING DOES NOT CHANGE YOUR PROFILE. That's why it works for your wife and not for you. It's never going to work for you as long as you use the same profile, and reinstalling is not going to change your profile.

Just create a new profile and don't change ANYTHING. Use it with the same configuration that Mozilla gave you. DON'T ADD ANYTHING TO IT. THAT MEANS NO EXTENSIONS AND NO THEMES.


Uh, did you actually read all my emails written WELL over a month ago now? I tried UNINSTALLING FF AND THEN INSTALLING IT FRESH WITH NO ADDONS OR ANYTHING EXTRA, and the problem STILL exists, as I might add, it does for MANY other users who have now gone back to previous versions to fix their issues. I, on the other hand was TRYING to make 4.0.1 WORK, which it did not.

VanillaMozilla wrote:Now ordinarily I would tell you to test it this way for a short while, but I'm inclined to think you need to use it FOR A WHOLE WEEK in this way, until you are absolutely certain that it works, beyond any shadow of doubt. Then use it some more just to make sure. Don't even look at any diagnostic stuff like the Task Manager, which just begs for misinterpretation. Just use it. Discover for yourself that there is no problem.


You make it sound like i didn't FIRST have the lag issues BEFORE I checked Task Manager, which shows 12-20% CPU usage and memory leaking CONSISTENTLY when the lag occurs. You also must have missed the point I made somewhere that I have been using Firefox since it was NETSCAPE, and have also used every other major browser, and many minor ones too, out there. THIS version of FF is the ONLY browser I have EVER had an issue with. I still LOVE FF, but am now using Chrome (blech!) as my primary browser, and you know what? It renders pages noticeably quicker than FF.


VanillaMozilla wrote:Then, and only then, you can try messing it up making changes again. Do it systematically so you know what you have done to break it. Keep a record of all your changes. When you find the culprit, let us know.


I DID do everything you suggested, many times on DIFFERENT computers, before I gave up, and did so very 'systematically'. But thanks for the suggestions... a month later.
survivor78
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by survivor78 »

Oh, and one more thing, FF leaked and lagged with NO PROFILE whatsoever, I did NOT use the same profile.
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mightyglydd
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by mightyglydd »

survivor78 wrote: FF leaked and lagged with NO PROFILE whatsoever


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malliz
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by malliz »

survivor78 wrote:Oh, and one more thing, FF leaked and lagged with NO PROFILE whatsoever

Um Firefox will not work without a profile.
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James
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by James »

survivor78 wrote:Oh, and one more thing, FF leaked and lagged with NO PROFILE whatsoever, I did NOT use the same profile.

You always have a Profile as a default Profile will be made for a new Firefox user if they do not make one when starting Firefox for first time.
VanillaMozilla
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Re: Firefox memory leak the cause of most problems

Post by VanillaMozilla »

Survivor78,
I read everything you said, especially this statement:
Survivor78 wrote:When doing so I created, as always, two profiles one for me, one for the wife. Out of curiosity I then opened my wife's profile, and the PROBLEM DOESN'T EXIST!

Tell you what. You want to solve this? So create a new account on your computer and just use it. Give it a try, just to test it. Pretend it's your wife's, and treat it just like hers. You've already proven that this approach works. Now give it a try, and then we can discuss it.
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