Scrolling issues

User Help for Mozilla Firefox
Post Reply
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

Several years ago I made a thread about a scrolling problem: opening multiple tabs randomly provokes jerky scrolling in Firefox. It happens even in a clean profile and disabling addons makes no difference. It happens only on my home PC which runs on Windows 7 64 bit, it has 12 GB of RAM, a 8-core AMD 4 GHz processor, an ATI Radeon HD 5770 video card.

I made several about:config changes as per some tutorials on-line. I experimented with many Firefox scrolling options (hardware on or off, smooth scrolling on or off etc.), and nothing seems to work. I have absolutely no idea when or why this happens. Scrolling becomes slow, unresponsive and anything but smooth. To give an idea how it feels, imagine a 60 FPS video game that suddenly plays in a 15 FPS mode. This is very frustrating. Previously I used to restart the browser. This solves the problem, untill next repetition.

But surprise – I accidentally found a better workaround! All I have to do, is to move the Firefox window, just drag it to any direction, even one single pixel. This solves the problem, untill next repetition.

Firefox is the only application with this problem.

Maybe someone here has any idea why this works? Is there a way to solve this problem permanently?
User avatar
dfoulkes
Posts: 22525
Joined: June 28th, 2008, 10:31 pm
Location: Mesquite, Nevada

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by dfoulkes »

Your 'fix' does sound weird... but it works... kind of?

You stated that it takes some time for this to happens... with tabs etc... how many tabs would you say?... and how long to make it happen?

You also stated that disabled extensions...and...
It happens even in a clean profile
Was that clean profile a new one? ... and with zero extensions...

I don't use a ton of tabs ... maybe 10 at the most and I've had this profile open for days with no jerking... just a FYI.
Last edited by dfoulkes on April 17th, 2017, 6:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

dfoulkes wrote:You 'fix' does sound weird... but it works... kind of?
Yes. But the problem is, when the issue occurs, it happens considerably more often. At least now I can quickly fix it, but it’s still annoying.
You stated that it takes some time for this to happens...
I’ve been trying to reproduce the problem this morning for half an hour to no avail... But this happens at least once a day.
how many tabs would you say?... and how long to make it happen?
I will be experimenting to answer these questions, but once the scrolling gets jerky, it doesn’t matter how many tabs are open, it remains even if I close them all. In that case I have to restart Firefox or move the window by 1 pixel.
Was that clean profile a new one?... and with zero extensions...
Yes, a new profile with no extensions. Disabling javascript has no effect either.
maybe 10 at the most and I've had this profile open for days with no jerking... just a FYI.
I use Firefox in a laptop and in my work PC, no such problem occurs either. Both of them have completely different configurations, but both of them have an integrated video card.
User avatar
dfoulkes
Posts: 22525
Joined: June 28th, 2008, 10:31 pm
Location: Mesquite, Nevada

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by dfoulkes »

Things are starting to sound like a hardware issue of some sort.... or (less obvious) ... security software.

You might want to list the type of Vid card that your system uses... and AV stuff... and anything else that you can think of... people who know their hardware may come along and see something...

...and, I'll assume that you've check that all drivers are up to date?
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

dfoulkes wrote:Things are starting to sound like a hardware issue of some sort.... or (less obvious) ... security software.
I’ve never used any security software. But it might be some sort of video card issue, since it’s the only element that hasn’t changed during the last 5 years or so. I’ve doubled my RAM, replaced hard drives, bought a new motherboard, a new CPU and a new PSU.

My video card is the same Radeon HD 5770 (1GB RAM version). Drivers are up to date.
User avatar
BobbyPhoenix
Posts: 280
Joined: April 24th, 2014, 5:58 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by BobbyPhoenix »

I know I have the same issue as opening several tabs makes the page I'm on scroll badly. Brand new laptop, and only in Firefox. I can be on a page, click a link to open in a new background tab, scroll jerky, open another tab, and another, etc. It's always done this though as Firefox uses only one process, so until all the tabs load their pages the main window/page will be jerky. It's just the way of Firefox (at least until the multi-process is fully rolled out).
Do, or do not. There is no try.
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

BobbyPhoenix wrote:I can be on a page, click a link to open in a new background tab, scroll jerky, open another tab, and another, etc.
I experience this as well, but it’s not what I’m talking about.

The problem I’m referring to makes scrolling slow all the time, not only during page loading. Suddenly, without any explanation, not doing anything in particular, scrolling in Firefox becomes a constant slo-mo.

Yesterday, while trying to experiment, I noticed that sometimes sending Firefox window to background and then back to foreground scrolling becomes fine again. But it’s very inconsistant.
User avatar
dfoulkes
Posts: 22525
Joined: June 28th, 2008, 10:31 pm
Location: Mesquite, Nevada

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by dfoulkes »

Šešėlis
What AV software do you use? ... and is there a chance that you could reboot your PC into safe-mode with Network active and then test? ... I know that problem doesn't surface right away... but at least safe-mode would 'really' stop your AV from running.
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

dfoulkes wrote:What AV software do you use?
None. No antivirus, no firewall.

I sometimes run Firefox on a virtual Windows XP system via Oracle VirtualBox. It doesn’t have any scrolling issues, but the system is of a very limited use.

I’ve just noticed that when the Firefox scrolling issue occurs, Alt+Tab or window minimizing animation becomes somewhat slow as well.
User avatar
dfoulkes
Posts: 22525
Joined: June 28th, 2008, 10:31 pm
Location: Mesquite, Nevada

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by dfoulkes »

I'm at a loss on this.... you might want to try a couple of things...

Just to make sure...
These are FREE ... you install them and just run them from time to time.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
SuperAntispyware
AdwCleaner Download

And/ior ...when this starts happening... try clearing your cache.
.... use menu path Tools->Options->Advanced->Network tab->click on "Clear Now" button.)

And a FYI... I've seen too many cache issues around here... over the years... so, long ago I set my profile up to now cache stuff.
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

I might try those anti-malware tools, but they will probably not work, because the problem occurs even after a fresh Windows installation.

I think something is very wrong with Windows Aero. It might have some unknown compatibility issues with my video card. Maybe someone in Microsoft forums will have an idea.

If I recall correctly, the problem started to occur after I installed my second display.
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

If anyone’s interested, I managed to solve the problem.

I recently bought a much more powerful video card, Geforce GTX 1060, and I noticed that it made things a lot worse. Browsing with Firefox became unbarable and Windows Aero effects were lagging massively.

The solution was simply to lower the desktop resolution from recommended 1400×1050 to 1152×864. This didn’t have any apparent visual change.
Šešėlis
Posts: 10
Joined: July 18th, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by Šešėlis »

Apparently, this problem (called "microstutter") has little to do with Firefox and equally affects every other browser (I didn’t know, because I never used them), some other applications and even video players. It is caused by poor power settings optimization of more powerful video cards. I have no idea why this problem is not widespread and affects only specific people.

The solution is to go to NVIDIA Control Panel -> Manage 3D Settings -> Program Settings, add aplications Desktop Window Manager (DWM.exe at windows/system32 folder) and Explorer.exe (at windows folder) to the list, in Power Management Mode for both of them change "Adaptive" to "Prefer Maximum Performance", press "Apply" and reboot Windows. This will increase the PC’s energy consumption by ~50 %, but will get rid of the problem.

I’m updating this thread for future reference.
User avatar
dfoulkes
Posts: 22525
Joined: June 28th, 2008, 10:31 pm
Location: Mesquite, Nevada

Re: Scrolling issues

Post by dfoulkes »

Thank you for doing that last post.
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
Post Reply