FF download in memory??

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NoKidding
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FF download in memory??

Post by NoKidding »

For the 1st time I downloaded a big file (2GB), and it seems FF downloads the file not only on disk (normal) but also keeps a copy in memory!?!?

So, after 1.5GB, FF simply hangs (tried 2 times).

Is it a bug or a feature??
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dfoulkes
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by dfoulkes »

I use this external downloader so that my FF doesn't get affected by stuff like that...
http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
As you can see she's (The CAT) always alert and on the prowl for Meoware !!
NoKidding, really
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by NoKidding, really »

Thanks.

Nevertheless, I think FF developers should wonder why such a weird programming behavior is implemented :-(

And since I'm here, they should also know that the "captcha" code in various colors is hard to read for us humans, not for computers... since the smallest variation in RGB code is detected immediately by machines while I just lost 2 diopters reading the code above...
NoJokeR
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by NoJokeR »

NoKidding, really wrote:...while I just lost 2 diopters reading the code above...
Sorry to hear that.

Also: This doesn't appear to be a FF developers forum, now does it.
sarra
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by sarra »

If you register you won't have to enter the captcha in the future.
Although the developers do not come here, in the "firefox bugs" forum here fellow users will help to determine if a bug occurs on other systems and how to reproduce it, and then someone who is good at following the guidelines for bug submissions will post the bug in the proper format to bugzilla.

If you have virtual memory turned on and set to a large value, normally excessive memory use will cause disk grinding and slowness, but will not make anything crash.

When you say firefox hangs, do you mean the download stops downloading or that the program crashes showing an error message, or that the tabs and browser window user interface freezes without a crash?
Personally I use an external download manager for very large files, I got in the habit a long time ago when browsers crashed more often. But with firefox 3.6.4 soon coming out that will not crash the whole browser when flash crashes, it would be useful sometimes not to need the download manager.
athei
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by athei »

Here is my post, its the same problem viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1893415
So if you use Firebug and when you stop using it click red icon "Deactivate firebug for this website", don't click icon in status bar, because Firebug is then minimized and bug with memory when downloading occurs.
When mouse over firebug icon in status bar should be written "suspended".
VanillaMozilla
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by VanillaMozilla »

As far as I know, downloaded files go only to the disk, and have never gone into memory (unless of course you are using a RAM disk, which is not a good idea in this case). Make sure you have sufficient disk space.
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by patrickjdempsey »

NoKidding wrote:For the 1st time I downloaded a big file (2GB) .. after 1.5GB, FF simply hangs (tried 2 times).


Hangs and crashes like that are def not a "feature" but can be a wide variety of problems like a bad/weak connection, or a corruption of the downloads.sqlite file, or even over zealous AntiVirus software, or if the Download Manager simply has too many entries in it (you should clear it regularly).
Tip of the day: If it has "toolbar" in the name, it's crap.
What my avatar is about: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/addon/sea-fox/
VanillaMozilla
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by VanillaMozilla »

patrickjdempsey wrote:
NoKidding wrote:For the 1st time I downloaded a big file (2GB) .. after 1.5GB, FF simply hangs (tried 2 times).


Hangs and crashes like that are def not a "feature" but can be a wide variety of problems like ...if the Download Manager simply has too many entries in it (you should clear it regularly).

?? Are you sure? This would be a serious bug, if it's true. And why would a 2 GB file have any more entries than a 2 kB file? Bug number?
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LoudNoise
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by LoudNoise »

Actually, wouldn't downloading a 2 gig file cause a problem to any 32bit system?
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VanillaMozilla
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by VanillaMozilla »

I checked earlier. According to one source, FAT32 and NTFS are supposed to accept 4 GB files. But you could be right. There are a lot of limits, and I think there used to be (still is?) a 2 GB limit somewhere.

Now if it he downloading to a FAT16 volume, such as a removable drive, for example, that could explode. Still, it should give some sort of error message if it exceeds any limit. I'll bet either an extension or a network problem or the download site is at fault.
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by patrickjdempsey »

VanillaMozilla wrote:
patrickjdempsey wrote:
NoKidding wrote:For the 1st time I downloaded a big file (2GB) .. after 1.5GB, FF simply hangs (tried 2 times).


Hangs and crashes like that are def not a "feature" but can be a wide variety of problems like ...if the Download Manager simply has too many entries in it (you should clear it regularly).

?? Are you sure? This would be a serious bug, if it's true. And why would a 2 GB file have any more entries than a 2 kB file? Bug number?


I mean if you have dozens of entries... it's a really old problem with the DLM that after there are too many entries downloads start getting slow and hanging.
Tip of the day: If it has "toolbar" in the name, it's crap.
What my avatar is about: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/addon/sea-fox/
NoKidding, yet
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by NoKidding, yet »

FF crash?
After loading 1.5GB out of 2, FF hangs - not only the download window, the browser as well ; then it has to be "kill -9"

In memory are you sure??
Yes! The FF process memory increases along with the disk file size of the same amount.
It seems to be a good old design bug.

3GB limit / HD full ?
I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 64 bits, 8GB RAM (6 avail), 100GB HD available... (and the FS is not a RAM disk)
VanillaMozilla
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by VanillaMozilla »

Whoa! Hold on a minute.

1. You didn't tell us you were using 64-bit Linux. If you are the original poster, you posted before from Windows XP. Believe it or not, that is highly pertinent information.
2. Please don't change your screen name from one post to another. We have posts from many people here, and you all look the same from this side of the monitor.
3. What you are using is not quite Mozilla Firefox, unless you got it directly from Mozilla. It's Firefox modified and/or packaged by Ubuntu.
4. If you are using Linux or Mac, please put that in the title of the thread. You can edit your first post to do that.
5. Athei observed the same symptom, which was due to the Firebug extension. You need to do some basic troubleshooting. At least start Firefox in Firefox Safe Mode. If necessary, create a new profile for testing.

I have downloaded CD ISO's, but I've never observed this, with Windows OR Ubuntu (32-bit). It's definitely not part of the design, and we haven't even established that it's part of Firefox as released by Mozilla.
NoKidding
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Re: FF download in memory??

Post by NoKidding »

Oops sorry - I made the download from XP (using XP 5%, Ubuntu 95%, but it happens the download was from XP since it is a .exe).

So, I'm using (on XP) the FF downloaded from Mozilla 3.6.3.
There are 3 AddOns, Adblock Plus (1.2), Firebug (1.5.4), .NET Framework assistant (1.2.1).

So it could be Firebug - but it was not active during the download.
I just tried again, and the Mem went up again. Cancelled the DL and the mem went back to what it was (within a few seconds).
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