Firefox has become a slug??

[Und3ertak3r]

HAve only been seriously useing Firefox for about 2 months or so.. Until recently 0.9.2 was doing well but about a week ago it would use 80-90% of cpu time it became a real slug..
tried system restore to 2 week prior.. no good.. un-restored - Uninstalled FF and upgraded to 0.9.3 .. now it seems one on 5 starts and it is ok.. maxing cpu usage during its start and webpage load..then Idiling at 70% and creeping upto 95% cpu.. or just loading at 95% and stayiong there

i am a bit of a pig with how I use it .. with some 8 Tabs loading at start.. shutting these off till there is only one tab in use makes no difference and allowing it to start with only one tab has made no difference..

The system that is having the problem is a AMD 2000+ with 512Mb with WinXP pro.. oh 120GB hdd with approx 40% free space..
Have no problems running IE6.1 or MYIE2 (same number of stsrt up tabs and sites)


I had run Process explorer.. no real finds in here
Any thoughts? I have run avg/adaware se/spybot s&d/ winpatrol.. haven't done an online scan with trend/symantec/panda as yet..


Any other thoughts.. ideas to probable cause..

Have been thinking of a clean install to load SP2.. I may have the excuse i need..


cheers

[nihil]

I take it that you have emptied the cache, cleared all history and defragmented your HDD?

Is Java enabled?, if so, have you emptied its cache?

Have you loaded or updated any software recently?

A bit of a guess but could you try booting without your firewall and AV, then manually starting the firewall and AV then starting Firefox, allow a minute or two between each one............I am looking for some sort of conflict.

Cheers

[Und3ertak3r]

Thanks for that Nihil..

Didn't help.. Online AV came up clean.. built a fresh Bart disk with updated AV and Adware defs.. clean,,

Tried a system restore to 1 month ago.. (That is the limit of my restores).. no diff..

My day off.. don't want to use my brain..

Decided the installation was just over 2 years old.. want to get it up and running for monday.. so while I speak the HDD is being formated .. this ole p111 733 aint all that bad..Daugher has hit the hay......so I am allowed to play on it..hmmm this one is about 2 and a half years old.. hmmm .. nah no probs with it.. certainly no hic-cups since its brush with Netsky.p

Cheers my machine is about to want my attention..

[Und3ertak3r]

Now up and running minus the last 6 MS updates, have decided to risk a SP2 just for the hell of it

Firefox is ideling along at <1%Cpu usage, and will max at 60% (while opening).. Now that is the firefox I remember..

Cheers

[Und3ertak3r]

problem has returned..and now have noticed a link..

Jupmedia..and AVG

Of the pages set to open when firefiox opens 3 of them are hosted by Jupmedia .. if I close each of these in turn the CPU usage drops to either zero or near zero.. The problem seem to be page content ..ie an advertisment.. .. the home page of AO is fine but some of the thread pages shoot cpu usage above 80%.. After a bit of checking the smae problem occures on the other Jup media sites as well.. funny thiough..it is only this AMD machine, a AMD machine at work (duron 900) hasn't encountered any probs.. (winXP/2K)..
AV progs are different.. This one: AVG (just upgraded to V7 from the freebie v6), others at home NAV 2003.. and work is NAV corp(Win2k)/VET(winXP)..

so with the install of XP now being 3 days old(starting into the 4th day) and the problem resurfacing on the 2nd day ..(the day that I installed AVG 6)...

Or have I been to quick in blaming AVG..

Cheers

[Und3ertak3r]

seems, from the responces on other forums, that a 50-60% cpu usage is not unusual and is generaly accepted as being ok... "Is it causing a problem"

Oh and if posting in public forums about a problem with Firefox.. don't make it sound like your baging the ****ing program.. it is a beta for goodness sake..

And yes I have placed comments on the firefox forum. but it seems I should get the latest nightly build before I can submitt a bug report..

From what I have found it is SITE and PAGE dependent.. most likley sites are those from Jup Media.. it isn't all the time.. the sites I test regularly are AO, Virtualdr, and wifi planet....

So I take it of the people who have viewed this thread..None of you are useing Firefox on XP or none have ever noticed a cpu usage above 20% when FF is idle?

cheers

[Sick Dwarf]

I think page content is a big issue. JUPM isnt exactly known for its standards compliant code. One of the reasons people use standards complaint code (I'm talking about XHTML 1.0 and CSS here) is because of the serious reduction in HTML code and complex tables which reduces loading time.

Of course, Flash and Java also eat CPU power. JUPM likes to use Flash ads.

[nihil]

Hi Undies,

I don't run firefox but I have an AMD 1900+ with Mozilla and Opera running XPpro. I normally run PC cillin, but have AVG (6) on it so I tried it with that as well. No unusual signs of CPU usage though, and I use the machine to get on AO when I am working with it.

I will run some more tests tomorrow and note down the values, then get a d/l of Firefox and see if I can reproduce the problem. I think I can get a 30 day trial of AVG 7?

Just a thought, what firewalls are you running on these machines, and are there any differences in Java, DirectX, activeX, pop-up stoppers, adblockers, SpyBot S&D "teatimer" etc.

I am afraid that shows that I have a lot of experience with WinME :eek: :D

Cheers

[muert0]

I was getting a 60%+ usage after I shutdown firefox. I would have to open the task manager and end it on the processes menu. I'm taking a break from XP for a little bit until I get a new computer or I would load AVG and see if I had the same problem. Maybe after my roommate goes to sleep I'll use his computer.

[Und3ertak3r]

HAd narrowed the problem to SOME ADvertisements that are a Flash Movie..seems many of the Intel, HP And Misrcoft ads are just that.. The most troublesome ones were a HP banner most recently on VirtualDr and WiFi planet..

Have now just updated Firefox to V0.1pr

will see how it travels

Cheers

[foxyloxley]

Go on Undie's:
Become a trendsetter ...........uninstall Firefox and fit Outlook Express :D

You know it makes sense :eek:

[nihil]

Foxy~ behave yourself!.............you are not suggesting Outlook Express unless he also installs the VTP9.0.0043, build2957? are you?

(VTP = Virus Transfer Protocol :D )

Undies.............. I have been trying it for around a week on my XP box and just cannot replicate the problem...............it goes up to a maximum of 86% opening some of the adverts, but drops straight back down to around 10% (fluctuating)

I have tried my best to provoke the problem.............maybe it is a clash with other software?

My XP is pro at SP1, otherwise fully patched. It is an Athlon 1900+, 1gig RAM

Have you tried updating all audio/video codecs? The reason I ask is that a mate of mine brought me a whole load of stuff from airshows, and he had some updated codecs to run the clips with.........we installed those, so maybe that is the answer?...........bit of straw grasping I know :)

Please keep me posted on how you fare with the new FireFox..........I still have the old one that you were using.

Cheers

Johnno

[Und3ertak3r]

Put a Bandaid on the problem..

created a hosts file .. listed with as many adservers possable all pointed at 127.0.0.1

the mail culperit was a HP add that was still present on VirtualDr till earlier this week..

some of the webpages now load a little quicker..

The ads never realy worried me.. It is how many companies make their revenue. like a fact of life.. but like a badly placed bilboard on a hiway.. some of these banner adds can cause problems.. and need to be delt with.. in my case.. I REMOVED ALL of them..well 99%

Still means that there is a problem with flash and FF.. but the programmers will get to the problem in due course.. but is seems that the number of people that have noticed the problem and then thos ethat have actually said something..

I have noted that the problem is more noticable on AMD CPU systems.. but i am comparing a 2000XP with a PIII-1G.. and a Duron 800..

oh well thats life..


Cheers.. and thanks for the Input.. always appreciated..