OpenSource: Director of Firefox shows you how Firefox 3.5 treats videos

9VARZ · Jan 5th, 10, 03:27 AM

Hi guys,

I would like to check to see if I'm alone on this issue or not.

I'm currently on an Asus K40IJ laptop with Pentium D T4200 processor and 3GB of DDR2 (asynch dual channel) ram.

For the past few months, I've been constantly getting hangs, runtime errors and crashes on Firefox 3.5.0 all the way thru to 3.5.6. This usually happens when there is either prolonged usage or running media apps such as flash videos and such (or both). I use tabs very frequently.

When I run Windows Task Manager and Resource Monitor, what disturbs me the most is amount of (working set) memory resources allocated to Firefox in such instances (especially during hangs). They typically run into the millions of KB (or about 1.2 to 1.7GB, the latter for extrme cases) before I have to kill Firefox via the Task Manager. Which, of course, goes without saying that it sometimes compromises me in my workflow.

Does this happen often to any other fellow users out there as well?

PS: I'm slowly migrating over most of my browsing to Opera now. IE8 is used only for Hotmail and certain websites which are not friendly to FOSS browsers.

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lennardseah · Jan 5th, 10, 11:35 AM

try installing the latest flash player:

Adobe Labs - Downloads: Flash Player 10.1

zeroxmxi · Jan 5th, 10, 05:36 PM

Well, memory usage for any popular browser is about the same to me. I mainly use Firefox (the latest release) after opening about 60 over tabs and leaving it overnight, it easily uses up to 800MB or more physical RAM and kept on going. I'm hardly surprised, it goes the same for Google Chrome except that memory usage spreads across multiple processes rather than just one process for Firefox, Opera and the likes.

Surfing the web with heavily rigged multimedia contents, AJAX polling for data behind the scene, Flash and Java applets, it's no wonder.

Your problem seems to be a strange one though, it's not like there's enough information to troubleshoot your situation, perhaps a clean install without any plugins running if you haven't already tried it. Or try running safe mode to see if you're still getting the same old shitty problem. Newer Firefox version do come with safe mode, if you haven't already discover that.

Regards.

zeroxmxi · Jan 5th, 10, 05:39 PM

Install more than one browsers, I have installed Safari, Firefox, SeaMonkey, Opera, and Chrome for my surfing needs. Sounds crazy, maybe but I'm sure you're pretty covered.

And not forgetting IE that comes with Windows OS.

Regards.

lennardseah · Jan 5th, 10, 05:42 PM

JUST reinstall that flash.

terence52 · Jan 5th, 10, 06:26 PM

or use the 3.6beta
so far no crashes wif anything at all

9VARZ · Jan 5th, 10, 08:25 PM

Ok. I'm back after installing Flash 10.1 beta. I've tried doing a simple "gauntlet" test by running a couple of youtube vids and surfing around the web for half an hour. I must say most of the processes are a lot more fluid now and the browser has only hung once. Videos do seem a little more compressed now though.

That said, what was not lost in the process was the copious amounts of working set memory use. Within that half an hour, Firefox chalked up a rather 600MB of ram usage. I've tried running a similar usage pattern test with Opera and it "saturates" at about 80MB. I wonder if this has got to do with the architecture of the software instead.

xianzai · Jan 5th, 10, 08:33 PM

You're not alone. I have these problems with 3.5 as well. Just waiting for a new firefox version with lesser crashes.

Kronon · Jan 5th, 10, 08:55 PM

Maybe you can take a look at Reducing memory usage - Firefox - MozillaZine Knowledge Base and see if you can find something that might help you.

9VARZ · Jan 5th, 10, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kronon

Maybe you can take a look at Reducing memory usage - Firefox - MozillaZine Knowledge Base and see if you can find something that might help you.

Nope, not helpful. That page does exactly what I had figured out (and carried out) so far already. Basically it's like telling person who is feeling cold to wear more clothes (duh!), instead of changing the way he/she dresses. Not a holistic approch, I might add.

9VARZ · Jan 5th, 10, 10:26 PM

Anyway, more quick updates.

Even with the new Flash installed, prolonged usage (read: 1.5 hrs) still peaks in at 1.2GB before crashing. (Sorry, Lennard. Not helpful.)

I guess like what xianzai has said, the only way is to wait out for a new version. Or risk it and take the beta version for a spin.

lennardseah · Jan 6th, 10, 12:33 AM

could be some other plugin that has a memory leak?

9VARZ · Jan 6th, 10, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lennardseah

could be some other plugin that has a memory leak?

That's one thing about me. I only have Downthemall! (DTA) added. I've personally never liked putting in a lot of third party plugins to tether me to one single browser. And to be fair, I don't use DTA that often anyway.

Ideasmiths · Jan 6th, 10, 12:48 AM

try memoryfox 1.3 at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/53880

9VARZ · Jan 6th, 10, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeroxmxi

Install more than one browsers, I have installed Safari, Firefox, SeaMonkey, Opera, and Chrome for my surfing needs. Sounds crazy, maybe but I'm sure you're pretty covered.

And not forgetting IE that comes with Windows OS.

Regards.

Almost forgotten to reply to this one.

Yes, I'm using a LOT of browsers.

Safari: Proxy Login + ad-hoc surfing

Firefox: Used to be main; Now mainly only when download accelerators (like DTA) are required.

Opera: New (interim) main browser + work

Chrome: Install but rarely used; standby browser

IE8: when all else fails. (slowest and most unreliable of the lot). Can't be helped since certain websites can only be accessed through them.