How do I report a major memory leak problem with Firefox 3.6.10 in WinXP?
After I installed Firefox 3.6.9 on a WinXP desktop, I occasionally had minor memory leak problems, reflected by getting "out of virtual memory" messages. I upgraded to 3.6.10 when notified that it was available and that it supposedly fixed stability problems. Ever since then, whenever I use Firefox, it starts out quick as a flash, but very rapidly slows down to a crawl, and has twice brought my system to a halt. IE does not cause this, nor any other program I use, but the execution speed of all programs slows as badly as Firefox. If I knew where to get older versions, I would back up to 3.6.9 or earlier. The situation now prevents me from using Firefox much at all.
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Not sure if this helps but I've also experienced a memory leak if I leave my PC on overnight I get to 4Gb of memory used... although not specifically allocated to firefox process. Then firefox crashes and opens the visual studio debugger each morning. It has done this every single day since I upgraded from 3.6.9 to 3.6.10 (I leave certain tabs open only closing them when Im done with certain work). If I get another crash I'll try run the debugger and see if I can get a memory dump.
I have the plugins:
Firebug 1.5.4 Java Console 6.0.20 Java Quick Starter 1.0 Microsoft .Net framework Assistant 1.2.1 Skype extension for Firefox 4.20.0.5198
And am working on Windows XP Professional.
Sorry above is Extensions,
My plugins are as follows:
2007 Microsoft Office system 12.0.4518.1014
Adobe Acrobat 8.0.0.456
Google Update 1.2.1.183.29
Java Deployment Toolkit 6.0.200.2
Java(TM) Platform SE 6 U20 6.0.200.2
Microsoft Office 2003 11.0.8161.0
Microsoft@DRM 9.0.0.4503
Mozilla Default Plug-in 1.0.0.15
Shockwave Flash 10.1.82.76
Windows Media Player Plug-in Dynamic Link Library 3.0.2.629
Windows Presentation Foundation 3.5.30729.1
Modified by cor-el
Memory leaks can also be caused by an extension.
Start Firefox in Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of your add-ons is causing your problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).
See Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems and Troubleshoot issues with plugins like Flash or Java to fix common Firefox problems
Im running windows 7, Firefox 3.6.10 and before i updated to 3.6.10 my CPU never went above 10% with Firefox open. Now it can spike well above 50% and i have nothing different from when i had 3.6.9 to now when i have 3.6.10.
There is no evidence for me to suggest one of the additions i have is causing it, its all pointing to Firefox itself and the last update.
SgtLegend, you're on the same track I've been seeing. I've added nothing to Firefox since the upgrade, but in a typical six hour period using it, I run to way over 75% of virtual memory, and several times have gotten the message that VM was being increased. I've also gotten so overextended in the VM area that I've routinely had to close and restart XP.
What I have noticed in further playing with this is that the radical increases in VM usage mostly come when when I am doing large amounts of image and other file downloads. A couple of hours of heavy downloading can bring the entire system to its knees. I now restart every two hours or so if I'm using Firefox for serious downloading. Someone in the Firefox group needs to test out that aspect--I'll bet a memory release failure will be found after each image, etc., is downloaded. That definitely was not happening in 3.6.9.