Forum der Gemeinschaft Firefox

Ubuntu - I use the SNAP version of Firefox - I generally have lots of tabs open but only use 5 or so of them and it's generally fine.... but when I am closing Firefox, it USES like 100% of the CPU and ALL of the RAM and ALL of the SWAP memory when closing.

This locks up the computer.

Sometimes it doesn't quite go all the way but I can watch it all happen in real time, using Task Manager - and that shows a solidwall of all resources occouring, when the close Firefox is run.

I am told by research via ChatGPT that this is a very real problem with the SNAP version and it's best to change to the Debian version, copy all the bookmarks etc., across and then uninstall the SNAP version.

It's rather disconcerting to have Linux crash because of this one app locking it up and frequently.

Chat GPT:

Is there a problem with Firefox Snap Version closing and using all the resources while doing so, which results in locking up the computer?

You're definitely not imagining it—there have been reports of Firefox's Snap version consuming excessive system resources (CPU, memory) and even causing lockups or hangs, particularly during closure. Here's what’s going on and how to mitigate it:

What’s Happening with Firefox Snap?

2. Browser Hangs or Locks the System on Close

On Linux (especially Ubuntu), users have reported that closing Firefox can lead to it hanging in memory, sometimes unresponsive and still consuming resources.
Super User
Ask Ubuntu
A stark example from Reddit illustrates the severity:
“About 50% of the time I open Firefox, it'll reach 100% CPU usage in about 30 seconds… PC completely unusable unless I shutdown.”
Reddit

3. Known Wayland Sway Bug

On Wayland/Sway setups, reloading Sway while Firefox is open can trigger intense logging, causing high CPU use and an enormous syslog.
Fix: Set MOZ_DISABLE_WAYLAND_PROXY=1, or upgrade to FF 125 where the issue is addressed.
Reddit+1

Alternative Approach

Many users, particularly on Ubuntu, opt out of Snap completely in favor of the .deb package or PPA builds. These alternatives often avoid these specific issues. Ask Ubuntu Reddit

Thoughts? Solutions?

Thanks in advance.

I use Firefox 134.0.2 (64-bit) on Ubuntu 24.04.

Some (not all) web sites show up only after a delay of exactly 30 seconds. The attached screenshot shows that this delay is due to DNS resolution. This behavior is reproducible by simply closing Firefox, opening it again and entering the same web site once more. Once this initial delay of 30 seconds for DNS resolving has passed the web site can be browsed normally.

Using Google Chrome, Opera or even the Tor Browser on the same system works without any significant delay. Also a DNS lookup from the console returns data almost immediately.

As the delay is always exactly 30 seconds this looks like some DNS resolver timeout only showing up when using Firefox.

Neither starting Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode nor (as often suggested) disabling IPV6 for DNS by setting network.dns.disableIPv6 to true did help.

Any idea how to fix this 30 seconds delay?

Many thanks for any help, Felix

Subject: Assistance Required for Frequent Firefox Crashes on Ubuntu

Dear Developer Team,

I am facing persistent issues with Firefox crashing on my Ubuntu PC, and the problem has been ongoing for the past 40–50 days. Despite multiple attempts at troubleshooting—including uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox, clearing all caches, and other measures—the issue remains unresolved.

I’ve noticed that Firefox works for a few days after reinstallation, but then problems begin to surface, such as a half-screen display. Eventually, after restarting the PC, the browser starts crashing again.

Could you please investigate this matter urgently and provide a resolution? Additionally, I would appreciate it if you could clarify whether this might be related to a RAM issue or some other underlying cause.

Looking forward to your assistance.

Best regards, zimmi

After the last Linux upgrade to 36.0.2 the password or user name hot links only work once. The first time the link is gray and will activate. The second time I try and use this feature the link is not gray and will not activate.

Every time this happens I have to close Firefox and reopen it. Then I get one more shot at auto loading a password before it stops working.

For some weeks I have ad an issue with Firefox using 50%-100% of CPU. Normally it is the Firefox process itself, sometimes it is also "Privileged Cont".

OS is Kubuntu 24.04. Firefox has done this across 2-3 versions.

Things I have tried:

Restarting Firefox No change, I'll even get 100% cpu usage with no tabs open

Refresh Firefox to remove settings and addons No change

Uninstall Snap and try direct Apt package No change

Remove ~/.mozilla to fully remove any residual settings/cache/etc No change

Try with and without hardware acceleration See: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1308215 No change!

I would blame my old computer hardware, but Brave runs fine. I am now using Brave, but would dearly like to return to Firefox as I miss containers, and I don't support a chromium dominated web.

I have recently encountered reproducible failures when attempting to download files or save pages to local storage. The target directory is located on a mounted NTFS file system with the options umask=007, user=root, and group=disk. My Firefox browser is running under a non-root user account that is a member of the disk group. However, I consistently receive the error message: “XXX could not be saved because the source file could not be read.”

I would greatly appreciate anyone's assistance in resolving this issue.

I upgraded Firefox using Ubuntu's apt update, apt dist-upgrade. The upgrade process said my version is 134.0.1 but when I look on the Help button is says my version is 125.0.2. How do I upgrade to 134.0.1?

There is (IMHO) some missing functionality / unwanted feature or call it what you like (bug?).

History -> Manage History

select e.g. Last 7 days, right click on Name and select at least two attributes (you can choose from: Tags, Location,Most Recent Visit, Added and Last Modified)

Select the first entry of the list, all displayed fields are selected/highlighted.

Copy (either with the menu or with Ctrl-C) and paste it in your favourite text editor.

Why is only the URL copied? Other fields were also highlighted. Why are they not included?

This is WYSINWYG (what you see is not what you get).

It is possible to export bookmarks as an html file, so why is this not possible with history?

OK, it is possible to query the sqlite3 database directly to get some history info but it's a bit cumbersome.

To do so,

  copy the sqlite (places.sqlite) database to some safe place then open the database (with 'sqlite3 places.sqlite')
  get the history info you are interested in with a sqlite query,
  e.g. select title,visit_count,site_name,url,description,last_visit_date from moz_places where url like '%support%';

But there is no simple (AFAIK) way to convert 'last_visit_date' (an integer) to something human readable.

So either include the whole selection when something is copied (WYSIWYG) or provide export history as an html file.

ps: why is there on option 'other' in the list of 'topics' ? pps: I already posted this comment but it got lost somehow

To preface this, I am not sure if this is caused by my OS (Ubuntu 24.04) or by the way Firefox tends to work on Linux as other issues have been (and therefore, might be resolved with a change in about:config).

Problem: When I download a file and download another one right after that one, the window showing the folder I am choosing to download to won't show the file/image preview of the file I just downloaded before; it only shows the correct preview once I have opened the file manager on my OS; after doing that the file preview is up to date again. (basically, it only shows the correct file preview when I viewed the files on my desktop before opening the download window and will not keep up to date with the most recent changes on its own like it does on Windows for example)

Firefox in Ubuntu Linux is broken for about 30% of the web; only CHROME works. This problem just keeps getting worse. Please fix; it doesn't matter whether FF is more secure, if it doesn't work - what's the point?

Firefox does not seem to be properly configured for Wayland on KDE Plasma 6.x systems. The generic "Wayland" logo appears in task switcher instead of the Firefox logo. Firefox is the only program I have with this issue. Setting desktop name (org.mozilla.firefox) as a property in the Window and Application Manager settings does not resolve the issue.

i was using firefox with multiple tabs for most of today, had to shut pc down to run errands. When i restarted pc, firefox would not start, i have it pinned on my task bar/start menu/whatever. I opened my system moniter to see what was going on when i tried to start firefox and the processes do not show up in the process list. I tried a reinstall with the ubuntu software store and no noticeable change in behavior. Not sure how to get into the profile section, the option for it with a right click on the firefox icon does nothing seemingly. Under normal operations i have seen two firefox processes listed.

I use Firefox with DuckDuckGo on Ubuntu 24.04, Gnome desktop. My Firefox browser window regularly freezes but can be unfrozen by simply repositioning the window. This is really annoying.

I also use Chromium on the same system and there are no issues.

Any ideas?

Here are the dpkg/apt logs for update:

2025-03-19 12:33:16 configure firefox:amd64 136.0.2~build1 <none> 2025-03-19 12:33:16 status unpacked firefox:amd64 136.0.2~build1 2025-03-19 12:33:16 status half-configured firefox:amd64 136.0.2~build1 2025-03-19 12:33:16 status installed firefox:amd64 136.0.2~build1

The problem is that when I tried opening gmail in my ubuntu, it is stuck at loading page, but other browsers like edge can open it without any problem (on the same system).

I tried every thing I can in the support forum of gmail/mozilla/others, but it's still stuck at loading.

That's all.