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Firefox 6.0.2: Periodic freezes every minute (60")

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My problem is as follows: everything worked fine with my Firefox on all my computers. All of them were sync'ed with firefox sync (including my mobile).

Then, on my Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit desktop (Q9450 CPU, 4Gb of RAM, Asus P5KC motherboard Intel P35-based), I replaced the motherboard and the CPU. Obviously I reinstalled Windows from scratch and Firefox as well. From plugins, I installed only Adblock plus with the Easylist and malwaredomains lists. The same plugin (along with others) were installed previously on my desktop. I initiated a new sync and my bookmarks and everything obviously appeared ok.

On this new hardware platform (Q9650 CPU, 8Gb RAM, Asus Rampage Extreme, Intel X48-based) I experienced strange freezes, which felt that they ranged from 10" to 30". These happen while I am trying to do an action, like fill in a form for example. Firefox does not freeze while it is idle. When this freeze takes place, it affects only firefox. Nothing else gets affected. Made a clean uninstall, re-installed with only adblock plus and enabled firefox sync. Same issue...

It drives my crazy because both the motherboard and the cpu are better than the one I used to have. The system is not overclocked. All my other firefox installations work perfectly.

I should add that I also tried checking with certain sqlite commands the integrity of all sqlite databases. All were ok. Additionally, I deleted this system from sync, completely uninstalled ff, deleted the relevant Application data subdirectories and made a fresh install, only with adblock plus and re-enabled sync. Same issue. Also tried using other memory DIMMs. Same thing again.

Atm, it feels like this is either motherboard related OR there is a "blocker" somewhere. What strikes me a lot is that it works perfectly on all my other computers (remember that all of them are firefox sync'ed) and that the problem appears on the strongest of these machines...

I've read some bug reports in bugzilla that *seem* to be similar to mine, but can't quite correlate the same. Then I stumbled an excellent process explorer from winternals (mentioned in this thread here as well), which you can get from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653

Running this process explorer along firefox I noticed that initially all seem fine. Selecting View -> System Information I watched what happened while browsing. Initially, browsing causes some small spikes. Then something *very* strange happens (see attached pic):

   Every 120" cpu load rises for approximately 60".
   During the 60" cpu peak, firefox exhibits the freezing
   firefox is ok during the rest (120-70=50") of the time only! 

Note that this behaviour does not appear immediately at firefox start, but rather appears later on. I can not pinpoint the exact cause at this point. Once this 2 minute cycle starts, it does not stop until firefox exits!

Perhaps this should be submitted as a bug directly, but it felt like I had to gather some expert opinion here to help me and the devs on this.


EDIT: Updated info. From sysinternals, I can see that when the 60" peaks take place, cpu time is dominated by thread MOZCRT19.DLL (see 2nd screenshot). During that time, the following seem to be causing the peak:

mozsqlite3.dll!sqlite3_reset+0x2db1 mozsqlite3.dll!sqlite3_step+0xd9 xul.dll!?CanUseOpaqueSurface@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEHXZ+0x1d81 xul.dll!?CanUseOpaqueSurface@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEHXZ+0x1c58 xul.dll!?CanUseOpaqueSurface@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEHXZ+0x1bc6 xul.dll!NS_GetXPTCallStub_P+0xb59 xul.dll!?IsOriginalCharSkipped@gfxSkipCharsIterator@@QBEHPAH@Z+0x28f9a xul.dll!?GetEffectiveClipRect@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEPBUnsIntRect@@XZ+0x659 MOZCRT19.dll!_endthreadex+0x78 MOZCRT19.dll!_endthreadex+0x106 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x63 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x36

My problem is as follows: everything worked fine with my Firefox on all my computers. All of them were sync'ed with firefox sync (including my mobile). Then, on my Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit desktop (Q9450 CPU, 4Gb of RAM, Asus P5KC motherboard Intel P35-based), I replaced the motherboard and the CPU. Obviously I reinstalled Windows from scratch and Firefox as well. From plugins, I installed only Adblock plus with the Easylist and malwaredomains lists. The same plugin (along with others) were installed previously on my desktop. I initiated a new sync and my bookmarks and everything obviously appeared ok. On this new hardware platform (Q9650 CPU, 8Gb RAM, Asus Rampage Extreme, Intel X48-based) I experienced strange freezes, which felt that they ranged from 10" to 30". These happen while I am trying to do an action, like fill in a form for example. Firefox does not freeze while it is idle. When this freeze takes place, it affects only firefox. Nothing else gets affected. Made a clean uninstall, re-installed with only adblock plus and enabled firefox sync. Same issue... It drives my crazy because both the motherboard and the cpu are better than the one I used to have. The system is not overclocked. All my other firefox installations work perfectly. I should add that I also tried checking with certain sqlite commands the integrity of all sqlite databases. All were ok. Additionally, I deleted this system from sync, completely uninstalled ff, deleted the relevant Application data subdirectories and made a fresh install, only with adblock plus and re-enabled sync. Same issue. Also tried using other memory DIMMs. Same thing again. Atm, it feels like this is either motherboard related OR there is a "blocker" somewhere. What strikes me a lot is that it works perfectly on all my other computers (remember that all of them are firefox sync'ed) and that the problem appears on the strongest of these machines... I've read some bug reports in bugzilla that *seem* to be similar to mine, but can't quite correlate the same. Then I stumbled an excellent process explorer from winternals (mentioned in this thread here as well), which you can get from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653 Running this process explorer along firefox I noticed that initially all seem fine. Selecting View -> System Information I watched what happened while browsing. Initially, browsing causes some small spikes. Then something *very* strange happens (see attached pic): Every 120" cpu load rises for approximately 60". During the 60" cpu peak, firefox exhibits the freezing firefox is ok during the rest (120-70=50") of the time only! Note that this behaviour does not appear immediately at firefox start, but rather appears later on. I can not pinpoint the exact cause at this point. Once this 2 minute cycle starts, it does not stop until firefox exits! Perhaps this should be submitted as a bug directly, but it felt like I had to gather some expert opinion here to help me and the devs on this. EDIT: Updated info. From sysinternals, I can see that when the 60" peaks take place, cpu time is dominated by thread MOZCRT19.DLL (see 2nd screenshot). During that time, the following seem to be causing the peak: mozsqlite3.dll!sqlite3_reset+0x2db1 mozsqlite3.dll!sqlite3_step+0xd9 xul.dll!?CanUseOpaqueSurface@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEHXZ+0x1d81 xul.dll!?CanUseOpaqueSurface@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEHXZ+0x1c58 xul.dll!?CanUseOpaqueSurface@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEHXZ+0x1bc6 xul.dll!NS_GetXPTCallStub_P+0xb59 xul.dll!?IsOriginalCharSkipped@gfxSkipCharsIterator@@QBEHPAH@Z+0x28f9a xul.dll!?GetEffectiveClipRect@Layer@layers@mozilla@@QAEPBUnsIntRect@@XZ+0x659 MOZCRT19.dll!_endthreadex+0x78 MOZCRT19.dll!_endthreadex+0x106 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x63 ntdll.dll!RtlInitializeExceptionChain+0x36

Modified by Michail Pappas

Chosen solution

Your bug was resolved as a duplicate, have you tried the workaround in

It would appear the 64bit comments were a red herring, bug 686025 now having been marked as all platforms.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (8)

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"You did say there was no problem in safe mode, the bug referenced did occur in safe mode so you could yet find that is not the cause of your problems."

Oops! Just read the thread again. My mistake here, the issue *did* occur in safe mode. Please pardon my carelessness... Therefore it seems like we *are* talking about the same issue here.

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The mozillazine article is not related here (although I have tried everything listed in the article). So far, it seems that my issue is related to a bug in firefox, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=686025

Modified by Michail Pappas

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"Your bug was resolved as a duplicate, have you tried the workaround in

   http://blog.bonardo.net/2011/09/30/is-your-firefor-freezing-at-regular-intervals "

Just returned and installed this extension. Will report what happens over the next 2 days.

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Hi, i have the same problem and i have Eset Nod 32 antivirus installed. There are other guys also with nod 32 having this problem. May be its NOD 32 cause this problem?

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@ carmic,

Have you tried Firefox 8 (soon to be released or already on Beta [ channel]) and does that solve your problem?

The question was asked in your bug (688521#c10)
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@ Aper

You are apparently using the same AV as carmic the owner of this thread. We are not yet sure whether carmic's problem has been resolved.

This issue has thrown up the fact that Firefox is not very good at reporting problems with hangs. Although not currently directly monitoring this it may help generate data if telemetry is enabled, this has been introduced only recently as a UI item, and is off by default

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To all: I have resolved the issue by following John99's advice (see accepted solution).

However, I am unable to reproduce the issue now. Everything seems to work just fine. For the record, I have strong doubts whether this had something to do with ESET. I believe that the issue is that in initially sync'ing a new firefox installation, proper maintainance is not performed in the sqlite databases.

The extension mentioned in John99's post did exactly that: maintainance on these databases.

Modified by Michail Pappas

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