Firefox Community Forum

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.

When I have multiple tabs open, around the 6th tab, the entire computer freezes. I have to press the physical button to shut down and restart. This behavior started with the last Firefox update. It doesn't happen when I use Brave browser. What changed to cause this?

I'm running Mozilla Firefox for Linux Mint mint 100 - 1.0 version 141.0.3 (64 bit) on Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon. These are the latest versions of Mint and of Firefox for Mint.

Hello, For about two or three days now, when I launch Firefox and try to open any website, it takes maybe one minute to load the page, then the navigation is OK on every website.

It only happens when I launch Firefox for the first time of my session. If I close it then relaunch it, it's still very swift.

I tried clear cache and remove cookies, just lost my logins lol but didn't work. I also tried with no extensions, nothing changed. Lastly I tried to set "network.captive-portal-service.enabled" to "false" in "about:config" but it didn't change anything neither.

So before I try anything else that could erase something on my profile, I'd rather ask here for some help :)

PS: running FF 153.0.4 on Debian Trixie with Mozilla repos. Only have two extensions: µblockOrigin and NoScript.

Thank you in advance!

I always have multiple tabs open in my browser. Previously, I could easily open (and switch between) 20+ tabs (I have 16GB of RAM). Recently, after opening five tabs, the Task Manager shows 10-11GB of RAM (88-90%) in use! How can this be? I cleared the cache and history, but it didn't help. I installed several RAM cleaners, but none freed up the required amount. None of the five programs worked. Where does that 15GB of RAM go when I open Firefox? When will you finally implement something like Google Chrome—they free up RAM for active pages when inactive ones are opened. Maybe it's because I have so many inactive tabs that the RAM is disappearing? But I had just as many tabs before, some of them inactive, and fewer than 20 active ones, so I could easily open another 20. And now I can't even open five new ones. What's happening to the browser?! SOS!

Dear Support Person,

Yesterday, after being notified that an upgrade was available, I executed the upgrade to version 152.0.

The upgrade completed successfully with my eight tabs populating on the left side along with a new tab showing all the features of the new upgrade.

I opened my Gmail tab and my Yahoo mail tab. Eventually, Firefox froze up, saying it was Not Responding. I looked at Task Manager and saw that Firefox was continuing to grab up memory. I ended the Firefox process in Task Manager.

I then opened it again and deleted all the tabs except for one. It continued to grab up memory.

I then opened it in Troubleshooting mode. It errored out, and I sent the report to Firefox support.

The only thing that has changed is the fact that I ran the upgrade to Firefox. Nothing else has changed.

Firefox has been my go-to browser for years. I am using Chrome as my access to the internet now, and cringe every time I go into it.

I hope and pray that you can bring my Firefox friend back to me.

I am anxiously looking forward to hearing from you.

Take care and God bless!

~ Kyle P.S. I just tried getting information from about:support. I was able to copy the raw data and then the application crashed. I sent the Crash Report to you folks. The raw data I pasted in the Troubleshooting Information box.

I get screen tearing on videos or when i scroll on any website. Only happens on Firefox, I've tested Chrome, Edge, Opera.

https://streamable.com/80gxcm

Smooth Scrolling is Off. Hardware Acceleration is Off. I've tried toggling "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.force-enabled" Firefox is up to date.

None of this has helped.

It takes almost a minute for my home page to come on after I click on My Firefox icon. That has only started happening in the last week or so. But . . . also . . . when I sign into my email account with my ID and complete password, even though I check the "stay signed in" box, that does not happen. I need to fully sign in each time, and that, too, time-wise is somehow related to the delay in getting my home page up. On several occasions I have gotten a message that Firefox is not responding. Thanks for any help you can give. I have Windows 11.

Been using Firefox for over a decade. But lately is has become so slow now. Often freezes up if more than two tabs are open or a website is in any way very complex. What settings and issues should I check? What has changed? I can run the same sites on Brave and Edge browsers with no issues or not nearly as slow and bogged down.

About two weeks ago, Firefox started randomly hanging and would stop responding. It wouldn't let me close the program and I always have to restart my system to resolve the problem. Sometimes it only takes a few minutes after restart before it hangs, other times it will be fine for hours.

I've tried multiple solutions I've found online, carefully following instructions: clearing cookies and cache, disabling all extensions, refreshing firefox, creating a new profile, deleting specific files within the Profiles folder, etc.

I've yet to make it more than four hours without the program hanging.

Any assistance or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I normally use Firefox Developer Edition, version 127 because any later version always freezes my whole computer (probably because I'm using a 15-year old PC). Recently all my extensions became disabled. I'm now also unable to install any extension because it says "Installation aborted because the add-on appears to be corrupt". I found some instructions on Mozilla website about deleting compatibility.ini and extensions folder, but it didn't solve the issue. Now I'm stuck and confused as I suspect some of the extension files that should be in my Profile folder may not be there.

The simplest solution in this case would be to use the "Refresh Firefox" option which resets everything to default settings, but every time I do it my computer freezes until rebooted. Uninstalling and reinstalling manually is also not the way to go, because it retains all the settings.

I've tried installing the standard Firefox browser (v. 119) alongside the Developer Edition but the same issue is there as well.

I'm looking for an alternative way to get a clean Firefox install, so I can fix my extensions.

Additional info: - Your system specs? Windows 10 64-bit, 4 GB RAM, Pentium Dual-core, no GPU - Hardware acceleration? Disabled. - Using any mods? Yes, two. Geckium for Firefox, which always works fine. The recent issue started when I played around with Revert8Plus, but it initially worked without issues.

Firefox freezes when I try to sign into YouTube via Google. Becomes totally unresponsive and I have to close browser. It's the only site this happens on. I have cleared the cache and cookies, unchecked "Hardware Acceleration" and other recommendations from other posts. Please talk to me like I'm your Baby Boomer dad.

Using Google Voice became unusable. Firefox too slow. Had been running just fine up till maybe a month ago when I finally gave in and allowed Firefox to update. Not knowing if it was a Windows or other issue I stupidly did a Windows reset and lost all my installed programs (including Firefox). I did a fresh install of Firefox and manually reentered passwords and bookmarks.

Ran fine for a day or two and is now again unusable. Cleared cache and appears to work OK at the moment but still sluggish.

Finn

Hi, After updating to the latest version of Firefox on my laptop, I’ve noticed that the battery drains much faster than before. I haven’t changed any settings, but the browser seems to consume more power even with just a few tabs open.

I’ve already tried:

Restarting my laptop

Disabling unnecessary extensions

Clearing cache

But the issue is still there. Is there any specific setting or workaround to reduce battery usage in the new update?

Thanks in advance!

It seems that since the Version 141.0 update, initial startup of FF seems to take ve-e-e-ery long (approx 3-4 minutes).

The startup time/lag seems almost the same as it takes to restart after an update.

Anyone else experience this also? Thanks.

Hello For some reason most of the buttons in my toolbar have stopped working. When I first open Firefox they all work, then when I enter websites they stop working. The 'home' button still seems to work, but almost all others (such as the 'back' button etc) can't be selected. This is very frustrating. To note, I am not tech savvy at all.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Andrew

Every couple of minutes Firefox just freezes. YouTube buffers, all open tabs just stop working. I can open new tabs but i cannot search up anything or go into any websites. Is there any fix for this?

Since this week's update of Firefox Developer edition when the browser is restarted tabs do not load until I reset the browser.

I suspect an add-on but have not been able to determine which one.

This is happening on multiple (3) physical computers.

I just started a new work role and haven't been able to find the time to troubleshooting of the issue myself.

This has been very disrupting and stressful.