Firefox Hanging Every Few Seconds
I just installed brand new Firefox 25.0.1 on a Mac Mini (running Mountain Lion 10.8.2) just two weeks ago, and since day one I've been having the same problem that lots of other people are having, and that's the constant half-second delays that happen about every 4 to 5 seconds. Even typing this post, the delays are there. Pulling down menus and selecting items, trying to move the scroll bar, or playing youtube videos, Firefox keeps hanging briefly every few seconds. It's maddening.
I never had any problem with Apple's Safari browser (the only reason I switched to Firefox was because Safari Ad Block stopped working and I needed Download Helper). That this problem exists on PC and Mac means it's nothing specific to the computer, but to Firefox.
What I wish would not be given the same generic advice that never seems to work, like reinstall Firefox (it was already installed cleanly, what would a reinstall do?), but have somebody at Mozilla actually explain what is causing the problem, or if they plan to ever fix it.
So far I only have a temporary fix, which is to completely quit out of Firefox and re-run it. That solves the problem for a little while, but within an hour or two, or three, it's back to the same problem. There are plenty of other threads that mention this or similar problems (see below), but all seem to be on PC's not Macs, and none seem to give a 100% universal fix for everybody.
How to stop Firefox from hanging and lagging? firefox freezes every few seconds even with latest update and pluging my Firefox freezes every a few seconds , so will you fix it ?
Soluzione scelta
You can check for problems with the sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak files in the Firefox profile folder that store session data.
Delete the sessionstore.js file and possible sessionstore-##.js files with a number and sessionstore.bak in the Firefox profile folder.
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Multiple_profile_files_created
Deleting sessionstore.js will cause App Tabs and Tab Groups and open and closed (undo) tabs to get lost and you will have to recreate them (make a note or bookmark them if possible).
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Tutte le risposte (5)
Soluzione scelta
You can check for problems with the sessionstore.js and sessionstore.bak files in the Firefox profile folder that store session data.
Delete the sessionstore.js file and possible sessionstore-##.js files with a number and sessionstore.bak in the Firefox profile folder.
- Help > Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory: Show Folder (Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder)
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Multiple_profile_files_created
Deleting sessionstore.js will cause App Tabs and Tab Groups and open and closed (undo) tabs to get lost and you will have to recreate them (make a note or bookmark them if possible).
Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).
- Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.
Well I see this forum decides to not pay attention to carriage returns, so the names of thread with similar problems all ran together in my original post. They should be:
- How to stop Firefox from hanging and lagging? *
- firefox freezes every few seconds even with latest update and pluging *
- my Firefox freezes every a few seconds , so will you fix it ? *
You can add HTML break tags (<br />) on this forum to start on a new line.
Did you try my above posted suggestions?
You can create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.
See "Creating a profile":
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Profile_issues
If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over the problem.
I did what was suggested in your first response, deleting sessionstore.js and running in safe mode. I've used Firefox two days in safe mode and so far I haven't had the constant hanging. So I guess at this point I'll go back to normal mode and try to figure out if it's Adblock Plus or Download Helper (of the combination of the two) that's causing the problem. So for now I guess I'll mark it this as solved.
Thanks
For about a month now I have had this problem on all our computers as we use Firefox as our only browser. On at least 2 computers firefox hangs on numerous occasions on a daily basis. When it first happened I updated all the plugins & firefox to see if that would fix the problem, but not at all, so then I reset firefox which did help slightly, but the problem still persists, have also tried disbling plugins, but to no avail. Hoping this was just a hiccup that would resolve itself with new updates, but this just keeps happening & is becoming increasingly frustrating. If it's happening to others, then surely it must be a problem with firefox & surely there must be a cure! We have had NO complaints up till this started happening, but if this continues, then I will be switching from firefox completely. Years ago I switched over to firefox as IE constantly froze, so now might be a good time to explore other browsers if this problem is not fixable.