Firefox hangs, computer freezes on certain websites - e.g., http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Go-Google
Firefox runs into problems on more and more websites: The browser will hang, and apparently use up so much of the computer's resources, that eventually, the computer will hang completely. Today, for instance, I'm seeing this problem on the web page I mention on the title: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Go-Google
I can reproduce this problem under various Linux distributions (e.g., Ubuntu, Slackware, etc.). Resetting Firefox, completely erasing my profile, etc., won't help.
Disabling JavaScript circumvents the problem, so it clearly has something to do with JavaScript.
Viewing the problem pages in Chromium works fine. I think I'll try out Chromium as my default browser for now, and see which problems that might cause... :-)
Chosen solution
PROBLEM SOLVED!
I retried loading the problem page on the problem computer, while running the 'top' command and seeing if that could clue me in. I noticed that Firefox memory usage went through the roof.
I did the same on the other, similar, computer. Firefox memory usage there also increased dramatically, but percentage of memory used remained lower.
That suddenly reminded me that, even though the two computers had very similar hardware, there was one parameter that I had overlooked: The amount of memory in the two computers.
Sure enough, the problem computer had only 1 GiB of memory, while the other one had 2 GiB.
Thus, I removed the 1 GiB of memory from the problem computer, and replaced it with 4 GiB instead.
Result: Everything works fine now.
CONCLUSION: MAKE SURE THAT THE COMPUTER HAS ENOUGH MEMORY!
UPDATE: The memory that I removed from the problem computer turned out to be 2 GiB (2 * 1 GiB) after all. However, for some strange reason, the computer only saw 1 GiB. I'm using the memory in another computer now, and that correctly sees 2 GiB.
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Hello,
The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information. Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.
To Reset Firefox do the following:
- Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
- Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
- Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
- Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.
Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you.
Did you try to disable all plugins?
Did you try to disable all extensions including extensions added by Ubuntu?
I'm sorry to have to say so, but posting a boilerplate reply about how resetting Firefox might help, when I mentioned in my question that neither resetting Firefox, nor completely erasing my profile does any good, isn't particularly helpful.
As I noted, JavaScript seems to be the culprit. As I also noted, the Chromium browser does not present this problem.
Even with all plugins and extensions disabled, the problem remains. I can avoid the problem only by disabling JavaScript.
Does it still happen in Safe Mode (disables the JavaScript JIT compiler)?
Yes, it happens in Safe Mode just the same.
Hmmm... Must be something very specific to this one computer. I had the opportunity to test the current problem page (i.e., "http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Go-Google") on a computer that ran Windows XP, and the problem didn't occur there. That same computer also had Linux Mint 13, and that didn't have the problem either.
I'm now running Ubuntu 10.04 (the same OS under which I initially encountered the problem) on a yet another computer, and it, too, displays the page without any issues.
Modified by luvr
Now, this is strange: I'm testing on a computer with very similar hardware to the one with the problem--same motherboard ("GigaByte GA-MA78G-DS3H"), same CPU ("AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+"), even same DVD drive model (something that identifies itself as "DVDRW 20X20X12X").
Everything works fine on this computer...
I have just installed all current Ubuntu 10.04 updates on both computers, just to make sure, but the situation remains unchanged--the problem computer keeps having the problem, the other one continues to work without any issues.
Strange indeed...
Try to disable IPv6.
Chosen Solution
PROBLEM SOLVED!
I retried loading the problem page on the problem computer, while running the 'top' command and seeing if that could clue me in. I noticed that Firefox memory usage went through the roof.
I did the same on the other, similar, computer. Firefox memory usage there also increased dramatically, but percentage of memory used remained lower.
That suddenly reminded me that, even though the two computers had very similar hardware, there was one parameter that I had overlooked: The amount of memory in the two computers.
Sure enough, the problem computer had only 1 GiB of memory, while the other one had 2 GiB.
Thus, I removed the 1 GiB of memory from the problem computer, and replaced it with 4 GiB instead.
Result: Everything works fine now.
CONCLUSION: MAKE SURE THAT THE COMPUTER HAS ENOUGH MEMORY!
UPDATE: The memory that I removed from the problem computer turned out to be 2 GiB (2 * 1 GiB) after all. However, for some strange reason, the computer only saw 1 GiB. I'm using the memory in another computer now, and that correctly sees 2 GiB.
Modified by luvr