Firefox hangs using much CPU while searching Facebook
Twice yesterday and once this morning I was searching for persons on Facebook. Firefox 28.0 (Windows 7 Professional 32-bit) became non-responsive. It was using 40% of the CPU. In one case I let it run for about four hours, and it still was hung. ProcessExplorer shows the CPU usage at firefox.exe+0x249c. In each of the three cases I used Task Manager to produce a dump. I have no idea what in the Facebook pages is causing Firefox to be unresponsive and use much CPU.
This, I believe, is not related to the frequent (40 since March 01, and 5 on March 27) Firefox crashes I am experiencing (and for which I have no cause nor solution).
--Barry S. Finkel
All Replies (7)
Hello,
Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Firefox Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode that turns off some settings and disables most add-ons (extensions and themes).
(If you're using an added theme, switch to the Default theme.)
If Firefox is open, you can restart in Firefox Safe Mode from the Help menu by clicking on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item:
If Firefox is not running, you can start Firefox in Safe Mode as follows:
- On Windows: Hold the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
- On Mac: Hold the option key while starting Firefox.
- On Linux: Quit Firefox, go to your Terminal and run firefox -safe-mode
(you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"
If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article to find the cause.
To exit Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.
When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help others with the same problem.
Thank you.
Is there anything in the three dumps I created with the Task Manager that would aid in diagnosing what is happening?
--Barry Finkel
Another update - I started Firefox in safe mode, and I went to Facebook. Within 5 minutes (2 searches) Firefox hung again. I took another dump and restarted Firefox. How do we debug what is happening?
--Barry Finkel
Does it help if you disable all plugins as a test?
As I have no idea what is being done by the Facebook pages when I access them, I have no idea what plugins, if any, is causing the problem. I use Adobe Flash to display a NOAA radar image, and I really do not want to disable flash. The other plugins that I have that MIGHT be related are Java and Silverlight. I do not get a Java console popup window, so I think that Facebook does not use Java. I do not know about MS Silverlight. I do have extensions installed, and I do not know if any are involved when I do a search on a Facebook page. I do not know the internals of Windows 7, so I have no idea what happens when a task becomes "not responding". What is happening with the interface between Firefox and the Windows 7 operating system? I spent 25+ years as an IBM mainframe systems programmer, and I know how to diagnose a task/program that go into a wait state and become non-responsive.
--Barry Finkel
Barry,
The reason cor-el asked to disable plugins was to be sure that it wasn't one of your plugins that are acting up with Firefox.
In your OP you mentioned you don't think this has anything to do with the crashs. Can you give us the crash IDs so we can rule that out?
- Enter about:crashes in the Firefox address bar and press Enter. A Submitted Crash Reports list will appear, similar to the one shown below.
- Copy the 5 most recent Report IDs that start with bp- and paste them into your response here.
Thank you for your help!
Here are the last 28 reports. There have been 220 since 01-Jan-2014.
bp-20325333-003c-4648-951e-361102140404 4/4/2014 4:53 PM d690f7aa-de9f-4877-9c95-1c6046958cd2 4/3/2014 4:49 PM bp-a6dcd9aa-baec-4f4c-9107-705a02140403 4/2/2014 10:26 PM bp-2842663f-1785-4316-8cd2-634d92140402 4/2/2014 3:12 PM bp-f4072d89-8f9c-4832-b6dc-bfef12140402 4/2/2014 2:42 PM bp-6596a53f-65a4-4be8-9600-d78552140402 4/1/2014 10:55 PM bp-efba9b74-b00a-4e49-85ae-6b77a2140401 3/31/2014 11:33 PM bp-8e384c4d-47c6-486c-8d51-8cc0f2140331 3/31/2014 3:58 PM bp-764722ca-9735-43f5-8249-434072140331 3/31/2014 8:18 AM 1257ec34-f631-4bd7-80e3-2a21002ed55a 3/29/2014 5:00 AM bp-283c8b2c-cb29-491d-a609-59aa82140328 3/27/2014 10:25 PM bp-57fff10d-deda-4bd0-9c2c-f5bab2140327 3/27/2014 3:51 PM bp-233997dd-c290-4d6f-bd82-e9f042140327 3/27/2014 3:42 PM bp-c6fd185e-cb97-48fe-803c-aaeb42140327 3/27/2014 3:25 PM bp-ddebbd68-7ea7-4095-ae92-a40c02140327 3/27/2014 3:17 PM bp-3dfe1142-b4ee-4925-84bc-927bd2140327 3/27/2014 8:02 AM ffdaf375-a436-47d3-975c-4de1ff2c2bef 3/26/2014 8:31 AM bp-356ffc82-2525-438d-af0f-3a3952140325 3/25/2014 1:42 PM be6c7ca6-195d-429d-864b-bf7ae4b8a090 3/22/2014 11:31 PM 0dab7e6f-7d5b-46bd-aae3-de2e79b1722b 3/21/2014 11:04 AM bp-d2685dee-a778-424c-b336-d53fb2140321 3/21/2014 5:37 AM bp-e58a5185-98af-47d9-8312-8a6f42140320 3/20/2014 2:01 PM bp-6b165760-a69d-4979-ae20-e170b2140319 3/19/2014 2:09 PM bp-e471d924-dbbb-4444-9a27-342db2140319 3/18/2014 8:02 PM bp-a1100d57-4634-4663-8ca6-b9df02140318 3/18/2014 3:22 PM c31eb331-5912-44e7-a3f3-3d916bd34588 3/18/2014 2:36 PM bp-d9807da6-67b8-4ac5-b051-d1b642140318 3/18/2014 8:59 AM
--Barry Finkel
Modified by cor-el