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Firefox 4 using huge amounts of RAM on sites with Java scripts

  • 11 replies
  • 125 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by alanbdee

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I have been observing Firefox using huge amount of RAM when I am on sites that use Java Scripts to rotate images. I have tried a couple of different sites and have monitored the RAM usage. With Java script enabled Firefox 4 continues to grow its RAM usage by about 10MB a minute. I have had the usage hit as high as 1.5GB. As a comparison I have monitored the same sites in Internet explorer and have not seen the same issue. - Just to eliminate a site issue.

Turning off Java Script solves the issue and eventually frees the RAM.

I am using XP Pro, 3 GB RAM.

I have been observing Firefox using huge amount of RAM when I am on sites that use Java Scripts to rotate images. I have tried a couple of different sites and have monitored the RAM usage. With Java script enabled Firefox 4 continues to grow its RAM usage by about 10MB a minute. I have had the usage hit as high as 1.5GB. As a comparison I have monitored the same sites in Internet explorer and have not seen the same issue. - Just to eliminate a site issue. Turning off Java Script solves the issue and eventually frees the RAM. I am using XP Pro, 3 GB RAM.

All Replies (11)

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Here are the screen shots for RAM and resource usage.

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I have Win7 x64 Enterprise with 4GB of RAM and frequently Firefox 4 is using 95% of that. I have to reboot every day to clear the memory and start over.

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This thread is at least [http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/ques.../792576?s=Firefox+4+Huge+Memory&as=s|Active] . Still quite with no answers ...

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One of the sites you mention seems to cause Firefox to use high CPU resources in both Firefox 3.6 and Firefox 4. See /questions/792576#answer-166060

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On this very page, the memory usage creeps up and up all the time I am typing this. If I stop typing for a while, the memory usage stops going up. It started at 183Mb, and is no 189172. I've just been typing a load of characters and backspacing again, and now it's 197888. So the memory usage has gone from 183 to 202Mb (now), just by me typing in this....

Perhaps this would be a good web page to use to debug the script engine? My memory usage is no 209676, and all I've done is type this. Now it's 211148. Now it's 213204. Uh oh. It settles down when I stop typing.

I open a View Source window, and the memory usage drops back to 183Mb. I alt-tab back to here, and start typing again, and it starts creeping up. Now 189188. Ctrl-U, Alt-F4 and it's down to 181Mb. Hope this is of some use.

-)
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High CPU usage has not been an issue for any of the issues. Just high RAM.

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Hi ojli,

If you think it is a problem start your own question about it.

If you can then prove it is a problem and occurs in Safe Mode you could then consider filing a bug about it. The problem may however be related to some extension you are using.

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I have this problem too. I use Ubuntu 10.10 with 2gb of ram in the screenshot (conky) you can see the amount ram released after closing facebook and other sites. still uses lot of ram.

Please solve this out

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Where does some one report a bug? Or at least have an issue acknowledged?

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You first of all need to clearly define what the problem is. Obviously in this case the problem is only apparently on certain sites employing certain javascripts. Ideally a minimal javascript that could be shown to cause the problem would help, but links to some example sites would suffice.

Also it is going to help to find out precisely which versions of firefox are and are not involved. Are you able to provide

  • some links that may be suitable to test this.
    ( If you see it with a single rotating image, a page with only a single rotating image would possibly be a good test demonstration. )
  • a description of the steps taken to see the problem
  • confirmation that you have tried this in firefox safe mode and still have the problem
    ( if the problem is not occuring in safemode it may relate to some other software)

Problems that are thought to be caused by Firefox are tracked on bugzilla but that is probably not the place to try reporting anything without a lot more information. Firefox uses too much memory or CPU resources - How to fix and troubleshooting memory leaks is something beyond my experience.

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There is a plug-in, Memory Restart that displays how much your window is using and creates a quick and easy way to restart your browser. That seems to be the best solution thus for.

A big contributor is Flash. As a software engineer I often joke that all the developers who created Vista are now working for Adobe and Flash. (As far as I know it's not true, just funny.)

Since I run Linux, flash works best inside a 32-bit wrapper. It shows up as a separate process for me. So my "Task Manager" shows firefox on one line and the flash on another.

Linux also handles memory differently then windows. Nonetheless when I start to run out of memory it's almost always that flash has bloated out of control. I press the button, it saves the pages I'm on, restarts, and goes back to where I left off.

Modified by alanbdee