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Opening several links quickly in new tabs causes significant browser-wide lag and CPU usage spike

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Profile: https://share.firefox.dev/490blHh

Subject says it all, but it seems to occur with any site, anytime I try to open more than three or four tabs (ctrl-clicking links on a forum, for example) my Firefox instance grinds to a halt and starts consuming most of my CPU (Ryzen 5 3600).

I've tried turning off Firefox's various protections. I tried troubleshooting (formerly "safe") mode, and the problem isn't as bad but is still present as far as I can tell. The only extension I can think that would be making it worse is Tree Style Tab, but I don't know enough about interpreting Firefox profiles to verify.

The only reason I consider this odd is because doing the same thing in Chrome doesn't have this issue on this same device. If I open many tabs quickly, Chrome itself is still responsive. Those newly opened tabs may take a while to load and become interactive, but it doesn't affect the rest of the application. I pay my ISP for gigabit DSL, and as far as I can tell that is roughly what I get. In my case, Firefox doesn't behave this way.

Profile: https://share.firefox.dev/490blHh Subject says it all, but it seems to occur with any site, anytime I try to open more than three or four tabs (ctrl-clicking links on a forum, for example) my Firefox instance grinds to a halt and starts consuming most of my CPU (Ryzen 5 3600). I've tried turning off Firefox's various protections. I tried troubleshooting (formerly "safe") mode, and the problem isn't as bad but is still present as far as I can tell. The only extension I can think that would be making it worse is Tree Style Tab, but I don't know enough about interpreting Firefox profiles to verify. The only reason I consider this odd is because doing the same thing in Chrome doesn't have this issue on this same device. If I open many tabs quickly, Chrome itself is still responsive. Those newly opened tabs may take a while to load and become interactive, but it doesn't affect the rest of the application. I pay my ISP for gigabit DSL, and as far as I can tell that is roughly what I get. In my case, Firefox doesn't behave this way.

Isisombululo esikhethiwe

Initially I was skeptical about the "places" database, but I figured I'd try the "verify integrity" thing anyway. I clicked the button, it ran and printed output similar to below; unfortunately I forgot to copy-paste the results the first time and instead immediately quit the browser to restart it and check.


> Task: checkIntegrity + The places.sqlite database is sane + The favicons.sqlite database is sane > Task: checkCoherence + The database is coherent > Task: expire + Database cleaned up > Task: vacuum + Initial database size is 10240KiB + The database has been vacuumed + Final database size is 10240KiB > Task: stats + Places.sqlite size is 10240KiB + Favicons.sqlite size is 7360KiB

Anyway, so far I haven't been noticing any more CPU drain when opening many links as new tabs. Maybe it's coincidental, but I am happy!

Thank you cor-el for the reply!

Funda le mpendulo ngokuhambisana nalesi sihloko 👍 0

All Replies (2)

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If you use Sync, best is to disconnect Sync temporarily during troubleshooting.

This could be a problem with the places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder.

  • use the "Places Database" -> "Verify Integrity" button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page

If errors are reported with "Verify Integrity", close and restart Firefox or reboot and retry.

If "Verify Integrity" cannot repair places.sqlite, rename/remove all places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed. Firefox will rebuild places.sqlite and restore the bookmarks from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

  • keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created
  • you lose the history when a new places.sqlite is created

You may have to restore an older bookmarks backup in the bookmarkbackups folder via the Bookmarks Manager (Library).

See also:

You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).

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Isisombululo Esikhethiwe

Initially I was skeptical about the "places" database, but I figured I'd try the "verify integrity" thing anyway. I clicked the button, it ran and printed output similar to below; unfortunately I forgot to copy-paste the results the first time and instead immediately quit the browser to restart it and check.


> Task: checkIntegrity + The places.sqlite database is sane + The favicons.sqlite database is sane > Task: checkCoherence + The database is coherent > Task: expire + Database cleaned up > Task: vacuum + Initial database size is 10240KiB + The database has been vacuumed + Final database size is 10240KiB > Task: stats + Places.sqlite size is 10240KiB + Favicons.sqlite size is 7360KiB

Anyway, so far I haven't been noticing any more CPU drain when opening many links as new tabs. Maybe it's coincidental, but I am happy!

Thank you cor-el for the reply!