Firefox resource issue

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve H
  • Start date Start date
Steve said:
Been having some odd problems with my system recently ( W98SE )...GDI
failures.
Never had such problems on my previous system, and my initial thought
was that it was down to a hardware conflict.
But then I happened to click on the System Resource app and noted the
remaining resources were down to about 10% - a figure I've never seen
so low before.

So, I ran a few trials with various apps and found that the culprit
seems to be Firefox ( 1.0.7 )
I can run the usual swathe of tray apps, plus a database, newsreader (
two instances ) and a word processor and the resources stick at around
the healthy side of the 50% mark.
Adding Firefox pushes the resources down to the 40% mark...but here's
the rub...
After a few page refreshes, plus a couple of tabs opened and closed,
the resources continue to drop...and with every page refresh they drop
by a couple of percent until eventually things start to lock up.

Closing Firefox immediately puts the resources back around the 50%
mark.

I have a feeling that the reason I never noticed it before was that I
had much more ram in my older system, and so never reached a critical
point before I'd finished a browsing session.

Anyone else come across this sort of behaviour?
Click to expand...

As I write this I have Thunderbird open (of course) and Firefox with 11
tabs open. In my tray, I have "System Monitor" and "SeeThruIcon
Captions" running as well as my firewall and TClock. My system resources
are System: 68 User 68 GDI 78. My system is a 1.9 GHz P4 with 256 mb of
RDRAM and I'm running Millennium Edition. I don't have an antivirus
program running in the background though. Also, I have my a line in my
System.ini file that sets conservative swap file useage to 1.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein, BEN
RITCHEY and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.
 
This minute on my 98se system,I have firefox 1.5 (5 tabs open)
,thunderbird,kerio 2.15,anivir premium,remind me,roboform,quick resource
meter, ,and gravity newsreader running and also showing in the system
tray.The resources i have left are system 69 gdi 88 and user 69.I would
be very suprised if firefox alone is causing that resource issue (though
it can use 55 meg of ram (which is not related to resources) which is
normal).Are you using any extension plugins? as some of these could be
causing it.
me
Click to expand...

I run Adblock, Plain old Favourites, IE view and tabbrowser
preferences.

It's been suggested that I limit the cache to 1024Kb, as some people
have noticed this makes a difference. I can't see that it will, as
clearing the cache releases no resources...but I'll give it a bash.

I'm inclined to think that it's a bit more complicated - and the
easiest solution would be to pop in another stick of ram!

Do you notice any resource drain when you refresh pages?

Regards,
 
Firefox uses far more RAM than for example IE, about 20Mb on my system with
a couple of tabs open and 3 extensions installed. And the startup is very
slow.
The startup can be speed up by using the preloader, but the preloader uses a
lot of...resources.
It's a price I chose to pay.
If you want something 'lighter' with the Gecko-engine, try K-Meleon:

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

If you need the RAM used by FF for something else, close FF.
BTW, resources are there to be used, not to be lying around doing nothing.

HTH
 
Azzman said:
Firefox uses far more RAM than for example IE, about 20Mb on my system with
a couple of tabs open and 3 extensions installed. And the startup is very
slow.
The startup can be speed up by using the preloader, but the preloader uses a
lot of...resources.
It's a price I chose to pay.
If you want something 'lighter' with the Gecko-engine, try K-Meleon:

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

If you need the RAM used by FF for something else, close FF.
BTW, resources are there to be used, not to be lying around doing nothing.

HTH
Click to expand...

Eh.... I was not the one with the problem. You should post your reply to
the OP.


--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein, BEN
RITCHEY and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.
 
Firefox uses far more RAM than for example IE, about 20Mb on my system with
a couple of tabs open and 3 extensions installed. And the startup is very
slow.
The startup can be speed up by using the preloader, but the preloader uses a
lot of...resources.
Click to expand...

I'm not bothered about the extra few seconds it takes for FF to load
over IE. Gives me a chance to do something like put a pencil back in
the pencil holder..
It's a price I chose to pay.
If you want something 'lighter' with the Gecko-engine, try K-Meleon:

http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

If you need the RAM used by FF for something else, close FF.
Click to expand...

It's not a case of needing the ram, it's a case of not wanting GDI
errors to bring my system down...

BTW, resources are there to be used, not to be lying around doing nothing.
Click to expand...

For sure they are...but do you understand what a resource leak is?
Having to close apps because they've used up more than their proper
share of resources is like having to stop a car every 50 miles or so
to let the engine cool down.
It was fine back in 386 days....

Regards,
 
Steve, you could try this, it's suppose to release memory on minimizing and
maximizing FF:

quote

Step 1. Use about:config to create a new, Boolean value. Type or paste the
following string into the dialog box that appears:
config.trim_on_minimize
Step 2. Click OK to close the dialog box. Change the value from "false" to
"true" and restart Firefox.

unquote

and/or this, it's suppose to fix the memory leak:

Step 1. Type about:config into Firefox's Address Bar and press Enter.
Step 2. Right-click any row, then click New, Integer. Type or paste the
following preference name into the dialog box that appears (this is a hidden
preference that doesn't exist in the Configuration Console until you create
it):
browser.cache.memory.capacity
Step 3. Click OK, then enter the following integer number into the next
dialog box, representing 16 MB of RAM for the cache:
16000
Step 4. Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all instances of
Firefox and restart it.

HTH
 
Been having some odd problems with my system recently ( W98SE )...GDI
failures.
Never had such problems on my previous system, and my initial thought
was that it was down to a hardware conflict.
But then I happened to click on the System Resource app and noted the
remaining resources were down to about 10% - a figure I've never seen
so low before.
Click to expand...

....snip...

Memory leaks and resource hogging has been a long standing problem with
Moz, Firefox, and Netscape browsers. There's even a quirky glitch where
it'll occasionally start soaking up CPU cycles until it turns the OS
into a pot of sludge (I've experienced this many times). It was hoped
that the developers would finally do a full court press and nail this
trouble for the 1.5 release, but reports I've been seeing are saying
that RC2 and RC3 are if anything, worse than 1.0.7. Here's one of
several bug report threads, opened way back when .8 was the current
release, with posts as recent as 2 days ago:

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=222660
 
Steve, you could try this, it's suppose to release memory on minimizing and
maximizing FF:

quote

Step 1. Use about:config to create a new, Boolean value. Type or paste the
following string into the dialog box that appears:
config.trim_on_minimize
Step 2. Click OK to close the dialog box. Change the value from "false" to
"true" and restart Firefox.

unquote

and/or this, it's suppose to fix the memory leak:

Step 1. Type about:config into Firefox's Address Bar and press Enter.
Step 2. Right-click any row, then click New, Integer. Type or paste the
following preference name into the dialog box that appears (this is a hidden
preference that doesn't exist in the Configuration Console until you create
it):
browser.cache.memory.capacity
Step 3. Click OK, then enter the following integer number into the next
dialog box, representing 16 MB of RAM for the cache:
16000
Step 4. Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all instances of
Firefox and restart it.
Click to expand...
I've already tried the second tweak ( along with shifting the cache to
a ramdrive )...didn't seem to make any difference.

I'll have a pop at the other hint though - and it ought to work in my
user.js I'd assume.

As you say though...might need both settings in order to work.

Cheers,
 
...snip...

Memory leaks and resource hogging has been a long standing problem with
Moz, Firefox, and Netscape browsers. There's even a quirky glitch where
it'll occasionally start soaking up CPU cycles until it turns the OS
into a pot of sludge (I've experienced this many times). It was hoped
that the developers would finally do a full court press and nail this
trouble for the 1.5 release, but reports I've been seeing are saying
that RC2 and RC3 are if anything, worse than 1.0.7. Here's one of
several bug report threads, opened way back when .8 was the current
release, with posts as recent as 2 days ago:

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=222660
Click to expand...


Interesting article, particularly with reference to low ram systems.

Quirky is what the problem is...in a morning of browsing a single
site, with many page refreshes in a single window/tab, my resources
have dropped to 2%. Closing FF put them right back at 51%.

Guess that's the short-term fix for the time being....but perhaps more
FF users should take a peek at their resource meter...especially if
they're about to launch a critical app...

Regards,
 
Steve, you could try this, it's suppose to release memory
on minimizing and maximizing FF:

quote

Step 1. Use about:config to create a new, Boolean value.
Type or paste the
following string into the dialog box that appears:
config.trim_on_minimize
Step 2. Click OK to close the dialog box. Change the value
from "false" to "true" and restart Firefox.

unquote

and/or this, it's suppose to fix the memory leak:

Step 1. Type about:config into Firefox's Address Bar and
press Enter. Step 2. Right-click any row, then click New,
Integer. Type or paste the following preference name into
the dialog box that appears (this is a hidden preference
that doesn't exist in the Configuration Console until you
create it):
browser.cache.memory.capacity
Step 3. Click OK, then enter the following integer number
into the next dialog box, representing 16 MB of RAM for the
cache: 16000
Step 4. Click OK to close the dialog box, then close all
instances of Firefox and restart it.

HTH
Click to expand...
Azzman,

Do you know in which ver's these config options work?
TIA

J
 
Interesting article, particularly with reference to low ram systems.

Quirky is what the problem is...in a morning of browsing a single
site, with many page refreshes in a single window/tab, my resources
have dropped to 2%. Closing FF put them right back at 51%.

Guess that's the short-term fix for the time being....but perhaps more
FF users should take a peek at their resource meter...especially if
they're about to launch a critical app...

Regards,
Click to expand...

Okay, I did, but I don't recall ever being lower than 50% resources.
I'm using AMD Duron 1200 MHz, 224 MB ram on Win98SE.

Started with my usual programs open, 69,69,75
Opened FF 0.9.1 and 11 tabs on http://www.dslreports.com/forum/security
60,67,60. Closed the 11 tabs and opened 11 windows. 59,59,67. Closed FF
and resources were 73,73,77. A little more than I started with. I don't
see a problem. Guess I'll keep using ff 0.9.1. :-)

BoB
 
Okay, I did, but I don't recall ever being lower than 50% resources.
I'm using AMD Duron 1200 MHz, 224 MB ram on Win98SE.

Started with my usual programs open, 69,69,75
Opened FF 0.9.1 and 11 tabs on http://www.dslreports.com/forum/security
60,67,60. Closed the 11 tabs and opened 11 windows. 59,59,67. Closed FF
and resources were 73,73,77. A little more than I started with. I don't
see a problem. Guess I'll keep using ff 0.9.1. :-)
Click to expand...
Bob, try refreshing the browsed pages a few times.
That's when I notice the problem, rather than opening or closing tabs.

Regards,
 
Azzman said:
My bad, but I'm sure he or she will read it.
Click to expand...

Not to worry, I'm sure also that you're right. And I forgot to add a:

80)>

to my message. Sorry.

--
Regards from John Corliss
My current killfile: aafuss, Chrissy Cruiser, Slowhand Hussein, BEN
RITCHEY and others.
No adware, cdware, commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware,
PROmotionware, shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware,
viruses or warez please.
 
SNIP

Bob, try refreshing the browsed pages a few times.
That's when I notice the problem, rather than opening or closing tabs.

Regards,
Click to expand...

As always, I started with a clean cache to try refreshing FF:

Started with 61,61,67
Opened 5 tabs at DSL 57,59,57
Reloaded all 5 tabs 59,59,59
Emptied cache & reloaded 5 tabs 59,59,60
Closed 5 tabs 61,61,65

Resources are back where they started. ???????

BoB
 
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