Firefox freezes everything!

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

Firefox keeps freezing the whole machine for up to 30 seconds at a time after I rustle it up to go to a site. I can still move the cursor but the hour glass shows on the monitor with Firefox on (I run two) and any indications on the PC also freeze (Zone Alarm`s traffic indicator, CPU usage monitor, etc) so I can`t actually see what`s going on when it happens and I can`t bring up task manager either on the three-fingered salute. The legend bottom left of Firefox says "waiting (or transfering data) for xyz website" and then I have to wait a long time until it decides to display with no indication of why it`s happening. Seem to remember reading about a corrupt profile causing freezing problems, but it doesn`t happen every time. Extension problem, perhaps? I`m a bit suspicious of "No-Script", as I have a suspicion it started after I installed that, but can`t be sure. Can`t get a pattern to it.
A slightly belated Christmas greeting to all at about 9.0 p.m. on Christmas day here in the UK.

goretsky

Hello,

Does this occur with just one web site, or many? Have you tried using a different web browser, such as Opera or Internet Explorer to see if that makes any difference?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

micker377 · Joined: May 27, 2005 Posts: 1059

Are you using (background services), multiple Firewalls , or multiple Anti-Virus programs? I know that Zone Alarm has it's own mail checking - you may have to "un-check" this to prevent conflicts. Also, any Semantec (Norton) programs?

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

No Norton. XP firewall turned off and Zone Alarm only used. Only AVG used as a real-time anti-virus program. I also have Spyware Terminator running as a resident anti-spyware/process start monitor program. Would there a connection with Firefox`s freezing of the PC from these programs? What`s the angle with Zone Alarm mail checking?
I just have a feeling it might be an add-on/extension that might be causing the problem, but not sure where to start. I suppose the hard way is to disable extensions one by one, but, as the problem doesn`t always occur, that may not be conclusive.
I might have several tabs open and then clicking on a mail newsletter link brings up a fresh tab, ("Colourful Tabs" and "Tab Mix Plus" add-ons used) but that stops about about half-loaded and that`s when everything else seems to freeze for about 30 seconds. I can`t open anything else, start, stop or do anything with the PC apart from move the cursor with the hour glass. There`s a sllght "shudder from Firefox and then it continues to load the page.

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

Sometimes, if you have an A/V that scans EVERY FILE WHEN IT IS OPENED it will do this, too. I had one like that, turned off that scan & took care of the problem.

micker377 · Joined: May 27, 2005 Posts: 1059

Now that you mention FF add-ons, check your FF "downloads" directory - that can fill up and slowdown FF. Also you can "disable" your FF add-ons and check if they are interfering with anything. I've read that one version of "Forecast Fox" weather add-on was a big memory leak. Have you ever used "Ctrl-Alt-Del" to check your memory usage in task manager when you do have problems, as compared to usage when it is OK?

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

Thanks all. Can`t check the available resources when it happens, as EVERYTHING freezes for about 30 secs; except for the cursor with the hourglass. Can`t bring up task manager to have a look! Virtually all activity seems to cease. Think I`ll have to do a bit of trial and error.

xavierx · Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 5438

I've had this problem with FF twice. Once, it was due to hyperthreading, but may be found with dual core systems, too. I had to set the processor affinity for FireFox to use only one processor. Here is a general description for how to do that for any process:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877-6168870.html

The second time (just a few weeks ago) it was due to Java. For some reason, the JVM that FireFox was using just didn't work right, and would lock up the computer for a while. All I had to do was download and install a new JVM from Sun. The latest can be found here:
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
You want the download "Java Runtime Environment (JRE) ..." where ... is the version number (currently 6 Update 3).

tbernstein · Joined: May 16, 2003 Posts: 1668 Location: London

I put Zone Alarm on my Vista PC a few weeks back. (Free version)
Then shortly after I found that Firefox sometimes froze, not exactly crashed, but wouldn't load any more pages. I could foce it to close, but apparently not fully. . Any attempt to restart it came up with an error message saying that it was already running and I had to exit or reboot.
No programmes were running in the Task manger. But Ff service was, and wouldn't cancel. I kept havng to reboot.
A search of the Ff website for that error message had a number of solutions, but removing Zone Alarm was the only one there that made sense on my set up.
As soon as I removed Zone Alarm Firefox worked again.
So it appears that Zone Alrm does indeed conflict with FireFox.

Francais · Joined: Jan 20, 2003 Posts: 209

Hello Davolente,
You've probably tried this but in case you haven't...
Without running Firefox, check task manager processes to see if another instance of firefox. exe is running. If so kill it and run Firefox. If no other instance of Firefox is running, try running Firefox in safe mode, e.g. without any add-ons/extensions. If it works without hanging, reenable each of your extensions one by one to find the culprit that may be causing the hang. I personally don't believe it's No Script; I'm running No Script with Firefox on WinXP SP3, Vista Home Premium SP1, and Linux Hardy Heron without any problems. On the otherhand I've had similar issues to yours with the Speed Dial add-on, especially the latest version with the preprogrammed weather thingy. Should your Firefox still not work after checking your add-ons, checkout your RSS feeds if you have any setup. Too many of them may cause the issue. Short of all that, if things still don't work guess you'll have to uninstall/reinstall.
Hope things work out for you.

twcinnh · Joined: Apr 19, 2005 Posts: 1

This is a bit late, but I had a similar problem. It was using a Firefox bookmark synchronizing tool. After deleting a whole lot of old bookmarks it gained a lot of speed.

Regards,

Tom

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2238 Location: Central FL, USA

Zone Alarm ? That was a beast, and it was always wanting to fight with one program or another.
I guess it's not changed a lot.

It went in the ol' bit bucket the day that I installed SP2 for XP.
Since then I've found that the Firewall that came with SP2 was/is more than sufficient to keep the hackers out of my PC.
Then I run a great package of Security Software to keep my PC clean and safe from within.

If your PC is clean and safe, you don't need a Bi-Directional firewall.

Cheers Mates!

The Doctor Cool