302476 - firefox freezes for around a second when browsing SheezyArt galleries

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[snaury]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6

Well, for very long time I had the following issue. After browsing for very
long, firefox all of a sudden was starting to open new tabs *very* slowly. I.e.
after I clicked on a link, it freezed for a second or two, then finally opened a
tab, or continued loading the page. During such freezes no scrolling was
working, spinner didn't move (that one on tabs, and or top-right). For a long
time I couldn't reproduce it, nor confirm what causes this, but this was very
irritating me. I still can't reproduce this, but I found something else. Maybe
this is related:

Recently I stambled upon SheezyArt gallery (www.sheezyart.com), and notices that
on these galleries such freezes happen all the time. When opening main page,
when opening gallery (www.sheezyart.com/gallery), especially when browsing
someone's specific gallery (vensy.sheezyart.com/gallery). For around a second
firefox freezes, then continues. It might not be so irritating, if opening many
links one after another (with the same period as these freezes, i.e.
middle-click a link, wait half a second, middle-click next link, wait half a
second, and so on) didn't cause even longer delays. Sometimes, when I'm trying
to open three or four such pictures at the same time, I could manage to freeze
firefox for four seconds or so. During such times firefox seems to be irresponsive.

Trying to narrow this problem, I deleted my profile, and tried from scratch.
Virgin firefox seems to work a bit better, delays still exist, though it
unfreezes much quicker. However, when I start adding extentions (like Download
Manager Tweak, Tabbrowser Preferences, PrefBar, Adblock, ImgLikeOpera, and so
on), with more I add, more delays grow. I tried, but still couldn't narrow these
freezes to any specific extensions, seems more like the more extentions I have,
the bigger freezes I get. And the strangest thing, is when I then start firefox
in safe mode, or disable all extentions manually, it doesn't help. *Very* weird.

Ok, I tried latest trunk, 20050727-07
(ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/mirror/mozilla/firefox/nightly/2005-07-27-07-trunk/firefox-1.0+.en-US.win32.zip)
which *seems* to operate slightly better, but still has such freezes on
SheezyArt, which grow with adding of extentions. Also, I'm now noticing that
these freezes seem to grow with time. Disabling memory/disk caches don't help,
tweaking nglayout.initialpaint.delay and related don't seem to help either.

On a sidenote, I understand that this might be due to a badly designed site,
however it's strange that this affects firefox responsivness. Also, I still
can't reproduce nor really catch (just like it's evading me, happening only when
I really need to read something quickly and don't have time to find out what's
going on... and restarting obviously fixes that, but sometimes I just can't
restart) what causes another problem, when after some time of a lot of
reading/serfing I get such freezes/delays on *every* site, on *every* new, and
under new I mean not yet visited during *this* session, pages (for example:
reading slashdot a lot, then reading compulenta a lot, then going to groklaw,
then going to some galleries, and then sometimes it happens). I can't reproduce
this one, but maybe these problems are related.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. go to http://www.sheezyart.com
2. go to http://www.sheezyart.com/gallery
3. middle-click on some links in this gallery

Actual Results:  
I experience freezes of firefox, when for about a second (or even more) firefox
becomes irresponsitive, and doesn't seem to be painting anything.

Expected Results:  
If it is really about badly designed site, then expect loading it very slowly,
but no freezes, so I could still be able to scroll existing page, while that
page loads in background.

I'm using firefox with following extentions:

Download Manager Tweak 0.6.6
Tabbrowser Preferences 1.2.7.1
PrefBar 3.0.0
Adblock 0.5.2.039
Right Encoding 0.2
miniT (drag+indicator) 0.5
SubmitToTab 0.3.2
Download Embedded 0.1
raw vision 0.0.2
PDF Download 0.5.1
ImgLikeOpera 0.5.5

I have the following plugins:

Quicktime 6.5.1
Shockwave Flash 7.0 r19
MetaStream 3 Plugin r4
Acrobat 5.00 for Netscape
others seem to be default (like MS DRM and the like)

My friend has Firefox 1.0.6, he's experiencing these freezes too, but not so big
like I do here at work. Also, I have Firefox 1.0.6 at my hope, freezes are a
little less, but still irritating.

Comment 1

[snaury]

Due to FurAffinity having wanished due to server problems, I found another page
which causes problems. Go to http://www.ultracomp.ru/cat.php?id=3. Try hitting
F5 several times, this causes enormous freezes (5+ seconds) on my firefox.

Comment 2

[Manuel]

I'm also wanted to post this bug myself and found this. After open several tabs
firefox becomes irresponsive from time tio time, say 2 secs frozen,  2 secs
alive!! This is anoying. I'm using extensions:

SessionSaver .2 d1 nightly 28 (installed global)
ImgLikeOpera 0.5.5
Tabbrowser Preferences 1.2.7.1 (global)
FlashGot 0.5.9.7
NoScript 1.1.1
Image Zoom 0.1.7.1

While firefox is frozzen, the system and firefox processes are using most of the
CPU. This is the scenario firefox takes about 20% of the CPU, then System
reaches a huge 30% or so, then System drops its cpu load to a normal rate, then
firefox  drops its load too. The whole cycle takes about 2 or more secs, then
rest for 3 secs and start all over again. 

I'm downgrading to Firefox 1.0.4.

Comment 3

[Manuel]

Downgrading to Firefox 1.0.4 does not solve the problem of irresposiveness.

Besides, now its a critical disease. Only 1 tab and still, I have the
frozen-alive cycle.

Does Mozilla firefox leaves some components outside of its installation folder
and user's profiles?

I need Firefox, I want Firefox. But I currently have no time nor ideas to solve
this bug.

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

WFM Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9a1) Gecko/20061128 Minefield/3.0a1

it's just loading lots of images in the second or two that it *appears* nothing is happening. (status says transferring data and waiting for data)