343081 - Firefox has a problem handling resolution switching on Windows XP Home SP2.

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[jon]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4

This problem seems to be native to forcing a resolution switch, due to loading a game that modifies your computer's resolution. I was NOT ABLE TO REPRODUCE THIS PROBLEM BY CHANGING RESOLUTIONS WITH THE "DISPLAY OPTIONS" DIALOGUE BOX ON WINDOWS XP.

When playing a game with a lower resolution that what was originally set, for instance, a game that is set to 1024x768 on a normally 1440x900 resolution, 7 out of 10 times, firefox shifts webpage content to the right, seeming like it's trying to compensate for the resolution switch. No fix has been discovered yet: this isn't some earth-shattering DEFCON 5 problem, just simply an inconvenience, and clearly a bug, and who wants faulty software engineering. Apparently, a quick fix to the problem is simply closing any affected instances of firefox and re-opening firefox. Suitable for now, but would like to see this problem fixed in the next stable release.

Reproducible: Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open a game that requires a different resolution that what you're currently running (in this case, Team Fortress Classic)
2. Start + D : display the desktop without closing the game (forcibly minimize the game)
3. Focus the firefox window: web pages loaded inside the firefox browser are shifted to the right, causing the absence of a vertical scrollbar as well as possibly missing content, depending on the web page layout

Actual Results:  
7 out of 10 times, Firefox moves the page content to the right quite a few pixels. Around 200 pixels are placed between the left of the firefox tab content and the left border of the browser. The vertical bar disappears, and some content that might have used the CSS "text-align: right" property is either limited in viewability or entirely missing. This applies to any content that is aligned or positioned on what would be the normal right side of the page.

Expected Results:  
Firefox should have simply adjusted with the resolution switch, or not attempted to adjust anything. If it was going to try to compensate for the resolution decrease, it should have re-compensated for the increase. If it wasn't going to recompensate, it should have just left things be.

Theme: Default
Graphics card: nvidia gforce fx go5200 (64mb vram)
Os: Windows XP Home Edition (SP2 installed)
Resolution: 1440 x 900

This problem seems to be manifesting itself in linux as well, due to resolution changes. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=256646.

Comment 1

[Kevin Brosnan]

*** Bug 343082 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 2

[Steven]

This can be reproduced by connecting to Win XP with "Remote Desktop Connection" / "Terminal Services" from a computer that has a lower resolution than the target.

Comment 3

[Scott Atkins]

Attachment: right scroll bar cropped due to this bug

Comment 4

[Scott Atkins]

Attachment: Further cropping as the window gets smaller

Comment 5

[Scott Atkins]

I have a laptop that displays similar behavior when resuming from hibernation.  If I maximize Firefox, hibernate the machine and start it; windows automatically scales the login screen to 1024x768 (most of the time, but not always.)  If I then log-in the resolution is set back to 1680x1050 but Firefox will not resize to something lower than 1024x768 without cutting off the left side of the window.

Comment 6

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

sound like a dupe or related to bug 62395 ?

remote desktop issues: bug 206435

Comment 7

[Scott Atkins]

Attachment: Cropping still happens

As of September 10th, 2007 I am still getting this behavior.

Firefox 2.0.0.6, fully patched xp box.

Comment 8

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

do you have the updated remote desktop?

"Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP (KB925876)    -- Friday, December 08, 2006   Microsoft Update"

Comment 9

[Steven]

I was able to reproduce this with older version of remote desktop (mstsc.exe ver: 5.1.2600.2180).  Starting Firefox in high resolution and then connecting to the host using lower resolution.
Was not able to reproduce this with the latest version (mstsc.exe ver: 6.0.6000.16386)

Hope this helps.

Comment 10

[guillermo siliceo]

I can confirm this, if firefox beta 4 and 5(the ones i tested) is open and then you open a game that sets lower resolution, firefox cpu usage will go to the roof as shown in the task administrator in windows xp sp2.
I have to close it, and then open it again, and it will be ok, but when i close the game and the screen changes back to a higher resolution, firefox will use again all the cpu and as a consequense slow down.

I tested it with several games and with all the same behaviour is shown.

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

guillermo, is this with, or without, remote desktop?

Comment 12

[Scott Atkins]

I'm still around.

I do have the latest remotedesktop client installed; however, in my report I wasn't using remotedesktop at all.

Comment 13

[guillermo siliceo]

Without remote desktop, directly on 1 windows machine.

Comment 14

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to comment #2)
> This can be reproduced by connecting to Win XP with "Remote Desktop Connection"
> / "Terminal Services" from a computer that has a lower resolution than the
> target.

Scott, does issue your issue (like) bug 62395?

remote desktop issue are being duped to bug 206435

Comment 15

[Scott Atkins]

It might be the same bug, I don't know.  I no longer have the machine the bug was reproducible on.

Comment 16

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

guillermo in comment #10
> I can confirm this, if firefox beta 4 and 5(the ones i tested) is open and then
> you open a game that sets lower resolution, firefox cpu usage will go to the
> roof as shown in the task administrator in windows xp sp2.

Same CPU spike is seen when connecting with remote desktop. 

Comment 17

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Windows XP is no longer supported. If you still see this issue on the latest version of Firefox on a supported platform, please file a new issue.