417655 - WindowServer uses much too much cpu

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Richard Karpinski]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.4; en-US; rv:1.9b3) Gecko/2008020511 Firefox/3.0b3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X 10.4; en-US; rv:1.9b3) Gecko/2008020511 Firefox/3.0b3

I had twenty tabs open and six other apps running but then with no change it got very slow. Activity monitor showed WindowServer alone taking 85-95 percent of cpu. It dropped to under 20 percent when I killed Firefox.

Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
1. I have no clue what elicits this.
2.
3.
Actual Results:  
Got slow, WindowServer gobbling cpu madly.

Expected Results:  
Runs normally.

Not insulted Mac OS 10.4, I guess.

Comment 1

[Andrew Sutherland [:asuth] (he/him)]

Similar Thunderbird bug: bug 436897.

Comment 2

[Bob Clary [:bc] (inactive)]

What are the steps to reproduce this in minefield? Start up in offline mode? I don't see a similar preference to always ask when stating up in Minefield.

Comment 3

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

So the Thunderbird bug was moved to core, and is now fixed. This should now probably be fixed in the latest Minefield builds too.

Comment 4

[Philipp Metzler]

Hi,

to reproduce the problem do the following:

1. go to a website which requires HTTP Authentication and leave the dialog open or use a html form to upload a file and leave the dialog to chose the file open.

2. after a little while the OS X process WindowServer will consume as much of the CPU as it can.

So one of the reason for such behaviour of Firefox are these dialogs that are left open.

cheers,

Philipp

Comment 5

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Reporter, are you still seeing this issue with Firefox 3.6.12 or later in safe mode? If not, please close. These links can help you in your testing.
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles
Also, please consider using the most recent Firefox 4 beta build, your bug may be resolved there.

Comment 6

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.13 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.

Comment 7

[Philipp Metzler]

Problem still exists with Firefox 3.6.13. You can easily reproduce the problem by opening a page that requires HTTP Authentication. Let the dialog box that asks for username / password open and Windowserver will consume 80 % / 90 % / 100 % of the CPU.