421545 - CPU usage spikes when scrolling in Gmail Inbox

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[David Corley]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.9b5pre) Gecko/2008030706 Minefield/3.0b5pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.9b5pre) Gecko/2008030706 Minefield/3.0b5pre

When I use either the scrollbar or the mousewheel to scroll back and forward continuously through the GMail Inbox, the CPU usage ramps up to 50% (i have a dual core machine)
When I open a mail that's several pages long in Gmail, the problem does not seem so severe, even if the mail is in html format and contains many images

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open any Gmail Inbox
2.Use the scrollbar or mouse scroll-wheel to scroll up and down rapidly
3.Open a long email (such that the scrollbar handle is roughly the same size or smaller than the inbox scrollbar size)
Actual Results:  
CPU usage ramps up to 50%

Expected Results:  
Given that similar scrolling is less CPU-intensive on many other sites with far more going on (www.zdnet.com is an example), I would expect CPU usage to be even lower on a page where there is mostly text.

Comment 1

[Mike Lierman]

This is expected for the most part for my processor when I scroll in any page the CPU usage jumps to about 1-3% however, your processor is probably not the same is mine. Mine is a AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 2.4GHz. I did go over to Gmail and this did not happen. Gmail could be loading stuff, or it could be your plugins. However I do thing that it might be your computer setup. Correct me if I am wrong.

Old computers have a problem with newer applications and this is why you see companies reccemending older versions for older CPUs and computers. They can't keep up with the new operating system and the CPU's aren't meant to be over used with programs that are designed on Quad Cores.

As there is no problem here but what is expected and given my extended knalage about computers from working with them for more than 7 years I can truthfully tell you that if you indeed do have a lower end PC try not doing so much on your PC. Windows XP, ME, Vista are not be be run on CPU's less than 900 MHz and for performance RAM should be no less than 256 MB.

I'm sorry if I have miss understood your problem as this does not happen here I am going to mark this bug as "worksforme" if you have any questions ask them here, if you feel this has been closed prematurly feel free to ask me or another privileged user to open this.

Thanks for helping make Firefox better!!
-Mike

Comment 2

[Mike Lierman]

I am awaiting your response before I mark this bug. Please reply soon.

Thanks again!!

-Mike

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9b5pre) Gecko/2008030607 Minefield/3.0b5pre

Comment 3

[David Corley]

Hey Mike, I'm using a dual-core 2.0Ghz Intel T7200 processor with 2GB Ram, so I'm not sure it qualifies as being old :-)
It may have something to do with the fact I was running on Windows 2000.
Although I can reproduce the problem on Win XP with a 3.8Ghz HT P4 also with 2GB RAM?

Comment 4

[Mike Lierman]

Ok not what I thought. Alright, I see your using the nightlies. Try doing this: Go to the Help menu on Firefox, go to Check for updates. Let Firefox update your nightly.

Still have problems with Gmail after that? You might have spyware on your PC or extensions could be causing problems. 
Try coming to the Firefox IRC Channels so we may assist you further as this. I talked to a QA and one said they had similar symptoms.

For the IRC Room: see here, http://irc.mozilla.org/
Join #firefox for help and maybe even #testday

Thanks,
-Mike

Comment 5

[David Corley]

Hey Michael,
I download the nightlies as they become available every day. Same problem is occuring with last nights build. I'll log into IRC now. Keep an eye out for heavydawson

Comment 6

[Mike Lierman]

David Corley, I can't remember what the conclusion was for this problem.... did we resolve it?

-Mike

Comment 7

[David Corley]

Michael, we ended discussing a different issues altogether (poor performance in large table scrolling) which I then filed a separate bug report for.
I said I would leave it at your discretion as to whether you would like to close this bug off or not. In comparison to the large table issue, this bug is extremely minor. I've no problem with you closing it off. I'll continue to monitor the issue, and if I see anything else, I'll head over to IRC before posting a bug. Thanks for the help

Comment 8

[Mike Lierman]

Alright David, thanks for reporting!!

The more bugs people file the more problems get fixed in Firefox. Every new bug is an opportunity to improve Firefox. Thanks for helping make Firefox the best it can be!

I will now be marking this bug with "worksforme" if anyone has this problem that feel is unrelated to tables please comment here and me or another privileged user will reopen.

Thanks!
-Mike