439698 - Browser UI (top navigation bar) fails to refresh normally after a few hours of use

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[mboyd]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0

After a few hours of using the browser, using multiple tabs and a couple plugins, the browser UI itself fails to refresh correctly.  The entire top navigation bar is wiped out and left with whatever was on the screen before when changing windows.  The buttons "Next" and "Back" as well as the location bar and "file/Edit/View" options are unrefreshed.

In some cases mouse-overing the buttons or clicking the buttons/elements refresh them, but this goes away when another window is brought to the foreground.

Just recently, the browser was still generally working after this refresh issue, but youtube videos would only play for a couple seconds and then stop, might be related.

The problem persists after completely killing the firefox process (and also when closing it normally) and restarting the browser, it does not persist through reboots.

I attempted to get a screenshot, but for some reason the paste option fails with "Error getting the clipboard data!" when pasting into MS Paint, might be related.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Run browser for a long time with lots of open tabs.
2. ???
3. Fail ;)
Actual Results:  
UI fails to refresh correctly

Expected Results:  
The UI should have refreshed correctly.

I did have this problem when using the Beta version, I was hoping it would be fixed in the new version.  Alas, my slackness has paid off.

I am using the following plugins:
FoxyProxy 2.7.5 (wasn't actively using this when trouble occured, the issue also occured before I started using this plugin)
IE Tab 1.5.20080310 (not actively using this plugin when error occurs)
NoScript 1.6.9.3 (I use this one all the time)

I'm setting this to Major because it makes the browser all but unusable every time it happens, but no data is lost.

Comment 1

[Martin Sorgatz]

Yes, I have this problem, too, with FF3.
There is no need to use FF some hours, with me after only some minutes (or 1 minute with google maps) the whole window does not render any more.
It is a little bit better when the window is not maximized.
Possible workarounds: Move window out of the screen and back again can help.

After some weeks I downgraded :-( to FF 2.0.0.17 to get rid of this problem.

Comment 2

[mccseanp]

Attachment: Screenshot - Firefox screen refresh problems

I have experienced similar problems with all versions of FF3. After a varying amount of time, and normally after opening several tabs, the browser fails to refresh the screen. Both the content window and the menu bars fail to refresh visually. If I move the window, change the window size, use the scroll bar, or mouse over page or menu elements that have some sort of action, some of the page elements (normally not all of them) may refresh. 

Where our experiences differ: If I shutdown and restart my browser, the refresh problem is temporarily resolved; however, it returns after a certain amount of time or after multiple tabs are reopened.

On a side note, I have also experienced the problem where You Tube and CNN videos stop after a few seconds of play.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.4) Gecko/2008102920 Firefox/3.0.4

Bug #446623 (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=446623) appears to be a duplicate problems.

Since it seems like we cannot take a snapshot of the desktop from our system, I took a photo of my monitor and have included it here.

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

mboyd, martin, do you see this with FF 3.5.x started in safe mode?

Comment 4

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.x 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.