517605 - Loading Firefox takes forever and after loading it gets stuck often - low memory to blame?

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Carlos Solís]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; es-MX; rv:1.9.1.2) Gecko/20090729 Firefox/3.5.2 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; es-MX; rv:1.9.1.2) Gecko/20090729 Firefox/3.5.2 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

I want to talk about a problem I'm having as I type this bug. While loading Firefox, it seems like Windows chops off memory to the program, making it take eons to start up. When it finally loads (around 25 MB in memory, checked in Task Manager) it takes a pair of minutes to become responsive again. Sometimes, while navigating, typing, downloading, switching tabs, or scrolling (that is, while doing anything you'd do with a browser), Firefox gets stuck with no reason whatsoever - sometimes 30 seconds, some others 5 minutes or more. Often the computer will show an alert telling that virtual memory is too low. Other times, scripts in websites will be stopped by Firefox, or the user will be asked if it wants to stop the script - to worsen things up, when it does, it switches automatically to the problem tab, and switching tabs takes forever to start with. Biggest offenders are YouTube videos, and any website with Flash. My computer has 256 MB of RAM and Windows XP; that can be the reason for it, but I'm unsure since it works completely well sometimes. Sometimes it will happen with only Firefox (with only one tab open), the Firefox Preloader, and the antivirus (Avast Home) loaded - again, when it gets stuck, "memory chops" are to blame. Any ideas?

Reproducible: Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install Firefox in a computer with 256 MB of RAM and Windows XP Pro. Also install Firefox Preloader, just in case.
2. Start up Firefox like you would usually do.
3. Browse the Internet like you would usually do.
Actual Results:  
Sometimes, the computer will behave like usual. Other times, Firefox (and sometimes all other programs!) will begin to get stuck for long periods of time, work again, and get stuck cyclicly.

Expected Results:  
Firefox should run smoothly at all times - not get stuck for minutes in a row. It's basic usability.

Theme: Default
Plugins: None
System: Windows XP, 1.8 GHz AMD Sempron, 256 MB RAM

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

First, I believe by firefox preloader you mean http://sourceforge.net/project/ffpreloader/? That is not a mozilla product, so we can't guarantee that it will work without breaking firefox. So, before we continue, please follow these steps:
1. Create a new Firefox profile. http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles. Do not make any changes, install addons, etc,as this is for testing.
2. Uninstall Firefox preloader. Just so we can get accurate test results.
3. Update your flash to the latest version. Go to adobe's website to get it.
4. Also, 256 RAM is pretty low for XP. Usually 512 or greater is best.

Comment 2

[Carlos Solís]

Okay, FFPreloader has been disabled, Flash just downloaded, and I just made a brand-new testing profile. No problems by now, but if anything happens I'll send a message.

Comment 3

[Carlos Solís]

Seems to be the computer. Strange thing is that it sometimes works great, but sometimes gets stuck. I can't figure out why does the problem happen only sometimes.

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Carlos, thanks for the update.
invalid (not a FF bug) per comment 3.