545378 - FF leaks memory and uses 100% processor utilisation

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[martyn.ayers]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.1.7) Gecko/20091221 Firefox/3.5.7 GTB6 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.1.7) Gecko/20091221 Firefox/3.5.7 GTB6 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

This problem has existed since I first started using FF about 18 months ago:

Simply navigate to news.bbc.co.uk and leave the page open.  Over several hours,  FF will consume all available memory; after 6-8 hours it will also occupy 100% of one of the processor cores on a multi-core (Intel or AMD Opteron) machine.

More recently (possibly since I upgraded DotNet to version 3.5), FF no longer actually shuts down when I close its gui - it remains in TaskMan's Processes list and I have to kill it from there to get the memory and processor utilisation back.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Navigate to news.bbc.co.uk
2.Wait several hours
3.Look at Task Manager
Actual Results:  
FF exhausts available memory.  Occupies 100% of one processor core.  Does hot shut down when its gui is closed.

Expected Results:  
FF should not leak memory, not monopolize a processor core, and should shut down when it gui is closed.

None - this problem arises on every machine I have tested (about a dozen).

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Please keep one issue per bug. But, I will give you a quick answer  to the firefox not closing. This is caused by an addon. Ghostery is one. So, test in safe mode or a new profile.

For the firefox mem usage, please update to firefox 3.6, then create a new profile and test there. http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles. Also, update your flash, quicktime and java to their latest versions (go to the developer's websites to get the latest).

Comment 2

[wernerr13]

I get the same results, also with a new profile w/o any addons.
All the processor load is consumed by the main thread firefox.exe, not by any dll's
After starting the program the behaviour is normal, but the load increases by the time. It is of no importance, what site is loaded, the behaviour is always the same.
I have FF 3.6.2 installed on Vista, 2 GB, core duo CPU notebook

Comment 3

[Jord van der Elst]

I have FF 3.6.3 on Windows XP and just left a new FF open for the night. It started with using 70,376KB RAM/56,264KB VM, after 8 hours it was taking 100,820KB RAM/86,204KB VM. No URL loaded (!!). 

About the only things that were running in its background were these extensions:
Adblock Plus 1.1.3, Download Statusbar 0.9.6.7, Gmail Manager 0.6, Java Console 6.0.16, Java Quick Starter 1.0, Menu Editor 1.2.6, Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.1, NoScript 1.9.9.61, Tab Mix Plus 0.3.8.2, Adobe DLM (powered by getPlus(R)) 1.6.2.63, Java Console 6.0.19

What to do to test that? Simple:
1. Start Windows Task Manager, Processes tab.
2. Sort its Process Name column alphabetically
3. Start Firefox.
4. Select Firefox in Task Manager, write down its memory/VM use. 
5. Shut down monitor and walk away for 8 hours. 
6. Come back, turn on monitor and write down FF's memory and VM use.

Comment 4

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

jordan, you have a bunch of addons. Please try your "test" with a fresh profile and see what happens.

Comment 5

[Jord van der Elst]

I know how to spell my name correctly, no need to correct me. ;-)

I've started a new profile (need to figure that out, not easy to find).
Ran with it, of course 2 tabs open with unnecessary info, plus the default page is the Firefox site, also not helpful. Disabled all that, exited FF, restarted it. 

I ran for 15 minutes with nothing but Firefox started. Default Extensions are:
Java Console 6.0.16, Java Console 6.0.19, Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 1.1, Java Quick Starter 1.0

Modified Preferences
browser.places.importBookmarksHTML false
browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion 2
browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone rv:1.9.2.3
extensions.lastAppVersion 3.6.3
general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)
network.cookie.prefsMigrated true
places.last_vacuum 1270737220
privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs true

Start 35,652KB RAM/26,200KB VM
3 min 44,620KB RAM/34,392KB VM
4 min 50,490KB RAM/40,760KB VM
5 min 52,876KB RAM/42,944KB VM
15 min 52,908KB RAM/42,916KB VM

I never touched the mouse, never did anything with FF. I even left the room for 10 minutes to do some work in the kitchen. Over the next hour or so, I'll test with a new one, while I do the dishes. Will only write down the start RAM/VM and end RAM/VM.

Comment 6

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Can you use the about:memory page, see what it gives?

Comment 7

[Jord van der Elst]

Ran for the hour, from 16:52 to 17:52, same setup as above. 

Start 34,450KB RAM/24,752KB VM
Peak 58,144KB RAM/48,028KB VM
End 58,132KB RAM/47,989KB VM 

Then saw your email, so ran for another 30 minutes before I initiated about:memory

According to Windows Task manager at that time I used 52,724KB RAM/42,960KB VM

About:memory says:
Overview
Memory mapped:	34,603,008
Memory in use:	30,954,480
      
Other Information
Description	Value
malloc/allocated 30,950,584
malloc/mapped 34,603,008
malloc/committed 33,255,424
malloc/dirty 1,552,384

Comment 8

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

martyn, can you still reproduce with version 3.6 in safe mode?

Comment 9

[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.