561698 - firefox becoming slower and slower after some days until not usable anymore

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Michael Monnerie]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; de; rv:1.9.1.9) Gecko/20100317 SUSE/3.5.9-0.1.1 Firefox/3.5.9
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; de; rv:1.9.1.9) Gecko/20100317 SUSE/3.5.9-0.1.1 Firefox/3.5.9

I have two displays, and use 10 screens in KDE. I have about 10 firefox windows open, each having up to 10 tabs open. Together about 60 different web sites are open all the time.

The problem: I login to KDE, open firefox. That opens all websites. I installed the "Active Stop Button" plugin and use it to stop all activity on all windows. Then I just have to wait several days (I never logout of this system, it's my office workplace) and firefox is becoming slower and slower every day. Writing this text means the letters jump on the screen in groups, and the general usability is really ugly, as all the time there are massive delays for a click or entering a text.

I created an strace of firefox now that it's been running 2 days, almost without anything done as it was weekend. Would be nice if someone could tell me what the problem is. 
Is there a way for me to find out if a plugin is misbehaving, without having to try to disable and see what happens?

I attached an "strace", does that help to see what happens?

Memory usage is also becoming higher each day:
# ps axuw|grep fire
zmi       2935 50.3  9.2 1265492 758224 ?      Rl   Apr23 2059:09 /usr/lib64/firefox/firefox --sm-config-prefix /firefox-zUbZOA/ --sm-client-id 10e5cf7475000127079778100000033010123 --screen 0


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. open firefox (about 10 windows, overall 60 tabs)
2. wait some days
3. firefox becoming slower and slower
Actual Results:  
too slow to use after some days

Expected Results:  
should stay fluid, not use too much ram.

I read some other bugs and saw it could be a plugin, so I list them here:
- active stop button 1.3.0
- adblock plus 1.1.1
- cool previews 3.0
- fast video download 2.03
- flagfox 4.0.2
- foxyproxy standard 2.15
- noscript 1.9.9.14
- opensuse firefox extensions 1.0
- skipscreen 0.3.20091214_AMO
- tamper data 10.1.0
- web developer 1.1.8

Comment 1

[Michael Monnerie]

Attachment: strace when firefox is slow (this one after 2 days)

Comment 2

[Michael Monnerie]

Attachment: even directly after restart and stopping all activity, 15% CPU usage

I use the plugin "active stop button 1.3.0" to stop all loading once pages are displayed. Still, around 15% CPU usage for doing *nothing*? I even deactivated all plugins except
- active stop button
- adblock plus
- foxyproxy standard
- noscript
(see the bug report for plugins I normally use too).

Comment 3

[Michael Monnerie]

Now after restart, I can type normally, and surf experience is "fluid". Would be nice if it stayed like that, but I have doubt it will.

Comment 4

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Reporter, are you still seeing this issue with Firefox 3.6.13 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

You can also try to reproduce in Firefox 4 Beta 8 or later, there are many improvements in the new version, http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

Comment 5

[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.