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OS/2 - Technical => Internet => Topic started by: lewhoo on 2008.08.24, 22:23:05

Title: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: lewhoo on 2008.08.24, 22:23:05
ACP1, firefox 3.01, SNAP

After a longer time of using firefox 3.01, when I close it, it frees some memory, than hangs the screen. I have to reboot to regain control of the system.

It happens always after long time of using. Perheaps some of you have encountered this problem before and know what can be the cause and how to fix it?
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: RobertM on 2008.08.24, 22:37:53
Hi lewhoo,

I have run into that problem (I think)... what I have found is that the longer FF301 is running, the longer it takes to shut down. Sometimes it makes the system crawl or totally unusable (kinda like when it is loading)... but for me, it has finished shutting down on 99% of those occassions - IF I wait long enough, which could be many many minutes.

Sometimes I can kill FF using CADh, sometimes I cannot. Usually I just wait and see.

So, sadly I dont know how to fix it... but to circumvent it when I suspect it is going to happen (and dont want to wait), I dont shut down FF, I use CADh and hard kill it instead.

The other big issue I have is it crashing if Java is loaded by a page... even after re-installing the recommended Java and InnoWin plugin...

Ugh!
Rob
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: lewhoo on 2008.08.24, 22:43:17
But do you have only 99% of CPU, but the screen is still refreshed? In my case, nothing is refreshed - clock, monitors etc. Also, I cannot switch to CADh - I hear the sound, but the screen is blocked... I assume it would be blocked no matter how long I wait.

And yes, ff 3.01 is quite unstable. Crashes on many pages, but I haven't found yet, what those pages have in common.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: abwillis on 2008.08.25, 00:17:48
I've seen what you describe in Seamonkey.  I have found that if I hit CAD once and Ctrl-Esc twice and wait it comes back after awhile.  When I mentioned this type of behavior to Steve Levine at Warpstock last weekend, he said it was the flash plugin causing it.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: Ben on 2008.08.25, 02:19:50
I've seen these problems here as well.

Those, and the lack of support for Flash, caused me to stop using it.

Of course, the disk thrashing because of the new database setup it uses, bothered me to.

There are things that I do like, however such as the superior screen loading speed and the additional addons that you can use like Fire FTP... though some addons that work with 2.* you can't use with 3.*.

Alas, I too, have no solutions to offer, but I await the next version.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: DougB on 2008.08.25, 02:59:11
FWIW, if I remove the Flash plugin from FF 3.01, I get roughly 10 days, before odd things start to happen to my system. With the Flash plugin, in FF 3.01, I get roughly 4 hours, before I have problems. I am convinced, that the Flash plugin is causing most of the problems with Firefox, and, probably, other things too.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: Saijin_Naib on 2008.08.25, 05:28:59
Also, don't forget to turn off the IFE for firefox now! It's anti-aliased through Cairo so we don't need the IFE making its memory leak magic on top of the Flash issues.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: Ben on 2008.08.25, 05:45:41
Quote from: Saijin_Naib on 2008.08.25, 05:28:59
Also, don't forget to turn off the IFE for firefox now! It's anti-aliased through Cairo so we don't need the IFE making its memory leak magic on top of the Flash issues.

I use both versions of Firefox, (well, not 3 any more, but my setup is 3 ready), so I renamed Firefox.exe for version 3 to Firefox3.exe and it works fine for both versions, IFE being disabled thus, for version 3.

That's the lowdown and dirty way to do it anyhow. 8)
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: RobertM on 2008.08.25, 06:34:16
Ben and Saijin_Naib bring up a great point! Mine seems to be running a bit quicker too (not trying to double anti-alias?).

Now that they mention it, since I followed their suggestions last week to do just what they described, I've been having less hangs (though it still takes forever to start and shut down).

And, Saijin_Naib... if I didnt remember to say so earlier, thanks for pointing out the IFE thing. And Ben, as well, thanks for pointing out a very simple, fully working solution!!




Oh, and a note to people with SMP... it takes about 35-45 seconds to start FF3 on this machine (single 1.1GHz AMD)... multiple CPUs really seem to help... quad 550MHz takes 9 seconds to start (both machines using JFS), and very quick shutdown times. It runs far faster on SMP than the FF2 branch did... dunno why. Changing tabs with FF2 on the quad machine would take seconds (3-10) - even though the rest of it seemed snappy... on FF3, everything is instantaneous...
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: lewhoo on 2008.08.25, 11:15:11
If the flash is the cause, the strange thing is that my screen hangs when memory is still being released after firefox window is no more visible... But it still may be so, I guess.

But thanks for the point with disabling IFE. I hope that will help a little :)
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: RobertM on 2008.08.25, 20:20:19
lewhoo,

I think flash stays loaded until the browser shuts down (even if you then start visiting non-flash pages for the end of your browsing session).

I've even seen FF3 shut down (but it's icon remain "active") and found pieces of flash still loaded - FF2 will load at this point because FF3 unloaded itself (but just failed on unloading parts of flash).
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: Saijin_Naib on 2008.08.25, 21:47:16
No problem bobert :) The firefox rendering issue still remains, but without the double AA it's a bit quicker. I'm afraid to enable SMP because I have some nasty hangs with it, but I may be forced to eventually. Now, if somehow they could fix the rendering issue with OS/2 eCS I'd be very happy.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: jep on 2008.08.26, 18:05:17
I had the issues described, took a deep breath and downloaded Shiretoko 3.1a...

Wohooo, it flies, Flash 7 r68 work again, almost no crashes and neat effects with css:
text-shadow: black 0.1em 0.05em 0.2em;

and now it's even possible to surf for several hours... it can even return memory to the system and use less than previous releases.

Ditch 3.0.1 and go for 3.1, that's my advice!

//Jan-Erik
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: Ben on 2008.08.26, 20:39:32
Greetings...

I read your post with interest, jep,  and decided to give Shiretoko 3.1a a go.

It loaded and ran fine, much better than 3.01a. However once I hit a Flashed site, it crashed like 3.01.  :)

I suspect it may have something to do with the Flash hack that fools some sites into thinking that it's Flash 8  that I have installed.

I'll check that out if I can get the time.

In the meantime, maybe others will have some success to report.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: OriAl on 2008.08.28, 04:25:23
I haven't tried to install FF3 yet.  I tried in XP SP3 (over FF2, so I then unistalled FF following Mozillazine instructions, keeping my profile), which I know even less about the little I know about OS/2, and it won't accept add-ons.  Nor will Seamonkey 1.1.11, for that matter. 

When I get to  trying FF3 in OS/2, how do I take care of IFE? 

Thanks, as always.

Alan
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: Saijin_Naib on 2008.08.28, 06:37:23
if you are using eCS, click on the eCS button, go to run. In the top entry field type "regedit2" with no quotes & OS/2 should find it in the path. Simply launch it. Next, delete the firefox.exe keys from the registry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE & HKEY_CURRENT_USER as shown in the attached image.
Title: Re: Firefox 3.01 hangs
Post by: RobertM on 2008.08.28, 20:45:50
If you are running earlier versions of FF as well, use Ben's method:

Rename the firefox.exe for FF3 (or any of the 3.1 alpha's) to firefox3.exe or (if you are like me and run the alphas and the final 3.01, you can name them something like firefox301.exe, firefox31a.exe, etc).

Basically, name it anything other than firefox.exe - this method will allow Innotek Font Rendering for versions 2.0.0.x and below, while disabling it for v3 and up.


Why would one want to run more than one version? Simple... (or, more accurately, here's my reasons):
- FF3 handles some CSS and form stuff differently than FF2... so I need to test on both.

- FF3 has support for the newest FireFTP plugin (FF2 only works with old ones)

- FF3.1 Alpha is faster than FF3.01, so I play with that one when I dont need FTP support

- FF2 has support for the UnPlug plugin (neither FF3 version does yet), so I use that when I am grabbing vids from websites.




Of course, your needs may not be the same as mine... but in case they are... you have two methods you can choose from to handle the font rendering "issue" thanks to Ben and Saijin_Naib.




If you are not running earlier versions of FF, use Saijin_Naib's method:
Remember, you can search for firefox.exe using the search option from the menu to find it... just ensure you are deleting the keys from the location he shows you in the screenshots (and not anywhere else).

For those of you who are commandline friendly/happy... opening an OS/2 window and typing regedit2 in it works as well (yeah, I'm still often a commandline type of guy...) ;)

Rob