Firefox using 100% CPU to load bookmarks in El Capitan
I finally upgraded from Snow Leopard (!) to El Capitan on my 2009 iMac. However, Firefox (47.0.1) "beachballs" when I access the Bookmarks menu and takes 30 secs+ to load the bookmark icons and Activity Monitor shows 100% CPU usage until bookmarks finally load . Starting in Safe Mode and/or refreshing makes no difference. All plugins have been updated. Once the icons have loaded, I can select any bookmark but if I close the Bookmarks window the same will occur the next time I open it. No "sessionstore.js" files to replace and re-naming "places.sqlite" did not help (these were suggested in a slightly similar topic.)
I have my old OS on an external drive and booting from that and using the older version of Firefox is fine. The problem seems to be confined to accessing the bookmarks; no other functions seem to be affected. Safari (which I occas. use) seems to be OK also.
All Replies (4)
You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database (bookmarks and history) in the Firefox profile folder.
See also:
- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Bookmarks_history_and_toolbar_buttons_not_working_-_Firefox
- https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Bookmarks+not+saved#w_fix-the-bookmarks-file
If the Places Maintenance extension can't repair the places.sqlite database then remove all places.sqlite file(s) in the Firefox profile folder to make Firefox rebuild the places.sqlite database from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.
- keep a backup copy of places.sqlite in case a new places.sqlite database has to be created
See also:
No joy so far... I ran the Places Maintenance add-on and it did its thing but to no avail. There were no places-squlite.corrupt. I tried rebuilding the Places database without using any JSON backups by also removing all "bookmarks-(date).json" files, but, as suggested I ended up with a curiously old version of my bookmarks. These did seem to load OK, albeit after a brief delay. After this I will admit to getting a little frustrated and restored the Firefox folder in the Library from a Time Machine backup of a few days ago, so am pretty much back to square one.
I have not yet tried this, which was suggested in one article: "A Mac user reports multiple problems with bookmarks and history if the environment variable DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH is set for the login via the file ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist. Removing "environment.plist" and then logging out and back in resolves the issue."
I should perhaps mention that when I go to the Bookmarks tab, all the bookmarks are there, but not the icons to their left, which it seems Firefox has to rebuild and causes the problem.
I just now went to another open tab and checked the Bookmarks and they are all there as expected, icons included. However, after opening a site from the Bookmarks, they have again lost their icons and the rebuild process started anew.
I seem to vaguely recall that I had a similar problem some years ago whenI updated the OS (perhaps from 10.5 to 10.6) although I have no idea how it got resolved. I am also trying to remember whether this problem started right after I updated to El Capitan on June 22. I may try replacing all Firefox files from just after that date and see if the problem still occurs.
Did you try to restore a recent JSON backup after you have deleted places.sqlite to have a fresh start?
cor-el said
Did you try to restore a recent JSON backup after you have deleted places.sqlite to have a fresh start?
Sorry- I've been away from this problem for a while due to other "stuff" demanding my attention. I suspect I may not have followed the correct protocol so will have to review the instructions once I start tackling it again. In the meantime, I'm keeping the Library open which seems to allow me to use the Bookmarks without problems from there.