FireFox Suspended? and Update to v.100 problem
Over the past few days FireFox v. 99.0.1 had been non-responsive on a tab.
Got to the point I had to close FF and tried to use cCleaner to clear cache/history etc.
However cCleaner could not proceed as it claimed FF was still open.
Using Windows Task Manager I found FireFox was "Suspended" (screenshot 1)
I then terminated the task - so cCleaner could proceed.
Then FF appeared to work OK. Until the next time....
It just happened a few minutes ago closing FF - using cCleaner - once again FF was "suspended" and had to be terminated in Task Manager.
On FF help it said Update to version 100 which I did BUT the update got stuck on the FF Update - for several minutes (definitely over 10 mins) so I had to terminate the FF Updater using Windows Task Manager (screenshots 2 & 3) again used Task Manager to terminate that.
FF appeared to open OK even showed the version 100 What's new tab.
BUT when I used FF help to check version I got Restart FF to update to version 100 (screen shot 4) Perhaps the last might temporary due to terminating the what appeared to be stuck Updater, but it was worth mentioning.
PC details: OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home Version 10.0.19044 Build 19044 System Model HP Pavilion 590-p0097c Desktop PC System Type x64-based PC Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz, 2808 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s) Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Any help appreciated.
Thanks,
Vincent
All Replies (8)
See also:
You can check the Firefox Task Manager (about:performance) and about:memory and about:processes pages.
cor-el said
See also: You can check the Firefox Task Manager (about:performance) and about:memory and about:processes pages.
Thank you for taking an interest.
It is true I did not know about suspension, until I faced it, but since then I have done plenty of reading about it.
Your ghack link did have more.
1. Didn't know suspension dates back to v 67! So why has that not given me any problems until (first time I noticed) v 99.0.1, and now with v 100.0 and v100.0.1?
2. The troublesome tab for Outlook.Live.com - would be the one I'd notice, since it is my most used tab left-most and it is PINNED - according to ghack article, pinned tab is supposed to take a higher priority over any other regular tab - but that is the tab I noticed most being suspended.
3. From reading I have this setting: about:config>browser.tabs.unloadOnLowMemory>FALSE which is supposed to stop Firefox from suspending - BUT it does not, and I think I now can distinguish between a Firefox and Windows suspension.
The about:performance is very helpful I will definitely use it.
Your third link about too much memory or CPU usage is very useful - but my desktop config although not top of the line is hardly a slug, it should not cause problem simply browsing the web.
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home Version 10.0.19044 Build 19044 System Model HP Pavilion 590-p0097c Desktop PC System Type x64-based PC Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz, 2808 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s) Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
More info: I usually have 15 tabs open - most are just "dormant" so I can switch to them. Occasionally I do open a tab to view video (note: these are not regularly opened tabs) - eg: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/wsb-now-dai/0ac8c696-3f43-4d00-bc73-56073142950a/ and obviously YouTube
attached screenshot from about:performance showing the resource usage (I deliberately opened the WSBtv video tab - includes Outlook.Live.Com
But it still kind of begs the question - since suspension has been around since v 67 - why did I only notice it since v 99.0.1 - when Firefox is my default browser used very single day, and the Pinned tab of Outlook.Live.com is my most used tab?
Perhaps the worst instance was reported in:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1376056#answer-1505835
Thank you.
-- Vincent
With fission enabled like is the case in current releases, there will be a lot more content processes (see about:processes) and it is always possible that Windows pages processes that aren't active to its page file (virtual memory) and that this isn't actually a Firefox problem. If there are memory constraints then Firefox can always suspend tabs that haven't been used, even with the pref set to false.
Modified by cor-el
cor-el said
With fission enabled like is the case in cu releases, there will be a lot more content processes (see about:processes) and it is always possible that Windows pages processes that aren't active to its page file (virtual memory) and that this isn't actually a Firefox problem. If there are memory constraints then Firefox can always suspend tabs that haven't been used, even with the pref set to false.
Thank you again for your really quick response.
Just to give a snapshot of what is going on with my Firefox (v 100.0.1 64-bit) again I deliberately included a tab playing video stream (WSBtv)
screenshot of about:performance screenshot of about:processes (this screenshot won't upload properly see attached screenshot of "uploading" - have tried multiple times including different screenshots and even different filenames.)
Just to be sure also looked at Windows Task Manager:
screenshot of Windows Task Manager sorted by used memory
I may not be familiar with some of the details, but it does not look like any tab or process is using a large amount of memory or resources.
UnknownVT said
Just to give a snapshot of what is going on with my Firefox (v 100.0.1 64-bit) again I deliberately included a tab playing video stream (WSBtv)
screenshot of about:processes (this screenshot won't upload properly see attached screenshot of "uploading" - have tried multiple times including different screenshots and even different filenames.) </blockquote>
Took screenshot using Windows 10 as a png file and this managed to upload properly.
Thanks, -- Vincent
This might or might not be related - FF v100.0.1 - today on first attempt to open Firefox - although it opened (to a fashion) everything appeared to be unresponsive.
Checking with Windows Task Manager - found one instance of Firefox as "not responding". Ending that one task - entire Firefox closed - and on the next attempt everything was working.
Again this is from a cold start of my PC and the first opening of Firefox.
In the decades of using Firefox (with Windows) I have not had so much problems.
And this is despite doing clean install(s) of Firefox.
Thanks,
-- Vincent
UnknownVT said
This might or might not be related - FF v100.0.1 - today on first attempt to open Firefox - although it opened (to a fashion) everything appeared to be unresponsive. Checking with Windows Task Manager - found one instance of Firefox as "not responding". Ending that one task - entire Firefox closed - and on the next attempt everything was working. Again this is from a cold start of my PC and the first opening of Firefox. In the decades of using Firefox (with Windows) I have not had so much problems. And this is despite doing clean install(s) of Firefox.
Follow up - found there was an update to FF v 100.0.2 (64-bit) so "updated" - and it got stuck...
Windows task manager show the single instance of Firefox Suspended (attached screenshot).
Terminating that instance did NOT close the stuck updating window - found another task suspended (sorry can't remember what it was) terminating that opened Firefox - checking Firefox is said to be up to date, with v 100.0.2 (64-bit).
Don't trust anything now - will do a clean install of Firefox.... and hope for the best - seems it's the only thing I can do, if I want to stick to my decades favorite and default browser......
Thanks for reading,
-- Vincent
UnknownVT said
Don't trust anything now - will do a clean install of Firefox.... and hope for the best - seems it's the only thing I can do, if I want to stick to my decades favorite and default browser...... Thanks for reading,
Easier said than done - thought this was going to be an easy process.
Tried to rename C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox and Windows kept returning the folder was open by another process - checked Windows Task manager and there were no instances of Firefox.
Restarted PC, same problem with attempting to rename - and this is from a restarted PC.
So installed the downloaded file for v 100.0.2 - that was successful opening Firefox.
Closed Firefox than attempted the rename - finally was able to.
I think/guess this might have been caused by the stuck attempted online update to v 100.0.2.
So I have now managed a clean install of Firefox to v 100.0.2.
Even hoping for the best, seems to be fraught with caveats?
Thanks for reading,
-- Vincent