19.10 freezing when Firefox hits 100% CPU

Support & Help Requests
#6

Sorry for the late reply.

It appears that it is NOT a PDF issue but rather that Firefox is really using up all my CPU.

Here are my steps to test:

  • Booted normally.
  • Opened system monitor
  • Opened FF ONLY...5 tabs total from previous session.
  • CPU went to 98.5%
    Waited for CPU to lower down which it did now at 31%.

Next test was to boot up and try same steps EXCEPT opened Google Chrome in front of FF. Let my tabs open in Chrome first. All were loaded. CPU usage only went to 60%. Once FF began to load, system monitor hit 100% and froze.

Waited for 3-5 minutes and system never worked. Forced to do hard reboot as I could not use my Force Quit.

Is this a function of the new FF using too much resources? I tend to use 2 browsers at the same time and like FF although if it continues to do this, may move over to Brave as my 2nd browser.

Looking for any advice on this and sorry that it appeared to be a PDF issue. It is definitely NOT that as I can work fine on PDF files on my other computer as well as this one if FF is closed.

#7

Hmm.. this is strange, it works on Manjaro :slight_smile: try reinstalling Firefox and see if the issue persists. If it does, create a new profile (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-remove-switch-firefox-profiles) and try there :slight_smile:

#8

Will definitely uninstall and reinstall. Thanks for your help

Thanks,

#9

Nice, and no problem

#10

Uninstalled and reinstalled.

FF version 70.0. Eats up lots of resources when loading 4 tabs then settles down.

Have not yet been able to duplicate the freezing issue but will advise over the next few days of use.

Again, thank you for your help.

#11

No problem :slight_smile: Hopefully you can get everything working, if not, report back here!

#12

Codic,
Set up new profile and FF working and actually seemed quicker. CPU usage still high but workable so began eliminating other variables.

Opened FF and Chrome at same time, 4 tabs in FF, 5 in Chrome. Sluggish and eventually froze. Waited for over 5 minutes and system came back. Duplicated it again and did hard reboot.
Opened FF and Brave. Sluggish but worked OK. 3 tabs in Brave, same 4 in FF. Sluggish but did not freeze.
Closed everything down and opened up LibreOffice and began to work on files there. PDF document that I opened in Draw. Tried to insert an image, system froze. NO BROWSERS WERE OPEN.
Waited patiently and eventually had to do hard reboot. Attempted same procedure with a different file, same result.
I have uninstalled LO and will reboot after reinstalling.

I have noticed that my CPU seems to be maxxing out but when I look at the system monitor and processes, nothing shows up there using a lot of the resources but it almost seems that something is running in the background? Could it be a driver issue? I looked through Other Drivers under Software and I am using the Xorg driver for graphics as the NVIDIA one was really slowing the system down in 19.04.

Will continue to work through this but any assistance is always welcome.

Thanks in advance.

#13

That's strange. You might want to try changing your driver. Also, can you use a live USB and see if the same issue persists?
Sorry, I dont use Ubuntu (Manjaro advocate here) but I try to help Ubuntu users....

#14

Will try the USB method as opposed to changing drivers. Easier for a newbie like me!

I have now been able to run 3 open browsers (in different workspaces) Brave, FF and Chrome and CPU usage is around 47%. As soon as I open a document (ANY PDF) in LO, the system freezes whether or not I have any browsers open.

Almost appears that trying to open a PDF in LO Draw is the issue. Still looking for a program that can handle annotation and signatures for PDF so a suggestion there might assist me in this mystery.

If I open LO and work in Writer, Calc or Impress - no issues!

Will update on USB in next few days.

Thanks again for the assistance....VERY much appreciated.

1 Like
#15

Great, and no problem! The USB isn't a method to fix it, it's a way to check if the issue is with your hardware or with your current installation of Ubuntu MATE.

#16

Understand and familiar with that process.

It definitely appears to be something associated with LO. All aspects of the system working fine and resources down to normal till we open LO. Then system maxes out and slows right down.

Thanks,

#17

I have 6GB of RAM and I don't know if it's Firefox problem or not but for me this problem occurred about 4 times, first when I left my laptop locked for half hour and then I found it frozen and impossible to use, second when I used some pinta app which I suspected mono is the culprit, but the other two cases I have no idea what caused the problem, it's strange, but I think there is some issue hidden somewhere, I will try to force my machine for hard work to reproduce the freezing.

#18

Then why don't you reinstall LO? If that dosen't fix anything, please try downloading the AppImage from the site and see if that works. Also, try enabling/disabling Hardware Acceleration in LO Options>Advanced IIRC

#19

I actually did uninstall and reinstall LO from the software boutique.

No difference at all. Did not download the image (assume that is what you are referring to with AppImage?

I will look at your other suggestions though as soon as I can.

Thanks for the help!

#20

I mean the AppImage from their website, the one click executable which is one file... Try uninstalling normal LO and do that. Also, rename the thread to something related to LO if you can

LibreOffice freezing on 19.10 - especially with graphics and PDF files in Draw
#21

Will do on the thread for LO.

It's definitely something around LO with images and PDF's as MATE works absolutely perfect if just creating a Writer doc, Calc spreadsheet or Impress presentation (only really tried 1 on Impress tho). Using Google Docs, Sheets and Slides now as our workaround.

I do notice that when I open up Chrome or FF the load on the system is very high, settles down from 98% quickly to reasonable levels which we can work with.

Next step is to try USB live to see if I can replicate it. Also thinking that a fresh install of 19.10 might do the trick. Any thoughts on that?

As always, thanks in advance for the assistance and I will start a new LO thread too.

#22

Codic,

Sorry for the delay on this. I have gone into Options>Advanced but all I see is Java runtime environment toggled.

Not familiar with IIRC or where to find it.

Assistance requested.....thanks.

#23

Whoops....even just trying to work in Options froze LO.

I did find graphics acceleration under View. Is this what you are referring to?

#24

Yes that is correct. And IIRC isn't a setting, it stands for "If I remember Correctly" :slight_smile:

#25

LOL...completely missed that!:grimacing: