[SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

whitehorsesoft · 2024-05-15 13:29:33

Has anyone else noticed Firefox is taking longer and longer to get going?

Like, the app itself will start up just fine, and I can immediately open a new tab, but once I try to load any page the CPU maxes out and it takes about a minute for the load to finish. In the meantime everything within the app from menu clicks, to opening a new tab, to displaying elements as they load, acts like processing power has dropped to 1%.

I started noticing this about a month ago, and at that time it was more like 5 seconds for the initial load to finish. Then it gradually got worse: 10 seconds, then 20, 30, and now a full minute.

After that initial time, everything after is quite snappy and CPU load is minimal, just like I'm used to. Even with many multiple tabs/windows the browser handles things with no sweat. But if I exit out of Firefox completely and start again, the same loading issue happens.

Problem exists on both Gnome and KDE, after typical updates, etc.

I'm not sure where to look to figure out of this is actually a setup problem, a problem with new code in the browser, or something else... thought I'd start by asking if anyone was experiencing the same, maybe establish a quick baseline to help me decide what to do next.

Last edited by whitehorsesoft (2024-05-15 21:00:03)

xerxes_ · 2024-05-15 15:02:48

Write something more...
What graphic card do you use and what drivers? Xserver or Wayland? Do you see this problem also on light weight desktop managers, like lxqt, xfce, i3, openbox, etc. ?
Have you tried new Firefox 126? Do you clean browser cache sometimes? Did you tried new Firefox profile? Do you use some/to many extensions/addons?
Do you see something interesting in logs: 'sudo journalctl -b', 'coredumpctl' or when you start Firefox from command line?

I'm not seeing and changes in Firefox start between versions, but I don't use kde or gnome, just i3.

Last edited by xerxes_ (2024-05-15 15:08:24)

whitehorsesoft · 2024-05-15 18:23:11

No graphic card, just Intel graphics.

On both Wayland and X, just confirmed same issue when running AwesomeWM (on XServer)

This has been for about a month so Firefox versions probably 126 back to whatever was a month ago.

I almost never clean browser cache except for specific sites, but this would be the first time in years that I've experienced a problem like this.

One extension installed, but disabled. Standard plugins (OpenH264 and Widevine), also a theme addon.

journalctl shows nothing. coredumpctl shows nothing.

Also, running firefox > log doesn't log anything during the time when slowdown occurs.

seth · 2024-05-15 20:03:31

xerxes_ wrote:

Did you try new Firefox profile?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#Profiles
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefo … shoot_Mode
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefo … _very_long

whitehorsesoft · 2024-05-15 20:59:43

Duh, should've known the wiki would have a troubleshooting section with exactly what I needed.

Refreshing profile did indeed solve everything, marking thread as solved.

0BADC0DE · 2024-05-30 06:25:29

whitehorsesoft wrote:

Duh, should've known the wiki would have a troubleshooting section with exactly what I needed.
Refreshing profile did indeed solve everything, marking thread as solved.

What do you mean with "Refreshing profile"? What did you do?

seth · 2024-05-30 07:26:36

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefo … ox_refresh

0BADC0DE · 2024-05-30 08:13:07

seth wrote:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefo … ox_refresh

Fun fact: mine was a fresh new install!
Anyway, I already shaved some startup time by populating my `/etc/hosts` with something like this:

127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.1.1       archbox
::1             localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
ff02::1         ip6-allnodes
ff02::2         ip6-allrouters

"Refreshing" Firefox as mentioned in about:support did the rest.
It's now starting almost instantaneously
Thanks everyone.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-05-15 13:29:33

[SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

#2 2024-05-15 15:02:48

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

#3 2024-05-15 18:23:11

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

#4 2024-05-15 20:03:31

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

#5 2024-05-15 20:59:43

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

#6 2024-05-30 06:25:29

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

#7 2024-05-30 07:26:36

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

#8 2024-05-30 08:13:07

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox taking longer to get going?

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