Firefox eats 100% of CPU when opens a spreadsheet in google's documents and spreadsheets

On Fri, Mar 23, 2007 at 02:08:56PM -0000, Ivan Teliatnikov wrote:
> Public bug reported:
>
> Firefox eats 100% of CPU, page update is extremely slow, etc. when one
> tries to open a spreadsheet from Google's document & spreadsheet
> service. A was able to reproduce this problem whilst running F2.0 under
> Dapper. I reported this problem to Goggle people. Goggle replied that
> problem is Ubuntu specific only.

Hmm ... what system specs do you have?

Does this happen for all documents/spreadsheets or just for some with
a special feature?

 - Alexander

On Fri, 2007-03-23 at 14:21 +0000, Alexander Sack wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 23, 2007 at 02:08:56PM -0000, Ivan Teliatnikov wrote:
> > Public bug reported:
> >
> > Firefox eats 100% of CPU, page update is extremely slow, etc. when one
> > tries to open a spreadsheet from Google's document & spreadsheet
> > service. A was able to reproduce this problem whilst running F2.0 under
> > Dapper. I reported this problem to Goggle people. Goggle replied that
> > problem is Ubuntu specific only.
>
> Hmm ... what system specs do you have?

I do not think spec is a problem. Machine is relatively new and very
powerful:

Latitude D810D Laptop ( desktop replacement )
CPU Intel Centrino, approx 1 years old.
HD 7200 ROM
RAM 1 GB
VGA 256 MB Radeon Mobile.

>
> Does this happen for all documents/spreadsheets or just for some with
> a special feature?
Everything works perfectly with Google documents. It is the Google
spreadsheet that cause trouble making my FF to eat all the CPU
resources.

I could not replicate this problem with the same version of FF on a
windows machine. I will try accessing my Google account using RH and
Damn Small Linux and will report if problem persists

Thank you in advance.
>
>
> - Alexander
>
--
Ivan Teliatnikov
School of Geosciences
University of Sydney
<email address hidden>
new phone: +612 9351 3189
mobile : +614 02 173 179

I have also encountered this. I am running Ubuntu EdgyEft, Firefox 2.0.0.2. My machine is a Dell D600, 1.6 ghz, 1gig of RAM. A similar problem also seems to occur with digg.com

Same here on a Dell Inspiron 9300 with 1G of RAM.
Very slow. (i use KUbuntu).

Something else to note is that Google spreadsheets actually runs just fine inside firefox running in windows xp inside vmplayer running on Ubuntu Edgy on my box

Same problem here running Ubuntu Feisty on a Thinkpad r52.

same here for a T2300 1,66 ghz with ubuntu Feisty Fawn

top:

 4790 root 23 0 189m 36m 11m R 94.9 3.6 15:31.74 Xorg
 6128 john 15 0 264m 120m 25m S 1.3 11.9 12:34.32 firefox-bin
 6697 john 15 0 72324 25m 10m S 1.0 2.6 4:04.83 skype
 1561 root 15 0 6652 2304 1880 S 1.0 0.2 0:00.03 sshd
 5376 john 15 0 18068 10m 8172 S 0.7 1.1 0:22.16 metacity
 1428 john 15 0 60180 16m 11m S 0.3 1.6 0:00.26 gnome-terminal
 1455 john 16 0 2316 1196 880 R 0.3 0.1 0:00.13 top
    1 root 16 0 2908 1848 524 S 0.0 0.2 0:01.37 init
    2 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 ksoftirqd/0

good to note that it only happens with google spreadsheet and not e.g. docs

Thinkpad T60, 2GB RAM, Feisty, Firefox 2.0.0.4

I observe lots of slowdown after a while using Gmail with chat, but not when using HTML-only Gmail.

Is this still an issue for you? If so, could you try latest gutsy (daily-livecd?) and verify that this is still an issue there as well?

Thanks,
 - Alexander

Hi... it's still an issue for me. I use a laptop and my cd read is broken :(
Sorry. I will see if i can change it soon.

Stéphane

2007/9/19, Alexander Sack <email address hidden>:
>
> Is this still an issue for you? If so, could you try latest gutsy
> (daily-livecd?) and verify that this is still an issue there as well?
>
> Thanks,
> - Alexander
>
> --
> Firefox eats 100% of CPU when opens a spreadsheet in google's documents
> and spreadsheets
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/95078
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Stéphane TRAUMAT
http://www.scub.net/blogs/straumat/
+33 (0)5 45 373 373

the problem still persist in firefox on Ubuntu

ON KUbuntu... no prs with ubuntu

2007/9/21, batigolix <email address hidden>:
>
> the problem still persist in firefox on Ubuntu
>
> --
> Firefox eats 100% of CPU when opens a spreadsheet in google's documents
> and spreadsheets
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/95078
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Stéphane TRAUMAT
http://www.scub.net/blogs/straumat/
+33 (0)5 45 373 373

I can submit this bug. Feisty 7.04, AMD 64 3500+, 1gb ddr2, not only using google apps.
I'll test gutsy release today and check if this problem continues.

The problem persists in gutsy (Kubuntu) (AMD Athlon 1.8 GHz)

Yes, the problem persists in gutsy (gnome).

I experience this same problem. Google Documents is very slow under Firefox, especially when pressing page-down, to the point of being unusable. GMail (JS-based, not HTML) is also nowhere near an quick as under WinXP, but still usable for me. By comparison, the Open Office spreadsheet editor has no perceptible lag in the UI.

HP Pentium M Laptop
2 GHZ Processor
1GB RAM
Ubuntu v7.10
Firefox v2.0.0.11+2nobinonly-0ubuntu0.7.10
libgnome2.0 v2.20.0-1ubuntu4

My machine is certainly not CPU or RAM-bound. This really looks like a problem with Firefox under Ubuntu/Gnome, possibly with the Javascript engine.

I also have this problem. Firefox is fine until I load up a google spreadsheet, at which point the entire system crawls. Tabs take 2-3 seconds to switch back and forth, which makes it very unusable. When I close the Google spreadsheet tab, the problem goes away and the system is responsive. Gmail and Reader are fine, albiet a little slower than on Windows on the same machine. Google Docs works fine when I boot on Windows. On my two Gentoo-based desktops, I've never had a problem with Google Docs slowing down Firefox. Perhaps it is something specific to Ubuntu..

Dell D610
1 Gig RAM
ATI X300 (fglrx driver)

I also noticed that X.org is near the top of 'top' when I have a google spreadsheet open.

I did a little more investigating.. On my Ubuntu 7.10 Dell D610 laptop, it happens on both the Ubuntu version of Firefox 2.0.11 and the official Mozilla.org 2.0.11 tarball. Google Documents is fine, but Google Spreadsheet makes the entire system crawl.. and looking carefully at the output of 'top', it is caused by the X.org process, not the firefox-bin process.

However, I downloaded Swiftfox 3.0b3 for Pentium M, and Google Calc no longer cause a problem like it does on Firefox 2.0.11. I can't seem to find a 2.0.11 version of Swiftfox so I'm unable to test to see if it is something in the standard Ubuntu/Mozilla build process that doesn't jive with Pentium M processors.

@Victor Trac,

Leading from your suggestion about Swiftfox, I also notice a conspicuous speed increase using Google Calc with Swiftfox (in particular swiftfox-pentium-m package). Be warned, I also found a bug with huge icons/menu widgets/font size using Swiftfox under Ubuntu/GNOME:
http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=306

Bear in mind the current version of Swiftfox (3.0b3pre-1) derives from Firefox 3, which has a known speed improvement over Firefox 2 (current Ubuntu version 2.0.0.11+2nobinonly-0ubuntu0.7.10), so the speedup may actually be in the Firefox source that Swiftfox is compiled from.

Furthermore, you will also see a speed increase on your Dell laptop if you install the ATI driver fglrx (package xorg-driver-fglrx) and enable Xv overlay. My HP laptop display (uses ATI RADEON chipset, like yours) got noticeably faster with the ATI driver, even for simple window operations like task switching and scrolling. You can check the framerate of your display with the glxgears application. Anything under 1000FPS probably indicates your display is not working optimally.

I have the same problem :S

Distro: Ubuntu 7.10 i386
Gnome: 2.20.1
Firefox: 2.0.0.12

ohh & i forgot to mention that firefox eats cpu just because u opened it not specially with spreedsheets & documents.

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.2
RAM: 512 MB
VGA: Geforce4 MX 440

Same for me, on gutsy , with spreadsheets

I have the same problem with Google Spreadsheets.

Thinkpad X31 mit Pentium-M processor. Up-to-date Ubuntu gutsy.

It seems to come and go but latest version of Firefox made it worse than ever.

Really very annoying!

I'm seeing the same problem with Google Spreadsheets.

I suggest increasing this to high priority - the original poster is correct that this issue is a fundamental measurement that new adopters will consider when deciding whether to keep Ubuntu or recommend it to friends. I am a new adopter of Ubuntu as of two days ago, but I am restoring Windows XP to the machine tonight, because of this issue.

Specs:
Ubuntu 7.10 with the KDE Window Manager installed through apt-get. (So I'm running Kubuntu now.)
Running on a computer with a single 3.5 GHz CPU and 512 MB of ram.

The problem occurs when the Google Spreadsheet Firefox is the only program running.
The Google Spreadsheet in question uses column sums, row sums, and is about 9 columns x 20 rows. It is one of 8 'sheets' in the same 'Document'.
The sheet in question does not reference any cells from other sheets.
Every action has a 1.5 second delay - selecting a cell, highlighting multiple cells, cutting, pasting, even pressing F2 to put a cell in edit mode.

Again, I recommend making this a high priority issue, because the current generation of people considering adopting Ubuntu Linux are very likely to be Google Documents users. I myself found this issue to be a deal-breaker when attempting to switch from Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux.

- Edward

Me too,
Ubuntu 7.10 Firefox 2.0.xx

I notice the google spreadsheet app is a little sluggish, but it does work for about 5 to 10 minutes, then
it will freeze solid, and firefox will max out to 100% cpu. I end up having to pkill firefox.

The problem happens intermittently, but fairly consistently when I click on the "publish the spreadsheet" link.
That seems to freeze firefox at least 50% of the time.

I've also seen other google apps have similar problems, but not quite as frequent.
I also notice that there are many similar bugs posted all with the common thread of some operation in google apps causing firefox to crank up to 100% cpu and freeze.

I'm pretty sure all of these issues are resolved with FF3, which in its beta state is far superior to FF 2.x. You guys who still have problems should try it.

On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 01:24:32AM -0000, Gord Wait wrote:
> Me too,
> Ubuntu 7.10 Firefox 2.0.xx
>
> I notice the google spreadsheet app is a little sluggish, but it does work for about 5 to 10 minutes, then
> it will freeze solid, and firefox will max out to 100% cpu. I end up having to pkill firefox.
>
> The problem happens intermittently, but fairly consistently when I click on the "publish the spreadsheet" link.
> That seems to freeze firefox at least 50% of the time.
>
> I've also seen other google apps have similar problems, but not quite as frequent.
> I also notice that there are many similar bugs posted all with the common thread of some operation in google apps causing firefox to crank up to 100% cpu and freeze.
>

Did the latest update help?

 - Alexander

I'm not sure,
I went in and shut off all the plugins, and that seemed to fix it.
I used it without any plugins for a couple of weeks, then I enabled
the google toolbar again (can't live without it!) and it's still
working pretty well, but it does do the 100% cpu freeze on occasion. I
suspect the ubuntu plugin was causing the problems, but I didn't
pursure it once I had some stability.

Gord Wait

On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 6:04 AM, Alexander Sack <email address hidden> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 01:24:32AM -0000, Gord Wait wrote:
>> Me too,
>> Ubuntu 7.10 Firefox 2.0.xx
>>
>> I notice the google spreadsheet app is a little sluggish, but it does work for about 5 to 10 minutes, then
>> it will freeze solid, and firefox will max out to 100% cpu. I end up having to pkill firefox.
>>
>> The problem happens intermittently, but fairly consistently when I click on the "publish the spreadsheet" link.
>> That seems to freeze firefox at least 50% of the time.
>>
>> I've also seen other google apps have similar problems, but not quite as frequent.
>> I also notice that there are many similar bugs posted all with the common thread of some operation in google apps causing firefox to crank up to 100% cpu and freeze.
>>
>
> Did the latest update help?
>
> - Alexander
>
> --
> Firefox eats 100% of CPU when opens a spreadsheet in google's documents and spreadsheets
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/95078
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

@westbywest

Hi, I have a huge problem with [b]ATI Radeon 7000[/b] and VectorLinux5.

The thing is, the Google Documents are running too slow in Firefox browser.

According to this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/95078/comments/19 ...the problem can be solved by enabling [b]XV overlay[/b]. To do that my video card must run fully accelerated. ATI proprietary driver FGLRX driver won't work with this card, it's too old.

So I tryed installing [b]DRI[/b]. I followed the guidelines from DRI project website (see http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/Building). Everything seemed to bee alright, I was able to run [b]driconf[/b] tool.

I tryed running [b]glxgears[/b], just to see the increase in video card perforemance but there wasn't any increase at all. I got 390fps, before instaling DRI I had the same value. Google Documents were still very very slow in Firefox.

I turned of the 3D acceleration in driconf and the perforemance in glxgears was not 380 - 390fps, but only 50fps + the picture was all messed up. So I think, that DRI worked correctly and it worked even without installing it, it was in the system all the time, without knowing it.

Any of you had the same or similar problem? I found a partial solution. Google Documents are running a little better under Swiftfox.

PS: The card is PCI, PC has two P3-800.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

martinv wrote:
| @westbywest
|
| Hi, I have a huge problem with [b]ATI Radeon 7000[/b] and VectorLinux5.
|
| The thing is, the Google Documents are running too slow in Firefox
| browser.
|
| According to this:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/95078/comments/19
...the problem can be solved by enabling [b]XV overlay[/b]. To do that
my video card must run fully accelerated. ATI proprietary driver FGLRX
driver won't work with this card, it's too old.
|
| So I tryed installing [b]DRI[/b]. I followed the guidelines from DRI
project website (see http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/Building).
Everything seemed to bee alright, I was able to run [b]driconf[/b] tool.
|
| I tryed running [b]glxgears[/b], just to see the increase in video card
| perforemance but there wasn't any increase at all. I got 390fps, before
| instaling DRI I had the same value. Google Documents were still very
| very slow in Firefox.
|
| I turned of the 3D acceleration in driconf and the perforemance in
| glxgears was not 380 - 390fps, but only 50fps + the picture was all
| messed up. So I think, that DRI worked correctly and it worked even
| without installing it, it was in the system all the time, without
| knowing it.
|
| Any of you had the same or similar problem? I found a partial solution.
| Google Documents are running a little better under Swiftfox.
|
| PS: The card is PCI, PC has two P3-800.
|
It seems that Google has been updating thier pages (im guessing they are
updating API for new firefox. We saw this in Gmail so far but im not so
sure this will fix the bug.

- --
Sincerely Yours,
~ John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246
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Thank you for taking the time to file this ubg report with us. Closing due to age. If this is still a problem in 3.0.7 please reopen this bug.
Also please reopen with all new information on how to reproduce this bug by giving us step by step instructions.
We also need what happens what is expected to happen.
To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

Getting the same as described above on Firefox 3.5.7, causing the system [P8700 @ 2.53 GHz 2gb ram] to almost come to a standstill. Googled the problem and this was the first result, so it may be good to reopen this bug.

This is bugrep interesting as it is a recent development for me -last four weeks- as if a recent update has triggered it.

1. Ubuntu 9.04, not happy with 9.10 and I rolled the laptop back from that version in November, hence: a fairly recent root disk.
2. delays in menus, some apps, opening tabs, scrolling particularly bad, even when smooth scrolling turned off
3. tried some different ubuntu themes, no joy.

By opening a Tab I could trigger the event
3547 root 20 0 187m 46m 13m R 69.8 2.3 121:27.11 Xorg
27852 slo 20 0 243m 125m 27m S 7.3 6.2 1:54.76 firefox

Single CPU, ATI Radeon, FF3.0.18. Moving up the 3.5 just created more problems with firefox.
driver is xserver-xorg-video-radeon-1:6.12.1-ubuntu

I'm assuming that its a firefox/ubuntu problem, what's interesting is that it has arrived within the last few weeks. Planning to try the ati fglrx driver to see if that makes the problem go away.