Firefox and animated avatar query

[CurlyWhirly]

I have recently noticed that the animated forum avatars don't work properly i.e. they stop and start randomly.

This doesn't just happen here but on other forums as well so any idea why this happens?

I checked my CPU usage in Windows Task Manager and it is normal i.e. not at 100% like Firefox used to be when it used to be really slow in operation.

This doesn't happen in Internet Explorer.

Anyone else get this?

I think it's a Firefox browser issue.

p.s. I know it's only a very minor issue as webpages open okay but I'm just curious as to why it happens as it never used to happen before?

[andsome]

I have not noticed this problem with IE. However, as I reported a day or two ago, at times this forum can be like wading through treacle. It is like this at present, but was fine early this morning. Craig told us the reason for this.

[CurlyWhirly]

Anyway, I have closed down Firefox and rebooted the PC and everything is working as it used to again

Strange behaviour.

[dadyassa]

Everything is fine on Opera ;) ;) is the wink working? :lol:

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Do you keep Firefox open for a very, very long time (i.e. 12 hours or more) ? There seems to be a still unpatched memory leak in FF, that will lead to a vast amount of memory being allocated after FF has been open for a long time. This may or may not be the cause of what you are seeing.

However, I have never observed it myself, although I keep some of my apps open for a very long time.

[jason.b.c]

Who leave's their browser open all the time like that...???? :P

[djohn]

Me. My browsers are often open for 15 hours at a time, [8 Tabs on Firefox & 3 to 4 IE browsers] sometimes even longer. Being on broadband through a router I never bother to close them down while my machine is running though they are often minimised to the task bar. :)

[Scarecrow Man]

Your avatar, as well as mine are working perfectly normal in my Firefox, Curly.

P.S. My browser gets turned on at about 9am, and off at about 12am. (about 15 hours a day)

[dadyassa]

Me. My browsers are often open for 15 hours at a time, [8 Tabs on Firefox & 3 to 4 IE browsers] sometimes even longer. Being on broadband through a router I never bother to close them down while my machine is running though they are often minimised to the task bar. :)

Ditto but on Opera ;)

[CurlyWhirly]

Everything is fine on Opera ;) ;) is the wink working? :lol:

Yes I have no problems with the smileys only animated avatars and signatures like for example your animated roving eyes smiley in your signature.

Do you keep Firefox open for a very, very long time (i.e. 12 hours or more) ? There seems to be a still unpatched memory leak in FF, that will lead to a vast amount of memory being allocated after FF has been open for a long time. This may or may not be the cause of what you are seeing.

Yes, I do keep my browser open for long periods of time mainly at the weekend when I haven't got work.

Firefox can then be open for over 15 hours (unless I close it down to play a PC game) as I don't turn my PC off until I retire to bed.

It happened earlier on today and I checked in Windows Task Manager and although my CPU usage was normal, I noticed that my Firefox memory usage had shot up to over 400 Mb!

This memory leak could explain it.

Being on broadband through a router I never bother to close them down while my machine is running though they are often minimised to the task bar.

Exactly the same with me djohn.

P.S. My browser gets turned on at about 9am, and off at about 12am. (about 15 hours a day)

Again, the same here unless I'm playing a game as I don't want my browser taking up resources.

I usually reboot the PC and start the game on a fresh reboot.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

So... if you recycle Firefox, do you still see that effect?

[CurlyWhirly]

So... if you recycle Firefox, do you still see that effect?

Recycle

You mean close it down and restart it?

[djohn]

Yep! Just the browser Curly, close it and open again will release any memory it may be holding onto. :)

[CurlyWhirly]

Yep! Just the browser Curly, close it and open again will release any memory it may be holding onto. :)

Cheers djohn :)

In that case (in answer to Pat's question), yes it does release the memory.

What I can't understand is that when Firefox hogs around 400 MB (after being open for many hours), even taking into account all my other applications RAM requirements, I still have around 512 MB free!

Last time I had a Commit Charge peak of around 960 MB (I have 1.5 GB of RAM installed)

I can't understand why Firefox behaves like this when I still have surplus RAM to spare?

There seems to be a still unpatched memory leak in FF, that will lead to a vast amount of memory being allocated after FF has been open for a long time.

Let's hope that this memory leak is fixed in the final version of Firefox 2 which is currently a BETA release.

I really like Firefox and now that I know what is causing the problem, I simply close it down and restart it - problem solved

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

The leaked memory does not necessarily stay in the RAM, but is most likely paged out to the virtual memory. This is why it can take some time for FF to close completely (and remove all the virtual memory it had used). You may see the HD LED flicker for a while when you close FF.

But my question actually was meant to be: do you still observe the animation problems after you recycle FF?

[CurlyWhirly]

The leaked memory does not necessarily stay in the RAM, but is most likely paged out to the virtual memory. This is why it can take some time for FF to close completely (and remove all the virtual memory it had used). You may see the HD LED flicker for a while when you close FF.

Yes you are right.

That is exactly what happens with the hard drive.

But my question actually was meant to be: do you still observe the animation problems after you recycle FF?

No, it usually corrects itself after I have closed down Firefox and restarted it.