Slow desktop effects: Nvidia, Firefox and Thunderbird

This has been bugging me for years and after lots of search I couldn't find a solution. When compositing is enabled either using Compiz or Gnome Shell or even XFWM, desktop effects become slow and choppy when Firefox or Thunderbird are the active windows. This is true also when there's another window is active on top of a visible FF or TB. However the problem happens only when either FF or TB is maximised --no problem when they are not maximised. By “desktop effects” I mean Compiz effects like switching to another workspace using the "desktop wall" or the "Scale addon" or going to "overview" mode in Gnome Shell.
Right now I'm using the proprietary driver version 295.49 running on a 64bit 3.3.6 kernel on a Thinkpad T61. The problem persists across XFCE+Compiz (my current DE), Gnome Shell and KDE sessions.
I'd really appreciate any hint/tip on how to solve this. TIA,
Bahman
PS: My card is a "Quadro NVS 140m" and I've set the PowerMizer to always run at "Prefer Maximum Performance" mode.
Last edited by bahman (2012-05-17 06:38:08)

Have the same problem. I am amazed at how little help there is for a problem that is so prodigeous as this topic is.

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Firefox and Thunderbird do not communicate anymore : I can't open links from TB emails ( a href... ) and can't send mail from FF pages (mailto)

Hi there,
Please excuse me if a make a few mistakes, I am French ;)
I come here because firefox and thunderbird are not working together anymore. This is what happens :
- Firefox and Thunderbird are opened
- I click on a link in an email
- A few seconds after that a Firefox windows pops up. The title is : "Close Firefox", the content is : "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system."
Second case :
- Firefox is closed and Thunderbird is open
- I click on a link in an email
- A few seconds after that a Firefox windows pops up as expected. Firefox opens the link as expected but doesn't opens the other tabs as usual (when i start FF it re-opens previous tabs)
Third case :
- Firefox and Thunderbird are opened
- I click on a link to send an email (<a href="mailto:......@.....">)
- A few seconds after that a Thunderbird windows pops up. The title is : "Close Thunderbird", the content is : "Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system."
As in the second case, if TB is closed when i click on the mailto, TB opens properly and send the email.
If Internet Explorer is set as my default browser, it works fine for "Thunderbird -> link -> IE" but the "IE-> mailto -> TB" still doesn't work.
I already looked up for some answers on google but can't find something which works.
Thank you in advance for your answers.
Vincent

Check the target field in the Firefox desktop shortcut and make sure that you do not start Firefox with the -no-remote switch or have set the environment variable MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1 (Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment variables).
Always make sure to start at least the default profile without the -no-remote command line switch.
If you need to have more than one profile open at the same time then start subsequent instances with the -no-remote command line switch.
You can not send links from other programs to a Firefox instance that is started with the -no-remote switch.
In such a case you need to drag links in a Firefox window or paste the link in the location bar.

Lion os 10.7.5 blocks ALL (firefox and thunderbird) automatic update s narrowly Firefox 30.0 is there a work around?

Since firefox was installed, no auto updates are take place when the frequent "UPDATE AVAILABLE - A security and stability update for Firefox is available:
Firefox 30.0
It is strongly recommended that you apply this update for Firefox as soon as possible." pop up on the screen.
WHEN "Update Firefox" button is clicked authorized a bar indicates running however never completes an installation. This routinely occurs with both firefox and thunderbird, on Mac Mini Server, and MacBook Air, each running latest version of Lion. Are you able to assist troubleshoot?

If there are problems with updating or with the permissions then best is to download the full version and trash the currently installed version to do a clean install of the new version.
Download a new copy of the Firefox application and save the disk image file to the desktop
*Firefox 30.0: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html
*Trash the current Firefox application (open the Applications folder in the Finder and drag the Firefox application to the Trash) to do a clean (re)install
*Install the new version that you have downloaded
*https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Installing+Firefox+on+Mac
Your personal data is stored elsewhere in the Firefox profile folder, so you won't lose your bookmarks and other personal data when you uninstall and (re)install Firefox.
*http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox

[SOLVED] firefox and thunderbird freeze

Hi, since a few day I've had issues with both firefox 9 and thunderbird 9. Firefox starts normally, but whenever I touch try to open a menu it freezes. If I start ff from a terminal I don't get any error error messages it just hangs. Killing the program from the gui does not work, but I when started from the terminal ctrl-c kills it without any problems. The problem only occurs for the main toolbar, my bookmarks bar works fine, as do the home button, url bar and such. Thunderbird shows similar freezes, but they occur consistently after starting the program. I think the problems started after upgrading to version 9, but I am not entirely sure, since I don't use the laptop on which the problem occurs much for email and browsing.
I tried renaming my .mozilla folder so I could make a fresh start, but this had no effect, nor did starting firefox in safe-mode. I also tried downgrading to 8.x but then it froze on startup. Since gtk3 was updated at the same time as well, I tried downgrading that one as well, but to no effect As the program is frozen the memory and cpu use are normal.
Does anyone have any suggestions towards finding a solution?
[edit]I have two arch installations on this laptop and just tried updating the other (somewhat neglected) install. In this one all works fine.I'm trying to go over the differences between the two now.[/edit]
Last edited by FreeTheBee (2011-12-28 11:27:29)

The output is mostly gibberish to me but it did help
When I click a menu button in firefox the output of strace turned into a seemingly endless loop of the following
readlink("/home/patrick/.pulse/6d395381881edc62e30ef1dc0000052a-runtime", "/tmp/pulse-PKdhtXMmr18n"..., 99) = 23
lstat64("/tmp/pulse-PKdhtXMmr18n", 0xbfe89d70) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
umask(077) = 022
mkdir("/tmp/pulse-BtWOtBrBLg7x", 0700) = 0
umask(022) = 077
symlink("/tmp/pulse-BtWOtBrBLg7x", "/home/patrick/.pulse/6d395381881edc62e30ef1dc0000052a-runtime.tmp") = -1 EEXIST (File exists)
rmdir("/tmp/pulse-BtWOtBrBLg7x") = 0
nanosleep({0, 10000000}, NULL) = 0
readlink("/home/patrick/.pulse/6d395381881edc62e30ef1dc0000052a-runtime", "/tmp/pulse-PKdhtXMmr18n"..., 99) = 23
lstat64("/tmp/pulse-PKdhtXMmr18n", 0xbfe89d70) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
umask(077) = 022
mkdir("/tmp/pulse-OHwEwCYtPIhw", 0700) = 0
umask(022) = 077
symlink("/tmp/pulse-OHwEwCYtPIhw", "/home/patrick/.pulse/6d395381881edc62e30ef1dc0000052a-runtime.tmp") = -1 EEXIST (File exists)
rmdir("/tmp/pulse-OHwEwCYtPIhw") = 0
nanosleep({0, 10000000}, ^C <unfinished ...>
I assumed the .pulse folder is related to pulseaudio, because of the name and the contents, so I uninstalled pulseaudio and friends and deleted the ~/.pulse folder. Now firefox and thunderbird work again as they should. And as a bonus spotify finally works again as well. Pulseaudio has been giving me a headache on this laptop but I don't understand why it interfered with firefox.
Thanks for helping out.
If the glibc problem turns out to persist I can undo the solved tag ofc.
Last edited by FreeTheBee (2011-12-28 11:28:44)

[SOLVED] Firefox and Thunderbird intermittently runs without a window

I'm having an intermittent problem with Firefox and Thunderbird. When I attempt to launch either firefox or thunderbird the respective application will show up in htop (I see a bunch of firefox threads) but no window appears and the CPU load is 0%. When the application (Firefox or Thunderbird) is running but not visible, the mouse and keyboard remain fully functional; e.g. I can launch a new terminal and switch work-spaces without trouble. Repeatedly killing the application and restarting it will sometimes result in the application loading properly (i.e. I get a fully functional window with working menus, etc).
I'm currently using Firefox version 8.0.1 and Thunderbird version 8.0 with the i3 window manager on my Macbook 5,1 (with nvidia drivers). I did a full system update about a month ago. I've not experienced this problem on my workstation: a custom built AMD system with ATI graphics. Both my macbook and custom workstation are using the same versions of i3, Firefox, and Thunderbird.
I did a little experiment and temporarily switch over to fluxbox for a while. While using fluxbox I was unable to replicate the symptoms; both Firefox and thunderbird appear to work fine. But, since the problem is "random" it is hard to say for sure if this was just a coincidence.
I tried launching firefox and thunderbird from a terminal: no errors or output of any kind are printed to the terminal even when the application window does not appear. Launching Firefox in safemode does not appear to have any influence.
I saw a similar bug report on the mozilla website dating back a few years (version 3.0 I believe of Firefox). But I didn't see any links to a solution or explanation of the problem.
Any advise on how to debug this?
Thanks in advance.
(I appoligize if this has already been addressed somewhere else. My search attempts did not yield any relevant hits.)
EDIT: marked as solved
Last edited by bsilbaugh (2012-03-14 23:23:52)

I recently did a full system update, which includes a kernel upgrade (from 3.0 to 3.2), and the symptoms have disappeared. Firefox and Thunderbird appear to be functioning normally.
It's still not clear what was causing the original problem. I guess I'll just have to live with the mystery.

Can I access Firefox and Thunderbird from a remote computer while on vacation? if so how?

going on vacation for 4 to 5 weeks. need to access my Firefox and Thunderbird from a remote computer in Fla. can I do that and if so how?

Hi linkrj61,
You could either use remote desktop to log on to your home computer or you could look at portableapps.com. This this will allow you to have versions of Firefox and Thunderbird the run from a USB stick so everything you do is tracked on the USB stick rather than the computer.
Hopefully this helps!

Profiles corrupt in firefox and thunderbird after restart win 7 new profiles created

After restarting computer (Win 7 64 bit) new profiles in firefox and thunderbird created. Old profiles still there. May have been a Windows update (don't recall) at shut-down. Perhaps a clue Win 7 desktop ini file changed and this occurred: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330132
New computer install in use 2-3 days.
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened
== After restart

Solution:
The profiles.ini file had changed for both Thunderbird and Firefox.
I manually edited both profiles.ini files and changed the profile path back to the correct profile. For example I changed :
Path=Profiles/bbwyygfp.default
to:
Path=Profiles/k5adm39.default
Would mark this as solved if I knew how.....

How can I widen the vertical scroll bar width in Firefox and Thunderbird?

How can I widen the vertical scroll bar width in Firefox and Thunderbird?

Hello,
Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.
You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).
Then perform these steps:
*Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
*In the Firefox options window click the ''Advanced'' tab, then select "General".
*In the settings list, you should find the ''Use hardware acceleration when available'' checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
*Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.
Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:
* [[Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems]]
* [[Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL]]
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!
Thank you.

Why did firefox and thunderbird both start in safe mode?

Turned on my computer, ran firefox and thunderbird like I always do, and they both started in safe mode. They both showed a box before opening that said they are running in safe mode. Why would they do this?

My PC was lagging because I had just started it. I clicked on the icons and then went into a text editor before they finished loading and was pressing shift while doing some text editing lol. Thanks for solving the mystery, I never knew about shift clicking to start safe modes.

Windows: Is it possible to optimize space usage, when both Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are installed? I see that some files are the same in both applications (mostly common DLL libraries) - even 10 MB

I think that the best idea is to add one folder: Mozilla shared, just for all shared libraries.

Hm.. it is nothing critical. Not a bug, error nor mistake. Just my idea.
Just thought about it as in similar applications:
All Open Office software use shared libs, Microsoft Office too.
And it could keep both Firefox and Thunderbird up to date. Now both applications update seperately, and many files (compressed, but still) are downloaded two times. The biggest files:
d3dx9_43.dll, D3DCompiler_43.dll, mozjs.dll
but there are many others.
You should decide if it is worth to show my sugestion..

After updating Firefox and Thunderbird from 8.0.1 to 9.0.1 I am no longer able to pin either application to the Windows 7 Toolbar (running Home Premium 64-bit).

After updating Firefox and Thunderbird from 8.0.1 to 9.0.1 I am no longer able to pin either application to the Windows 7 Toolbar (running Home Premium 64-bit).

I RESOLVED THE ISSUE. I uninstalled the converter. Re installed after a cold boot.
The sites that would not load properly: I did a ixquick search of the titles that wouldn't download and found them at another location. They then downloaded perfectly. from the new location

Firefox and Thunderbird are suddenly not accepting keyboard input

Keyboard shortcuts still work just input in any kind of input field fails so I can still use ctrl+C / CTRL+V to somewhat use firefox and Thunderbird But all input fields are completely unresponsive to keyboard input
The problem suddenly arose while I was browsing.
I have the same issue on all program's based on the Gecko engine and I confirmed them so far in Firefox, waterfox, instantbird, thunderbird and fossamail. However chromium / windows / basically everythign n
To fix it I tried the following:
Restarting firefox
Restarting firefox in savemode
Rebooting
Changing the keyboard layout in windows
Using a different keyboard
Again rebooting
Pressing F7 to check for caret mode which was disabled
pressing winkey + F9 (Whatever that does)
I am running windows 8.1(x64)

Solved, Changing the keyboard layout again and rebooting fixed it. I tried using the on screen keyboard which worked so I changed the keyboard layout again and rebooted and now it works just fine. I still wonder what caused a Gecko wide issue like this?

I found this program sqlite with dll for firefox and thunderbird, is this a program thatis pat of your system? Should I delete entries or leave them alone?

I am looking for what is generating internet activity on my pc and I came across entries for sqlite.exe that has dlls for firefox and thunderbird. Is this a program you use with these programs? Should I leave it alone ot delete?
Paul Shodean

Also, although possibly not related to your problem, I have to remind you that the version of Firefox you are using at the moment has been discontinued and is no longer supported. On top of this, it has known unpatched bugs and security problems. I urge you to update to the latest version of Firefox, for maximum security, stability, performance and usability. You can get it for free, as always, at [http://www.getfirefox.com getfirefox.com].

Firefox and Thunderbird creates CGLog files in /tmp on my Mac. It contains a lot of info related to keyboard and mouse (keys, scrolls, clicks!) I am concerned!

These files mostly contains following lines:
Firefox and Thunderbird creates CGLog files in /tmp on my Mac. It contains a lot of info related to keyboard and mouse (keys, scrolls, clicks!) I am concerned!
--- flushing event log at XXXX.XXXXXXXX ---
432138.5090574 (Firefox): CGSGetNextEventRecordInternal: XXXX.XXXXXX loc (-XXXX, XXXX) conn 0xXXXXX MouseMoved win 0xXXXX (click 1)
and the most scaring:
XXXX.XXXXX (Firefox): CGSGetNextEventRecordInternal: XXXX.XXXXX loc (xxx.xx, xxx.xx) conn 0xXXX KeyDown win 0x0 flags 0xa00100 set 252 char 63233; key 125 data -2303 special 0 repeat 0 keybd 44
Why it happens? Is it dangerous? How can I turn it off?
I saw that on the latest Firefox release for Mac and on Firefox ESR 31.2.0 for Mac
I saw that on Thunderbird release for Mac 31.2.0

You can start with this;
'''[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/support-forum-contributors/710576 Possible Mal-Ware Scan For Macs]''' {web link}

Firefox and Thunderbird are using a lot of memory and load pages very slowly!

CPU levels are going through the roof when using Thunderbird and Firefox.
Both programs are freshly installed on a new and also freshly installed version of windows 7!
Loading of my pages is taking forever and most pages don't load at all.
My email is [email protected]
My notebook got so hot that it turned itself off!
Memory is above 250 KB for firefox and Thunderbird above 150 kb!

I do not have a ComObjects folder under C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files. That is not part of Firefox.
wscript.exe is a utility included with Windows to run scripts at the system level. It generally is not used by major programs. If update.exe is starting up with Windows, you may be able to find the script that wscript.exe is running using [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx Autoruns].
It definitely sounds viral. I suggest deleting the update.exe file, although Windows might prevent you from doing that until you kill all related processes. And if you have a persistent infection, the file may be restored or re-downloaded.
It might be easiest to seek assistance from a forum more dedicated to malware cleanups such as the following:
* [http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum22.html Virus, Trojan, Spyware, and Malware Removal Logs - BleepingComputer.com]
* [http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35 Malware Removal - MajorGeeks Support Forums]
Hope you get it removed.

Slow desktop effects: Nvidia, Firefox and Thunderbird

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