Firefox randomly freezing on Linux
I've been using Firefox for years without any problem and some weeks ago I started noticing that when I'm on Linux, Firefox freezes when loading some websites (but it does not always do). I think it usually happens when my laptop uses the dedicated GPU (but I'd say that not exclusively).
I tried checking with Troubleshoot Mode to see if it happened too and unfortunately Firefox was also freezing randomly sometimes.
This is not something caused by a corrupted installation as using another user profile solves the problem. There's also no logs at about:crash. When it happens, the only thing I can do is kill the process. It's not like everything freezes but when certain website keeps loading I notice that the mouse icon does not get updated when hovering buttons and if I go to another tab and search or try to load another website, it simply does not work, it takes some seconds and then I just see a spinning wheel (from Firefox itself, not the website)
Could it be caused by any about:config changes? I mean I have changed a lot of things there following Arkenfox's user.js but had no trouble until some weeks ago. I'll try disabling privacy.resistFingerprinting. Thanks in advance
All Replies (4)
You should be careful with changing prefs arbitrarily without knowing whether there can be caveats or cause Firefox malfunctioning just because someone on internet tells you that you should do this to make Firefox work better/faster or because of privacy issues. The defaults are usually chosen to minimize issues with webpages and Firefox can warn you. Most of the time they only propose changing a pref due to its name and they don't know what consequences this can have, so best is to ignore such tweaks unless you know what a particular pref is about and you know what pref change caused a specific issue.
You can delete possible user.js and numbered prefs-##.js files and rename/remove the prefs.js file to reset all prefs to the default value including prefs set via user.js and prefs that are no longer supported in current Firefox releases.
You can use the button on the "Help -> More Troubleshooting Information" (about:support) page to go to the current Firefox profile folder or use the about:profiles page (Root directory).
- Help -> More Troubleshooting Information -> Profile Folder/Directory:
Windows: Open Folder; Linux: Open Directory; Mac: Show in Finder - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
Does it still happen in a new profile? An easy way to test a new profile is to install Developer Edition and see if it happens there or refresh your existing profile.
What OS? What Desktop? X11 or Wayland? Do you have the same issue when running a VM or usb live stick with the same OS or another flavor?
Hi and thanks for your answers.
I carefully set every option I changed in about:config, and it has been working fine for months until some weeks ago. I already tried in a new profile, one empty where everything was perfect and one copying prefs.js and places.sqlite and I noticed the same error there too. I know that I can probably just reset my prefs file to solve it, but I'd like to know what is causing the error (that's why I'm currently trying with privacy.resistFingerprinting disabled). Note that the same prefs.js file works fine on Windows in the same laptop and on Linux (same setup but just one gpu) in my desktop pc.
I thought I added an optional information box containing my system info, but as it doesn't seem that way I'll add it here (note the two gpus are because my device is a laptop):
OS: Fedora Linux 38 (Workstation Edition) x86_64 Kernel: 6.5.7-200.fc38.x86_64 Shell: bash 5.2.15 Resolution: 1920x1080 DE: GNOME 44.5 WM: Mutter Terminal: gnome-terminal CPU: 12th Gen Intel i7-12650H (16) @ 2.300GHz GPU: Intel Alder Lake-P GT1 [UHD Graphics] GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile Memory: 15598MiB X11
Thanks again for your time, have a good day.
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