Firefox CPU and heat!!!

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didn't know whether to put this post in the notebook area or the Apps zone, I chose here, hope it fits?!

What experience have people had of the heat issues and/or high CPU loads using Firefox browser?

I was having a nightmare the other night with my system getting hot and the system hanging and freezing whilst using Facebook on Firefox, I Googled the issue and discovered that there seems to be an issue with certain laptops and OSX (especially small laptops like my MBP 2009 13") Just wondered what experiences other Mac users on here have had?

Since last night I've moved back to Safari and ditched Firefox now. Any thoughts?

Thanks
 

CrimsonRequiem


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I've never had Firefox hang and heat up on me, and I usually have 20+ tabs open at one time. This is also on a White MB.
 
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I've never had any issues with heat, either. And, like CrimsonRequiem, I occasionally have upwards of 20 tabs open at once.
 
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Hmm. That is strange. My Macbook (specs in the sidebar underneath my name) has been running all day and I've been using Firefox for around 8 hours straight and the temp doesn't go higher than 61C.
 
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I certainly have never had it. I prefer Safari anyway, but have had probably 30 tabs at once in Firefox.
 

dtravis7


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What was the CPU temp when Firefox was acting up?
 

vansmith

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Are you only on Facebook when this happens? And as dtravis7 said, what was your temp? CPU usage? It would be best to know how much higher than usual everything was.
 
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yes, on facebook... I think the temp got up to about 65/70 and that was only browsing/using facebook, no flash running or anything else. But the system was lagging and freezing, which it doesn't usually do at the temp.

I often wonder why my fan doesn't speed up when my machine gets hotter, it just seems to stick where it is and let the heat build??? I tried SMCFANCONTROL which works, but I hate it that it's all very manual, I am giving fancontrol a go too, that seems to do what I would expect the Macbook Pro to do automatically? Any thoughts on that too, or am I asking too much at once?

Now, using Safari and browsing/facebook it seems to tick over at 50/51 C. I wondered whether I needed to do a SMC reset or something or are the MBPs 13" just hot runners?

In summery; facebook on Firefox bumps my heat up 10-20 C higher!! But am curious about fan and heat in general really if anyone has any insight?

Thanks
 
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powerbook?

I have an old powerbook g4, had serious issues in the past with ff and flash. Tried ff 3.6 last night and the fan goes crazy. Not even surfing. Shame; back to Opera which is always magic.
 

bobtomay

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CrimsonRequiem


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Interesting...I'm running Firefox 3.6...and I had two Flash heavy websites open and running at the same time. I only had 3 tabs open at the time but the fans didn't go crazy like they usually do sitting at 62°C which is pretty low. Considering I had a lot of other programs running at the same time.
 

dtravis7


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CR, since he said he was running a Powerbook which is Power PC, maybe there is some issue with 3.6 and PowerPC code.

I have been testing 3.6 on my iMac G5 2.1Ghz and it's pretty solid but my iMac G5 is a lot faster than any G4 I have used and I never check temps on my iMac either.

Also maybe it's an OSX issue on his Powerbook causing the problem.
 
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i tried replacing flash with a beta. That started to crash opera - normally stable. So replaced with latest 'stable' flash. Then couldn't repeat in ff 3.6. Just had opera gobble cpu - one page - one crap flash banner! Batteries don't stand a chance. :(

1.5gz g4 10.4.11 - flash 10,0,42,34
 

vansmith

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The Flash beta is very rough around the edges. I had never seen Opera crash so much when I had it installed. That said, it was much better on the CPU usage. Here's to hoping that Flash 10.1 can undo many of the problems that plague Flash 10. You're better off using Flash 10 and finding ways around using it such as using a Flash blocker.
 
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i prefer chromium. the flash crashes sometimes but its very lightweight and fast. it can also use the chrome ad-ons that dont work for the normal chrome for mac like ad-block
 
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Seems like the use of a flash blocker is a sound idea. How do I do that in Opera?
 
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I have taken to using a Flash Blocker, great idea, if there's flash I want to see, I just Ok it and I'm away. The worst type of flash is the repeating type (from my experience) the type that just keeps looping over and over with some mindless ad.
 

CrimsonRequiem


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I love No Script + Ad Blocker Plus for Firefox. No ads of any kind + no flash ads. ^
 

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