FireFox 3.0.8 hiccups on Video, Consantly Freezing and Unfreezing

[Black ICe]

I'm running a Macbook with 4 gb of RAM.

My FireFox is constantly "hiccupping" with video playback - for instance, YouTube videos. The video freezes up every 10 seconds or so for about 2-3 seconds as the audio continues, then the video unfreezes. Even as I type this, things I'm entering in this box aren't showing up for a second or two.

Additionally, I have certain Flash videos that won't play. I have the newest Flash player and Adobe Flash's website test says my Flash Player is working.

I don't have any of these problems in Safari, but I like FireFox a lot more (Add-ins, NORMALLY a faster browser, better GUI, etc.).

I've tried reinstalling Flash and disabling Adblock (I hear it's the cause for stuff a lot of times) but nothing has worked.

 

[darrenscerri]

Seems the CPU is getting strained. Go to Activity Monitor and check if there's any process taking higher than average CPU.

Silly question but did you try a restart?

 

[Black ICe]

Aha, the true Ctrl Alt Del equivalent for the Mac! I know the Force Quit window was masking so many programs.

What qualifies as "average CPU strain" for the computer? I have "two" programs running, FireFox and Finder, and the problem still occurs - but not on Safari.

I actually did just try a restart, but I was told that Macs are different from Windows and don't need them. I was skeptical...

The problem persists.

 

[darrenscerri]

I did never say "average CPU strain". Strained as in being utilised in an unwanted way which in turn leaves other processes with less processing power. This can result in choppy performance. For example if your web browser is taking 100% CPU, then you should reopen the browser as there's something wrong going on. But for some processes, like media encoding, it's normal that it uses 100% of the CPU. You should quit any processes which take more than their normal CPU usage. Literally, the CPU can never be strained, but in more practical terms, this means that the CPU is at 100% usage, which is never going to harm your CPU (unless cooled sufficiently).

Macs can remain on for months without the need of a restart... but there's nothing to lose by restarting.

 

[dubhouse]

I'm running a Macbook with 4 gb of RAM.

My FireFox is constantly "hiccupping" with video playback - for instance, YouTube videos. The video freezes up every 10 seconds or so for about 2-3 seconds as the audio continues, then the video unfreezes. Even as I type this, things I'm entering in this box aren't showing up for a second or two.

This happens to me as well. My processor is not pegging or spiking but the hiccups continue. I recently switched backed to firefox from safari, but now I must go back to safari because this poor video performance sucks.

 

[clevin]

the problem may or may not lie with firefox, however, I would suggest

1. reinstall a newer version of flash from adobe
2. create a new firefox profile

try open activity monitor for a length period of time, and check to see what process is using 90%+ cpu.

Macs aren't good at flashes.

 

[Punchey]

The problem is with Firefox. I'm having the same problem with 3.0.10. Activity Monitor seems to indicate Firefox periodically spikes CPU usage.

While flash video etc. is one of the more obvious ways to notice the problem, as the topic-starter mentioned, as as I'm experiencing as I type these very words, actions as simple as typing text into a text box will suddenly get delayed for a couple of seconds every 10 seconds or so. This doesn't happen in any other apps, it's just Firefox.

And for me it seems to be getting worse. It's getting so annoying I think I'm going to have to switch browsers.

Any ideas?

 

[KingYaba]

Flash on the Mac, in general, isn't the best. I second the reinstall Flash motion.