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Firefox very slow when first loading pages from new domains.

  • 3 replies
  • 14 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by vroearth

vroearth
vroearth
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I've noticed that when starting the browser or opening up a new site it takes a considerably longer amount of time to load all the JS and assets compared to Chrome. Typically an extra 10 to 20 seconds, which is seriously annoying and nontrivial. After I've loaded the first page from the site Firefox is usually pretty fast on loading new pages from the same domain.

Firefox also sometimes fails to render CSS, resulting in a white page in Times New Roman and misplaced images.

I've tried setting up a new installation of Firefox and it hasn't solved the problem. Also tried Firefox portable with no addons and I got the problem straight out of the gate. It seems to be a problem with the code as Chrome and my internet connection work just fine. I've tried using Google as my primary DNS (8.8.8.8) which hasn't changed much.

I've noticed that when starting the browser or opening up a new site it takes a considerably longer amount of time to load all the JS and assets compared to Chrome. Typically an extra 10 to 20 seconds, which is seriously annoying and nontrivial. After I've loaded the first page from the site Firefox is usually pretty fast on loading new pages from the same domain. Firefox also sometimes fails to render CSS, resulting in a white page in Times New Roman and misplaced images. I've tried setting up a new installation of Firefox and it hasn't solved the problem. Also tried Firefox portable with no addons and I got the problem straight out of the gate. It seems to be a problem with the code as Chrome and my internet connection work just fine. I've tried using Google as my primary DNS (8.8.8.8) which hasn't changed much.

All Replies (3)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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You can try to disable hardware acceleration in Firefox.

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"

You need close and restart Firefox after toggling this setting.

Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

vroearth
vroearth Question owner
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This did not work. I disabled hardware acceleration, set up a new profile, and literally the first site I went to (reddit.com) took 18 seconds to load and the CSS didn't render. After refreshing the site performed okay, but still slower than Chrome.

I even set up a virtual machine with a new installation of Windows 7 and Firefox/Chrome. Firefox still had the slowness and rendering problems, while Chrome was a breeze.

Modified by vroearth

vroearth
vroearth Question owner
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Bumping to reiterate proposed solution did not work.

Should this problem be elevated as a bug report?