[GeForce 7900 GS] X slow / high cpu usage when highlighting links in firefox

[beer]

Binary package hint: xorg

I don't know wheter this is a firefox, a Xorg or a nvidia driver problem.
But I guess it's a bug in X, as it happens both with firefox 2.0, firefox 3.0 and epiphany-browser (using mozillas rendering engine).

Description: When highlighting links in firefox (moving the mouse above them), for some links, the cpu usage of X goes up to nearly 100 % (for one cpu), and the link is highlighted with noticeable slowdown. This happens for example on the following page:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/List
with the links in the _main text_ on the right. It does _not_ happen with the links in the left pane.
Additionally, the "new" version of google mail is almost unusable, including scrolling. Same problem with cpu usage of X.
The problem also occurs when I move a window before these links.

Another way to trigger the problem (for testing) is using this google gadget
http://www.google.de/ig/adde?hl=de&moduleurl=eyes.xml&source=imag
the cpu usage of X goes immediately to 100% when you move the eye position.

I am using Kernel "2.6.24-16-generic #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 12:47:45 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux" with Ubuntu 8.04 with an
GeForce 7900 GS with the nvidia-glx driver and TwinView.

Excerpt from top, with the problem visible:

5519 root 20 0 158m 63m 15m R 17.1 1.6 8:03.98 /usr/bin/X :0 -br -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7

I have a intel 4 cpu system.

The problem can not be solved by switching compiz off.

Package version:
xorg:
  Installiert:1:7.3+10ubuntu10
firefox:
  Installiert:3.0~b5+nobinonly-0ubuntu3
nvidia-glx:
  Installiert:1:96.43.05+2.6.24.12-16.34

The problem does not happen with different browsers (for example konqueror or opera).

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Maybe a dupe of other twinview bugs (or may just be a mozilla lib at fault). Refiling...

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

You could try the same without using twinview.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Besides, you are using the older version of the driver. Any reason not to use nvidia-glx-new?

[beer (beer-test)]

nvidia-glx-new does not work here. I don't know why. I am glad i got the old driver to work.
I tried disabling twinview, the problem persists.

[beer (beer-test)]

I noticed the same problem on my notebook, which uses an intel gm integrated graphics adapter.
So it seems not to be the nvidia driver (either new or old version)...

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi beer-test,

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? (ISOs are available from cdimage.ubuntu.com)

If it remains an issue, could you also attach a new /var/log/Xorg.0.log?
Thanks in advance.

The output of lspci -vvnn would also be worth having.

[Diego Fraga (diego-fc)]

I have the same problem as beer. My PC config is Semprom 2400+, 1GB RAM DDR400, ATI Radeon 9600 AGP. I've Installed the same in my laptop and all is ok but in my PC the Xorg problem is present.

With ubuntu 'fresh' (recent installed) it only happens with firefox (without any plug-in or add-on).

If you need some log, screenshot, etc etc... please tell me.

[beer (beer-test)]

Yes, the bug is still there.
Especially good to trigger by using the google eyes gadget I linked above.
I have three systems, two with Ubuntu 8.02 and one with 8.10, all with different graphics cards.
On my main system, the bug in Firefox with highlighting the links has gone, but not on my other system.

My xorg log:
http://pastebin.com/f695da97f

[beer (beer-test)]

PS:
lspci -vvnn
http://pastebin.com/f54484114

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

There is not sufficient information so far for troubleshooting or upstreaming this problem. High CPU of X by itself isn't a bug in and of itself, but can be a symptom of a problem. I've tried to write up some further ideas on troubleshooting X cpu load issues:

 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/HighCPU

The title of this bug is rather generic so I'm going to retitle it to avoid people linking unrelated bugs with the same symptoms to this one.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Okay, well it seems not to be an X issue. Since it occurs for several different versions of firefox, it's unlikely to be an issue in firefox either. Probably something in some common rendering layer between firefox and X. This bug needs to be re-triaged to determine what package it should be filed against.

[xteejx (xteejx)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you try with the latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[xteejx (xteejx)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!