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Simon · Dec 20, 2004, 05:17 AM

I have Safari 1.2.4 (v125.12) under 10.3.7 which is AFAIK the current up-to-date version. I have noticed that safari tends to lock up when it loads images or renders pages. By locking up I mean it not only doesn't show the page build-up but it ignores any GUI interaction (mouse clicks, key strokes, etc.) until it's done rendering, loading, etc. It basically just gives a spinning beach ball until it feels like behaving again.

It gets especially annoying when using tabs. If I load a page full of PNGs in a background tab I can't scroll in the current tab I'm viewing even if that page has already been loaded and displayed long ago. Basically Safari blocks any use except for what is currently in the scope of the window until it's done.

Why this behavior? Safari has multiple threads (according to top), but obviously it still doesn't multitask very nicely. Why not?

I first figured it might be a problem with Safari's KHTML engine, so I tried the same pages with Camino because I know it uses the Gecko engine. Unfortunately the result wasn't that much better. What's wrong with tabbed browsing here?

Randman · Dec 20, 2004, 06:16 AM

Empty or deactivate your cache.

Empty your favicon cache (or lock the plist file so it won't save).

If you autofill on, go in and prune the entries, especially the other items selection (or turn this one off completely).

Quit Safari and reopen and see if that helps.

Simon · Dec 20, 2004, 06:47 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
Empty or deactivate your cache.
Empty your favicon cache (or lock the plist file so it won't save).
If you autofill on, go in and prune the entries, especially the other items selection (or turn this one off completely).
Quit Safari and reopen and see if that helps.

Unfortunately those steps didn't help. To me it feels as if Safari stalls as long as it's loading a large image (PNG, JPEG or GIF doesn't matter). It's just that this doesn't make much sense because a) it hasn't always been this way and b) if it loads the image in a thread of its own there's no reason to delay the scrolling of another (already loaded and rendered) web page...

drive-thru · Dec 20, 2004, 07:25 AM

This problem came back for me when I updated to 10.3.7
I repaired permissions and it seems to be back to normal, give that a try.

Randman · Dec 20, 2004, 07:27 AM

Also (assuming you actually did the steps I mentioned above) and repaired permissions. There's always Reset Safari (after backing up your bookmarks) and see if it happens immediately.

Could always try and trash the plist as well but a Reset will do it cleaner.

Simon · Dec 20, 2004, 07:47 AM

Repairing permissions doesn't help either.

I created a new user, logged into the new account and started Safari. Exactly the same problems. So it certainly isn't a permission or plist file problem.

Randman · Dec 20, 2004, 08:02 AM

Trash everything related to Safari and re-sintall, update and repair permissions again.

Also, have you checked to make sure you don't have bad ram? Or that an update farked your ram up?

Luca Rescigno · Dec 20, 2004, 08:07 AM

I've experienced the same thing. If you open too many tabs at once (generally more than two or three loading all at the same time), it'll give the beachball for several seconds. Reinstalling won't fix this, I've experienced it on many different machines running various different versions of OS X and Safari. It's just a bug in Safari that Apple hasn't fixed.

Simon · Dec 20, 2004, 08:11 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
Trash everything related to Safari and re-sintall, update and repair permissions again.

Also, have you checked to make sure you don't have bad ram? Or that an update farked your ram up?

This happens on several of my Macs including one that I just freshly set up.

Randman · Dec 20, 2004, 08:13 AM

have you done all of the things mentioned above, Luca? If not, how can you claim it's a bug? Have you reported it to Apple? Talked with an Apple IT person about it? Read here or elsewhere about the same problem?

The beachball pita thread has some things on it, but most of the steps mentioned here can help with that problem.

Simon · Dec 20, 2004, 08:13 AM

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
I've experienced the same thing. If you open too many tabs at once (generally more than two or three loading all at the same time), it'll give the beachball for several seconds. Reinstalling won't fix this, I've experienced it on many different machines running various different versions of OS X and Safari. It's just a bug in Safari that Apple hasn't fixed.

Well then it's a pretty big fat bug I guess. Doesn't anybody that works for Apple on the development of Safari open auto-tabs and experience the lock up and spinning beach ball?

Does Tiger's Safari have a fix for this bug?

Randman · Dec 20, 2004, 08:16 AM

Simon, have you tried pithhelmet at all? If you have it, try disabling it. If not, try it and see if it helps manage the gifs and advert photos any better.
Also, is everything else up-to-date? What about Java? Do you have any mods to Safari or are using Speed Download at all?

Simon · Dec 20, 2004, 08:38 AM

Originally posted by Randman:
Simon, have you tried pithhelmet at all? If you have it, try disabling it. If not, try it and see if it helps manage the gifs and advert photos any better.

On some machines I have it. On others I don't. But regardless if I have or not, the problem remains. I first had the suspicion that PH could have something to do with it, but I couldn't see any difference between otherwise identical Macs where one had PH and the other didn't.

Also, is everything else up-to-date?

Yes. 10.3.7. SU offers no updates. This is on a clean and fresh install of OS X with no extra apps, patches, etc.

What about Java? Do you have any mods to Safari or are using Speed Download at all?

None.

To me it really looks like a Safari bug. I'd be interested to see if a dual-processor Mac has the same problems.