Why does Chrome and Edge browsers glitch and freeze?

[invalid_user_name]

I’m using TW on an AMD Ryzen 7 laptop with Gnome and Wayland and 40GB RAM. Often when I use the Edge and Chrome browsers they’ll continually glitch and freeze up for a few seconds. Once they start doing this, I have to restart my laptop to fix this problem. The problem does not stay fixed after a reboot.

This problem has been going on for about 15 months. Anyone have ideas as to what causes these problems? Both browsers are installed as flatpaks. Could flatpak be the root cause? I update all my flatpaks once per week.

Firefox never has this problem. I think my Firefox is installed as RPM.

[myswtest]

@invalid_user_name

1. This problem has been going on for about 15 months.
2. Anyone have ideas as to what causes these problems?
3. Both browsers are installed as flatpaks. Could flatpak be the root cause?

1. 15 months?! Haven’t troubleshooted till now?
2. You’ll need to perform one or more troubleshooting procedures.
3. Doubtful issue is “because Flatpaks”

I have no issues here (though we’re on Leap 15.6) with performance of Flatpak apps.

Heck, there are distros that rely solely on the use of Flatpak apps.

Are the glitches ONLY with certain websites? Or only videos? Only with specific content?

Create a new user account - log into it. Test apps with new user

Login with X11 vs Wayland. Test performance of apps.

[malcolmlewis]

@invalid_user_name likely issues with the AMD gpu… are you running Mesa from packman?

[invalid_user_name]

@malcolmlewis

are you running Mesa from packman?

I don’t know. How can I tell or find out? Is there a command I can run?

TBH, I don’t know what Mesa or packman are.

[invalid_user_name]

@myswtest

Are the glitches ONLY with certain websites? Or only videos? Only with specific content?

Glitches seem to happen with any website. And as far as I can see only Chrome browser and Edge browser have this problem. No other apps affected.

[malcolmlewis]

@invalid_user_name zypper if Mesa | grep -E "Repository :|Version :"

[invalid_user_name]

@myswtest

Login with X11 vs Wayland. Test performance of apps.

When I logged out of Wayland and logged into X, the Chrome and Edge browsers behaved normally with no glitching. When I logged out of X and back into Wayland, the Edge browser was glitching and the Chrome browser had no glitching.

[invalid_user_name]

@malcolmlewis

zypper if Mesa | grep -E “Repository :|Version :”

advait@localhost:~> zypper if Mesa | grep -E "Repository     :|Version        :"
Repository     : Main Repository (OSS)
Version        : 25.0.3-412.1
advait@localhost:~> 

Helpful?

[malcolmlewis]

@invalid_user_name I would suggest you add the Packman Extras repo and switch to the Packman version of Mesa.

zypper ar -f -g -n "Packman Extras (Mesa)" https://ftp.fau.de/packman/suse/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/Extra/ repo-mesa

zypper -vvv dup -r repo-mesa

Trust the key always, then select Solution 1 for the respective packages listed to switch, reboot and test…

[invalid_user_name]

@malcolmlewis

suggest you add the Packman Extras repo and switch to the Packman version of Mesa.

OK, I’ll try your suggestion. Thanks. Just in case, I’ll make sure and take a snapshot before running the command.

[invalid_user_name]

@malcolmlewis

suggest you add the Packman Extras repo and switch to the Packman version of Mesa.

OK, I followed the instructions and so far Edge and Chrome seem to be operating normally. Cool. I’ll keep this ticket open for a day or 2 just to see if the problem returns.

[invalid_user_name]

The glitches and freezing came back to Edge but Chrome is still OK.

[malcolmlewis]

@invalid_user_name Isn’t edge an electron app? Might need some environment variables…

[myswtest]

@malcolmlewis wrote:

Isn’t edge an electron app?

Edge is based on the Chromium engine - a fork of Chromium source.

Microsoft Teams was initially an Electron app.

[malcolmlewis]

@invalid_user_name can you show the output from inxi -SGaz

[myswtest]

@invalid_user_name wrote:

When I logged out of Wayland and logged into X, the Chrome and Edge browsers behaved normally with no glitching.

When I logged out of X and back into Wayland, the Edge browser was glitching

Interesting feedback. That’s why we don’t use Wayland. For our systems, there’s always glitches here and there, and not for browsers, but the whole UI (we use KDE Plasma on Leap) experience.

glitches and freezing came back to Edge

Question about your Edge … do you have the “Dev” release installed? Or the Standard release?

[invalid_user_name]

@malcolmlewis

Isn’t edge an electron app?

I don’t know. How can I tell? Is there a command that can tell me?

(Google says it’s not an electron app.)

[invalid_user_name]

@myswtest

Question about your Edge … do you have the “Dev” release installed? Or the Standard release?

I have the “Official build”. See image below.
000----------------

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[invalid_user_name]

@myswtest

That’s why we don’t use Wayland. For our systems, there’s always glitches here and there, and not for browsers, but the whole UI

AFAICT, my Wayland Gnome UI/UX is pretty close to perfect with zero issues, except for the periodic glitching of flatpak Chrome and flatpak Edge. All my other apps work flawlessly in terms of UI/UX, AFAICT.

I’ve been using my existing setup for about 2.5 years.

[invalid_user_name]

Update, Edge is still glitching and freezing. Chrome behaving normally.