Connector extension goes 100% on one core...

edited June 21, 2024
Running Kubuntu 22.04, everything at latest versions, Zotero application not running, extension active, though not used since last reboot, occasioanlly / randomly bogs down Chrome browser basically a standstill, one CPU core goes to 100%. Chrome task manager shows extension "ekhagkl....." is pulling 40%+ CPU with memory footprint over 240,000K

Not sure what triggers it. This has happened a few times.

Main websites often active when this happens:

- newspapers.com
- findagrave.com
- familysearch.org

{can ya tell I'm a Genealogist?}

Similar report today on the Chrome Store extensions reviews.

Disabling the extension solves problem.

Other extensions active:
- AdBlock
- Cookie AutoDelete
- Todoist for Chrome
- GoFullPage

LastPass extension was installed, though not active, deleting it didn't seem change anything.

Let me know if there's something specific I can so to help troubleshoot... Chrome bogs so bad it's hard to get into the developer console / inspector. Nothing obvious in system logs.

I'll just disable it until I need to save something to Zotero - not a huge hassle.... I love Zotero and this extension, so this is only a minor inconvenience!

Thank you!
  • edited June 21, 2024
    How long do you have to browse for before this condition triggers in your estimation? Is it a few hundred of page navigations before the condition occurred? Presumably restarting the browser fixes it?
  • edited June 21, 2024
    It is very sporadic. I had major browser bog-downs about five times, over two days, several hours apart - seemingly when a tab was open on newspapers.com. Getting the browser to change tab or open the Chrome task manager would take 30-90 seconds and my CPU cooling fan would kick in.

    I did not confirm it being the Connector extension until the latest slow-down. Troubleshooting this is frustratingly difficult. I'm not sure how to tell which tab the extension is acting up on, as the Chrome Task manager is not particularly clear about that afaik....

    Additional times over the past few days, maybe another 10 or so, the browser would freeze/bog for about 10 seconds and then go on normally on it's own, and a few other times, my CPU fan would rev-up for no apparent reason. These have always happened on this PC and may be totally unrelated. These smaller glitches happen on rare occasions usually when I have a few dozen tabs open. The bigger bog-downs started happening much more in the last few days with only a few tabs open, apparently coincident with the last extension update, and have not happened again since I disabled the Connector extension last night.

    Yes, restarting the browser did restore normal functioning.

    My gut says it has something to do with newspapers.com, though I have it open so much that it could be simple coincidence.

    I will do some more troubleshooting the next time I'm working on a project that includes Zotero. I'm still functional enough that this isn't a big deal.

    Thanks for considering this. I know that random glitches like this are difficult to track down and often involve interactions outside the control of any one developer.
  • I think I have the same issue as earldaniels.
    After using my browser as usual every site refresh takes longer and longer until chrome freezes completely and I am forced to end the task via task manager. After force closing chrome every thing runs normal until the bug happens again. On my machine the Zotero extension takes 100% on 1 core and at least 250MB of memory. The issue primarily occurred to me after 20 to 30 min when I tried to refresh the youtube site. While experiencing the issue I had about 10 tabs open. I also tried to disable all other extensions with no success. The following extensions are installed but deactivated:
    - Adblock Plus
    - Dark Reader
    - Google Docs Offline
    - SteamDB
    - Wolfram|Alpha (Official)

    I also tried reinstalling the extension but the issue persists.

    I was able to monitor this behavior with the chrome task manager open and I saw the Zotero background worker taking all the resources.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u14526810/tph6qzvuyy8tvrzp567l.png
    Sorry for the German headings the first column translates to Memory usage.

    I also tried to take a look into the console output of the extension but I was not able to find something unusual.

    In my experience the issue occurs more frequently when having some tabs open and then trying to refresh one tab and switching between tabs.
  • @earldaniels, @DevManu-de: Can you provide a Debug ID from the Zotero Connector for a minute or so while you're seeing the high CPU usage?

    If you're able to check, does the problem go away after closing tabs or the window? (You can probably reopen the whole window with all tabs after checking.)
  • edited June 22, 2024
    (And just to explain, at the beginning of this month Google started requiring use of a major new version of its extension framework, so the Zotero Connector for Chrome is now using a different architecture from the versions for other browsers. We've only gotten a few reports of this and haven't seen it ourselves, so it's not clear yet if this is a bug in Chrome or our code.)
  • edited June 22, 2024
    I was trying to reproduce the issue for several hours with no success.

    After some time I reinstalled the extension and disabled all other extensions and then I was able so successfully reproduce the error and I think I have found a way to get this bug to trigger ever 5 to 10 minutes.

    I found out it is important to have never enabled "save to online library" in the Zotero connector. While testing for several hours with this feature enabled I was not able to get the bug to trigger but as soon as I reinstalled the extension and did not enable "save to online library" the bug triggered within minutes.

    To reproduce the error I was continuously refreshing a youtube tab for a couple of minutes until the browser froze and cpu / ram usage exploded.

    I was able to generate a Debug ID just seconds before my chrome froze completely.
    ID: D1350370045

    I hope this helps.
  • This wouldn't be related to that option. That only has any effect when you go to save — which, as I understand it, you're not even doing while trying to reproduce this — and only when the Zotero app is closed.

    But we'll try to reproduce by reloading on YouTube.
  • edited June 22, 2024
    I know it sounds weird but this was the only way I was able to reliably reproduce the error. 4 out of 4 times I tried it with this method I got the bug. For me it's enough if I install the extension and never interact with it and then constantly refresh 1 tab closing the tab does not resolve the issue in any way only closing the browser fixes it temporarily.
  • edited June 23, 2024
    Right, but that doesn’t mean it has anything to do with the "Enable Saving to Online Library" option. It sounds like you’re just describing not interacting with the extension.
  • @earldaniels, @DevManu-de: We believe this should be fixed in Zotero Connector 5.0.135, available now. Thanks for reporting.
  • Thank you @dstillman and @DevManu-de - apologies that I wasn't more help. While I am am long-time user, my use is only occasional these days... I have a project next week that will need Zotero, so it will get tested then!!

    Thanks for everything!!
  • Thanks to everybody who worked on this issue.
    I am happy I was able to help this great project.
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