When I close Firefox I get rogue/zombie firefox.exes that hides in the background and can't be closed without a restart. If I open Firefox and close it down, I get more of them on my Gigabyte B650M Gaming Plus wifi AMD Ryzen 5 7600X computer using internal graphics, even on updated drivers.
My PC specs are this:
Gigabyte B650M Gaming Plus wifi.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU
Memory: 32GB T-Force RGB DDR5
Cooler for CPU is Arctic Freezer 36
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
About 3 months ago, I set up the computer up in BIOS to use 4GB for GPU memory. Under the IGPU options, set it to force.
The first issue I ran into was that I got garbled text on Firefox. I could fix the problem by unchecking hardware acceleration, performance mode. But I wanted hardware performance to run on it. So I could either fix the issue in either two ways.
1. Going into the about:config and changing this option to true: gfx.webrender.software
2. Changing GFX clock Frequency in my BIOS (or some Bios call it GPU Boost mode) from auto to 2200 Mhz. (The solution is from strix from the amd community. Apparently setting the iGPU frequency to what it already rated for on my processor's page fixes it.)
I did the 2nd option, and I was fine with it. I didn't really use this PC until recently, about 10 days ago, when I transferred all of my old files from my old computer to the new computer. I thought firefox would be fine. This is merely a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro that I started using.
I started off with Firefox 135.0.0 at the time when I started using it.
When I finally started using this computer as my daily PC. I ran into an issue with Firefox not completely closing. I close Firefox as I'm done using it. Then maybe 3 hours later I noticed it was still in task manager. I believe it tried to ask for internet. I was disconnected at the time. I look in task manager, and there is one firefox.exe running. So okay, I try to end the task. Nothing happens.
I go into details in task manager and try to close it, and it says access denied.
So I tried process explorer (run as administrator). I still get the same thing access denied. I tried command prompt as administrator. Typing in tasklist, and trying
taskkill /IM "firefox.exe" /T /F
in command prompt.
It doesn't work, of course. The child process is no longer available, if there even was one. That process with that PID is not available.
I tried
wmic process where name="firefox.exe" call terminate
It ran and said it was successful and usually returns a value of 2. Even though according to tasklist in command prompt and process explorer, there is a rogue or zombie Firefox.exe that won't close.
I even tried
Taskkill /F /PID number
and it returned with
ERROR: The process with PID could not be terminated.
Reason: There is no running instance of the task.
Even though that's not true and it's still running in the background.
Here are things I have tried to make sure the problem doesn't occur in the first place. Keep in mind, this is a fresh installation of Windows 10 Pro edition. Except for the drivers that gigabyte needs. I do have a firewall, but I disabled that. And tried a different PC with this software, and it doesn't happen.
I tried the 32 bit version of firefox.exe. It still does it.
I tried older versions of firefox.exe. It still does it.
I don't think it matters what firefox version I use. But I do believe if I go below 116, I will no longer have plugin option support.
And I can't use that version. Of course, I rather a version that isn't that outdated. I tried using a fork of Firefox. The latest version of Zen browser. And it still does it!
My theory is that it has something to do with the graphics driver. So I disabled hardware acceleration. I closed it 5 times and 10 times. So I thought that was the fix. This actually worked for a while, but I had not tested Firefox long enough. And the rogue Firefox.exe did appear its ugly head again.
It was just more likely when I browsed with more tabs and more pages open. So I had a test with YouTube video tabs, offline pages I saved previously, etc. I really thought I fixed it. I'm afraid not.
That's why I do think it's related to the graphics driver that is causing it.
I also tried closing it down in other ways. I tried those command prompts I was talking about to try and get rid of the zombie processes of Firefox that already appeared, but that didn't work. To close Firefox down in this method so they don't appear in the first place. I was hoping this would be a good workaround method. Nope, it didn't work. They still appeared.
I even renamed firefox.exe to see if it would let me, it does, but the rogue exes still remain in process explorer and in command prompt under tasklist.
I tested out this version of firefox on a different computer that is the same version OS build. On the other computer it indeed closes and never does what it's doing on my Gigabyte B650M Gaming Plus wifi - AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU internal graphics hardware.
I thought it was related to graphics drivers still. So what I did next was use a virtualbox with a fresh install with the same operating system. I did not install any graphics card drivers whatsoever. I installed firefox.
And it still does it!
So I decided to do this. I went into the bios and changed the GPU Frequency to auto instead of 2200 mhz back to its default setting.
I did get some sort of change. First performance mode was on. And it didn't do that garbled text glitch. So I knew it might have to do with the APU driver/internal graphics driver that I installed with Gigabyte B650M Gaming Plus. Because it usually does the garbled text glitch with internal graphics. But the display driver is set to Windows Basic in device manager. Then I continued testing Firefox.exe, and it seemed the problem was solved and the rogue/zombie Firefox.exe did not appear. I even opened up about 7 YouTube tabs on the browser and closed it.
So I thought I had the problem solved. I close oracle virtual box down. I go to my main operating system, Firefox and try it. Of course, I got the garbled text still with performance mode on. I was a little bit confused, as I thought it was the display driver that causes it. I disabled the display driver in device manager.
At this point in time, my head is spinning with confusion. I believe it didn't work, and rogue firefox.exes still appeared. I believe I probably didn't test it long enough in the virtual box machine. Maybe it still does it. I noticed AMD has updated AMD APU Driver [24.30.18.241224] Jan 23 2025 that I didn't install. I installed it. I still get the garbled text glitch on firefox. I then decided to enable option to true: gfx.webrender.software in about:config in firefox.
Does anybody have this issue with Firefox and is it just an issue with internal graphics with this build setup or just with AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU IGPU MODE?
Can there be a simple workaround method in the meantime to either fix the issue so it doesn't appear in the first place. Or find a way to close these rogue/zombie firefox.exes?
I'm kind of exhausted. I have not researched how to troubleshoot firefox debug mode or any of the sorts. If it's possible, anybody has any info on this bug. Or to see what it does when firefox closes down, what functions it performs, or what gets stuck.
