Slow opening of Safari tabs despite high speed broadband

Question

Level 1

14 points

Slow opening of Safari tabs despite high speed broadband

Hello,

Opening of tabs is very slow despite high speed broadband (actual downloading speed >50 Mbit/s). First page opens relatively quick but the other ones take minutes. It even happens that they don't open at all with the message "can't find the page". If I try to open such a page directly it opens at once (no problem). I have the same problem with Firefox. I have tryed the following:

reset Safari
reinstall Safari
reinstall Snow Leopard

I have an iMac 2,66 Ghz intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB internal memory, Safari 4.0.4 and Snow Leopard 10.6.2.

Any suggestions?

iMac, intel, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Mar 8, 2010 2:00 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 8, 2010 10:15 PM in response to janne

Hi and Welcome to Apple Discussions...

Try maintenance...

From the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari / Empty Cache. When you are done with that...

From the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari / Reset Safari. Select the top 5 buttons and click Reset.

Go here for trouble shooting 3rd party plugins or input managers which might be causing the problem. Safari: Add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues

Since you are running Snow Leopard, *make sure Safari is opening in 32-bit mode, not 64.* Right or control click the Safari icon in the Applications folder, then click: Get Info In the Get Info window click the black disclosure triangle next to General so it faces down. Select 32 bit mode. Also, (in that same window) *make sure Safari is NOT running in Rosetta.*

  Web pages now include a small icon or 'favicon' which is visible in the address bar and next to bookmarks. These icons take up disk space and slow Safari down. It is possible to erase the icons from your computer and start fresh. *To delete Safari's icon cache using the Finder, open your user folder, navigate to ~/Library/Safari/ and move this file "webpageIcons.db to the Trash.*

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 2

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 9, 2010 12:43 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Many thanks for your quick answer!

Due to your suggestions I have done the following:

1. Empty Safari Cache

2. Reset Safari (the 5 top buttons)

3. Removed 3rd party plug-ins

I have kept the folowing Internet plug-ins unchanged:

AdobePDFViewer.plugin
Disabled Plug-Ins
DRM Plugin.bundle
EPPEX Plugin.plugin
Flash Player.plugin
flashplayer.xpt
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.webplugin
iPhotoPhotocast.plugin
JavaPluginCocoa.bundle
Quartz Composer.webplugin
QuickTime Plugin.plugin
Silverlight.plugin

PersonalPlugin.bundle
PersonalPlugin64.bundle
RadioURL.bundle
RealPlayer Plugin.plugin

Can any of these cause the problem?

4. Changed Safari to 32-bit mode

5. Moved "webpageicons.db" to the Trash

After done all this and a restart, the problem is still there. Furthermore, I have the same problem with Firefox. It seems to be a common problem!?

Thanks for your interest.

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Answer 3

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 10, 2010 4:09 AM in response to janne

Hello again!

I have also tested to connect my iMac directly to Internet (not via wireless network, Airport Express) without any positive result. The problem is still there. I also tried my MacBook and it has the same problem. Finally, the problem is the same for all tested browsers (Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome).

Very greatful for help!

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Answer 4

keats2010

Level 2

285 points

Mar 10, 2010 4:39 AM in response to janne

Hi, try removing these plug ins

Silverlight.plugin
iPhotoPhotocast.plugin
DRM Plugin.bundle
EPPEX Plugin.plugin

See how it goes and if it improves, then reintroduce them one by one and see if one or more are the culprits.

Good Luck

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Answer 5

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 10, 2010 7:20 AM in response to keats2010

Hi,

Thanks for your advice.

I have removed the plug-ins you suggested and restarted the computer. Unfortunately, the problem is still there (the same with Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome).

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Answer 6

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 11, 2010 4:58 AM in response to janne

Hi again,

I have changed DNS to Open DNS and Google DNS and the problem is still there. My actual broadband speed is >50 Mbit/s with wireless network and ca 80 Mbit/s with direct connection. Despite the high speed is the opening of tabs very slow. It often resultat in the message "the page could not be opened". The problem is the same independent of browser (Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome).

Thanks for your help!

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Answer 7

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 11, 2010 9:31 AM in response to janne

Hi Janne

have you tested in a new user account?

Reset your modem/router?

created a completely new network location?

Have you any internet security software? even if it's supposedly disabled?

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Answer 8

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 11, 2010 2:23 PM in response to andyBall_uk

Thanks for your answer!

I have reset my modem/router without any positive result.

I have no security software installed.

Which user account do you mean? Mac user account or internet supplier account?

What do you mean by "creating a completely new network location"?

Thanks again!

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Answer 9

Davis1

Level 1

9 points

Mar 11, 2010 3:02 PM in response to janne

I wrote a reply about 20 minutes ago but after waiting for Safari for about 10 minutes to load the page I had to shut down my computer and am now I am on my HP laptop which is now 100 times faster then my mac (can't believe I am saying that). This is very frustrating as I have the same issue with Safari, also tried Firefox and Google Chrome with the same slooooooooow results. Can't wait to here what the fix is, sure would like to use my macbook again one day.

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Answer 10

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 11, 2010 3:31 PM in response to janne

Hi

I meant a new user account on your mac computer - via System Preferences-Accounts.

a new network location can be made in System Preferences-Network

ah , and I see now you've eliminated the router/modem, since the HP computer works well.

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Answer 11

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 12, 2010 8:21 AM in response to andyBall_uk

Hi,

I have tested a new user account and a new network location without any positiv result. The problem is still there.

Thanks anyhow!

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Answer 12

Mar 12, 2010 10:00 AM in response to janne

Janne, Safari has been acting that way on my iMac for months... I suspect that a Safari update is to blame but I cannot say for sure...

The only "fix" that I have found is to click my "First Thing" bookmark as soon as I get up and then I eat breakfast. By the time I return most tabs have loaded.

It isn't perfect but it beats wasting a bunch of time trying to fix the unfixable...

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Answer 13

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 12, 2010 10:21 AM in response to MisterMojo

Hi,

I am not sure that Safari is the problem. I have the same problem with Firefox and Google Chrome.

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Answer 14

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 12, 2010 11:19 AM in response to janne

Hi again

ok, there are some network config files which might affect speed, but really... creating a new network location should get round that - I don't have 10.6.x but on 10.5.8 I'd try trashing

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.network.identification.plist

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist

Did this modem/router & mac combo ever work at decent speed? have you tried any other macs on it?

what make/model is the router/modem?

if you run a web based speed test - do you see good results in the first tab, and not subsequent ones? What results do you see for up/down & ping?

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Answer 15

janne Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 14, 2010 11:07 AM in response to andyBall_uk

Hi again!

I have tested to remove

com.apple.network.identification.plist and NetworkInterfaces.plist without any positiv result.

The modem/router is new and it does work with good speed both when I have a direct connection and when I connect via AE (actual speed >50 Mbit/s). The problem is that pages opended in tabs open very slow (not the first one, but the subsequent ones) despite the high broadband speed. It is also happens that some pages doesn't open at all (message says that the "server doesn't respond"). But if I try to reopen such a page it will open immidiately. The problem is the same for Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome. I also have the same problem with my Macbook that runs on Tiger (my iMac runs on Snow Leopard, 10.6.2). It is all mysterous.

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