Ubuntu 14.04 System Freezes - Firefox eats a lot of memory with nvidia-prime enabled

I have a clean install of Ubuntu 14.04 on a Dell XPS L502X Laptop with a discrete, optimus-enabled Nidia card.

System was working great until I decided to install bumblebee to enable the Nvidia card (from the universe repository, not the PPA). Then, opening Firefox caused the system to freeze, eating all of the available memory (according to htop). Killing Firefox unfreezes the system.

I tested Nvidia Prime instead of Bumblebee, because I thought it might be a bug in bumblebee, but when the Nvidia card is enabled in prime, Firefox freezes the system, and with the Intel card, it doesn't.

Is this a known issue? Is this happening to other people or with other apps while the Nvidia card is enabled?

You can try telling Firefox not to use hardware acceleration:

1. Disable the Nvidia card.


2. Start Firefox.


3. Open Firefox's preferences, go to Advanced (or use the URL about:preferences#advanced), and choose the General tab.


4. Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.



5. Quit Firefox.


6. Enable the Nvidia card.


7. Start Firefox.