Characteristics: - The X process is running at 99% of CPU. - There is no related lines in log files
I had a similar issue when using Acrobat5 plugin for mozilla. Once the plugin was launched by clicking on a PDF file, X process went berserk at 99%. Once the PDF file was closed (and the plugin stopped), everything went back to normal.
Sorry this is late. When this happens can you close the PDF with the mouse or keyboard. For me, it freezes and can only come in via ssh or vnc on another machines to clean stuff up.
I have seen what you describe on win2k with moz and a acroread plugin. Acroread goes to 99% and locks up mozilla. Have to kill it via task mgr, then ok again. This happen every now and then but not real bad.
Then I decided to use ggv for the PDF files. Now something different came up. Once I decided to change some of the preferences in ggv, GConfd went berserk at 80% CPU usage! So I decided to use gv instead and I am happy since then.
The latter might not be related to the former and might not be related to your issues. I am just dropping my 2c here. :-)
On fc2 with moz, I seem to get best results with xpdf. (my $0.02)
