Repair Google Chrome

Is Google Chrome misbehaving? There are a lot of potential culprits that could be causing your problems, from a faulty internet connection to a virus. Chrome is fairly easy to repair if things aren't working correctly, and if worst comes to worst, reinstalling Chrome from scratch will only take a few minutes

Steps

Uninstalling and Reinstalling Chrome

  1. Try reinstalling Chrome before trying other fixes. There are a lot of different things that could be going wrong with Chrome, but most of them are easily fixed by uninstalling your existing version and installing a new one fresh. Since Chrome syncs your bookmarks and passwords with your Google account, you won't lose any of your important information, and the entire process only takes a few minutes.
  2. Uninstall Chrome.
    • Windows - Open the Control Panel and select "Programs and Features" or "Uninstall a program". Select Google Chrome from the list and click Uninstall.
    • OS X - Open the Applications folder and drag the Chrome application to your Trash.
  3. Open the Chrome website in Internet Explorer (Windows) or Safari (OS X). Enter google.com/chrome/browser/ into your browser.
  4. Click the "Download Chrome" button. This will automatically download the correct version for your operating system.
  5. Run the installer. Click on the installation file at the bottom of your browser window after it finishes downloading.
    • Make Chrome your default browser during the installation if you wish. See this guide for more details on installing Chrome.
  6. Sign into Chrome. Open the Settings menu and click Sign in to Chrome. Enter in your Google account information. After a few moments, your bookmarks will be restored.
  7. Check to see if your issue is resolved. If your issue hasn't been resolved, try one of the following methods to see if you can fix the problem.
    • If the issue has been fixed, install your extensions one at a time to see if any of them were causing the issue.

Closing a Frozen Tab or Window

  1. Press .⇧ Shift+Esc to open the Chrome Task Manager. You can also click the Chrome Menu button (☰) and select More tools → Task manager.
  2. Select the frozen tab or extensions from the list. All of the running tabs and extensions will be listed. Frozen tabs or malfunctioning extensions will be indicated.
  3. Click the .End Process button. This will force the tab or extension to close.
  4. Repeat for any other frozen tabs and extensions. Closing all of your frozen tabs should allow you to continue using Chrome without issue.

Checking Your Internet Connection

  1. Open a different browser. The error message you're receiving may be caused by a bad internet connection. The quickest way to test this is to open another browser (Internet Explorer and Safari are installed automatically on Windows and OS X, respectively) and try to visit some websites. If you can load the websites, something is wrong with Chrome. See the following methods for steps on fixing it. If you can't load any websites, chances are something is wrong with your internet connection.[1]
    • If you're just receiving errors for one website, that site is probably down or not responding properly.
  2. Check your network connection. If you are connected to your router via Ethernet, ensure that the cable is connected properly. If you are connected via wireless, ensure you have a good signal.
    • See this guide for more details on troubleshooting network connections problems.

Disabling Your Extensions

  1. Click the Menu (☰) button and select Tools → Extensions. An extension you have installed may be causing your problems. Try disabling all of your extensions, and then enabling them one-by-one until you find the one that is causing the problem.
  2. Uncheck each of the extensions in the list.
  3. Restart Chrome.
  4. Test the browser. If you are still having issues, then it wasn't your extensions. Try one of the methods below. If Chrome is working fine now, see the next step.
  5. Enable extensions one-by-one until you find the one that's causing problems. Test Chrome by loading a troublesome website each time you enable a new extension.

Clearing Your Cookies

  1. Click the Menu (☰) button and select Settings. A corrupt cookie could be causing Chrome to malfunction. Clearing your cookies may solve your problem.
  2. Click the "Show advanced settings" link.
  3. Click .Content settings... in the Privacy section.
  4. Click .All cookies and site data....
  5. Click .Remove all.

Checking Your Proxy Settings

  1. Click the Menu (☰) button and select Settings. Bad proxy settings could be causing connection issues for Chrome. Resetting the proxy settings may fix the issues you are having.
  2. Click the "Show advanced settings" link.
  3. Click .Change proxy settings....
  4. Click .LAN Settings....
  5. Ensure that "Automatically detect settings" is checked. Most users do not need manual proxy settings. If you do connect to a proxy, double-check that all the proxy server information has been entered correctly.

Turning Off Sandbox Mode

  1. Right-click on the Chrome desktop shortcut. Sandbox mode is a security feature for Chrome that could be causing your pages to be blank. Try disabling it to see if you can load webpages again.[2]
  2. Select Properties
  3. Click the .Shortcut tab.
  4. Add . --no-sandbox to the end of the text in the "Target" field.
  5. Click .OK.
  6. Start Chrome using the shortcut. If you can load webpages, then something is wrong with the sandbox mode. This could be caused by corrupted files or by a malware infection. It is very dangerous to browse the web while not in sandbox mode, so close Chrome and proceed to remove the malware or reinstall Chrome.

Clearing Your Local Storage Folder

  1. Close all Chrome windows. Corrupt user files could be causing Chrome to malfunction. Clearing out these files may help fix Chrome.
  2. Open the Control Panel and select "Folder Options".
  3. Click the .View tab and select "Show hidden files, folders, and drives". Click OK.
  4. Navigate to your Chrome user data folder. Find C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Local Storage\.
  5. Delete all the files in this location.
  6. Launch Chrome.

Resetting Chrome

  1. Click the Menu (☰) button and select Settings. Resetting will remove all user data from Chrome. If you have Chrome synced with your Google account, you can easily retrieve your bookmarks and stored passwords by logging back in after resetting Chrome.
  2. Click the "Show advanced settings" link. Scroll to the very bottom.
  3. Click .Reset browser settings.
  4. Sign back into Chrome. Open the Settings menu and click Sign in to Chrome. Enter in your Google account information.

Scanning For Viruses and Malware

  1. Ensure that your antivirus is up to date.
  2. Run an anti-adware scanner. Two of the more popular scanners are Get-Malwarebytes-for-Windows-8 and Get-Spybot-for-Windows-8.
    • See this guide for detailed instructions on removing viruses and other malware.

Disable unnecessary plugins

  1. Access plugins menu. Type "chrome://plugins" into the URL bar. Read more Disable-Plugins-on-Web-Browsers.
  2. Disable unnecessary plugins. Some plugins may slow Chrome down. Disable the ones you don't use.

Use RAM-saving extensions

  1. Visit Chrome Web Store. Use-the-Google-Chrome-Web-Store is a place where you can easily install free Chrome extensions.
  2. Install The Great Suspender. If you often have multiple tabs open, this extension will "freeze" the ones you're not currently using. This will result in saving RAM and making Chrome launch and react faster.

Check Settings After Updates

  1. In the latest Google Chrome update for 64-bit systems, many users found that they're embedded videos looked distorted, with negative colors and extra layers. A simple way to fix this is by going to Chrome's Settings ("chrome://settings/" in the address bar) and opening the Advanced Settings at the bottom of the page. Once you reach the bottom, there will be a checkbox under System that reads "Use hardware acceleration when available". Make sure this box is not selected (or empty). After this is done, clear all browsing data (Ctrl+Shift+Delete) and restart Chrome. This should solve the video issue, but if it doesn't, be sure to check "chrome://conflicts/" and/or make sure all drivers are up to date.

Related Articles

  • Cast from a Chrome Browser

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/117805?hl=en
  2. ↑ http://www.wintips.org/fix-google-chrome-blank-page-problem/
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