More software frustration: Google Chrome doesn’t load any pages, displays blank screen
So I’ve actually been experiencing this problem for a few days, but I haven’t mentioned it because it seemed unsolvable. Unlike the WordPress bug earlier, though, I’ve now found a fix. See reader comments for some alternate explanations of this fix.
Here’s the problem. A few days ago, Google Chrome stopped working on my laptop. It had recently upgraded itself to version 3.0.195.21, and all of a sudden, it no longer loaded pages–it didn’t just display a “page not found” error like some people on the net have experienced. It simply didn’t start loading any page, not even the ‘most visited’ thumbnails that Chrome usually displays in a new tab. The loading icon spun away, no helpful message appeared in the status bar telling me it was “contacting host…” or “getting coffee…”. Simply blank, with a perpetual spinning icon, mocking my foolish impulse to upgrade to the latest, buggy software.
Today I found out from this bug report thread that I need to run Chrome with the option “–no-sandbox”, to disable Sandbox, this fancy security layer that the browser uses which is supposed to improve my security. I guess it accomplished that pretty well, by not allowing me to surf the Internet. (To be fair, the developers do seem to put a lot of effort into fixing these bugs)
[UPDATE 5/24/2010] A word of warning from commenter Richard Druce:
Just a word of warning, what we are doing is disabling the main security feature of Chrome, so be careful when browing those nefarious sites! (And if there is a fix available, get rid of the option quick smart).
[UPDATE 8/16/2010] Turns out the -no-sandbox option might not necessarily work, but here’s another potential fix pointed out by 2 commenters below:
i went to C:\Users\(your profile name here)\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application and renamed the file from chrome.exe to whatever.exe, note you wonte see the .exe but the file is the application or executable file. I did the change went to my desktop launched it.
As a sidenote, here’s the bug report I linked to above:
What steps will reproduce the problem?
1.Open Google Chrome
2.Type in any address in the address in the addres bar that you know will
work in other browsers
3.Press enterWhat is the expected result?
It will load the pageWhat happens instead?
It will not load; no error
Does that strike anyone else as a little passive-aggressive? I know those are just honest answers to the bug report form, but still.
I hope this fix will help others out there who are struggling to use Chrome because it’s so damn fast and otherwise awesome. One caveat is that you might be experiencing similar issues that are caused by fundamentally different bugs. A quick search on “Google Chrome Not Working” or “Google Chrome not loading page” will tell you any number of possible sources of this error: Google Gears, Google Desktop, etc.
One bright side to all this: I’ve re-discovered the joys of Firefox 3.5. *sigh. Computers.
I am the other one here that I have same problem (and I feel we’re not alone). It seems dumb, waiting connections, looking for…? It’s quite strange I uninstalled and reinstalled it many times without any result. Looking on the net something come out (like your blog) without a valid suggestion and in Google forums, as usual, they don’t reply. I bookmarked your page and if I come out from this situation I’ll write you. Please, do the same
So WHY did this occur? I leave my office for one day, sign on when I return (this afternoon), and now Google Chrome doesn’t load? I wasn’t even here to do anything. I am SO past IE, and I can’t go back…Might as well face it…I’m addicted to Chrome…
this h
as happened to me too ! absolute joke ! tried everything to fix it
@paebac, @onthefly: I share your frustration, but still haven’t really gotten to the bottom of this. Does Chrome start working again if you run it with the parameter “–no-sandbox”? That works for me, and seems to for most ppl on the net. I’ve mostly stopped using it for routine purposes though — trusty old Firefox is pretty nice to me.
nope,nothing
the most annoyin thing is that I am using google wave which is way too slow in firefox and only worked well on chrome
heyas… a total google devotee and now pretty much devastated. have a netbook and chrome was such a perfect fit, ff is alright, but i want my chrome baby back!
I have the same problem today! Guess they didn’t work it out!
Do you find a way of hidding the problem?
Hey guys, I no longer have this problem because I upgraded to Windows 7 and reinstalled Chrome under that. I would first try the –no-sandbox option in starting the program (you can add this to the path to the program if you right click on the shortcut to chrome and hit “properties) and if that doesn’t work, you may have to do more googling and reading message boards. I think this can be caused by a few different things for different configurations so it’s hard to find one solution that helps everyone. Ok, good luck!
Thank you thank you. I’ve been trying to solve this issue for about 3 hours. Tried lots of solutions, nothing worked until now.
this solution works and I simply right clicked on the chrome shortcut–>properties and added the -no-sandbox command to the program path and it works!
add the -no-sandbox to the path as below(i.e. a space after chrome.exe and no quotes…:
C:\Users\Gus\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe -no-sandbox
thanks for the information. thanks to this, i finally got chrome back in working order again. so thanks again for the information.
I got mine finally working by doing the following (I’m using Windows 7)–Right click on Chrome icon on desktop, click on properties, click on compatability tab and make sure the compatibility box is unchecked. For some reason Windows set the Chrome compatibility box to run in Windows xp mode–go figure. Napo
Thanks for the solution. I had the same problem and the fix worked well. Just a word of warning, what we are doing is disabling the main security feature of Chrome, so be careful when browing those nefarious sites! (And if there is a fix available, get rid of the option quick smart).
Thanks Richard, I had a feeling there was a catch to this. I’ve added your cautionary words to the original post.
thanks a lot Angus…!
Doesn’t work for me either, i’m done with google chrome…
C:\Documents and Settings\Kazilias\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe -no-sandbox
tager box is not valid………? wtf
tagert*
Hey i found a solution to this. Its caused by a virus on your computer except most virus software doesn’t seem to work to delete it only put it in quarantine which doesn’t seemm to help.But if you download Hitman Pro and run using the free trial thats built in you can delete it and Google Chrome works again.
I finally found this site after searching everywhere. Thank you!
Hey i found a solution to this.
No you didn’t.
So, can anyone pls. explain in details how this sandbox thing works?
talking about putting in the path, I assume it the ‘Target’ box where the path is displayed. Wouldn’t it look for the filename that is ‘Chrome.exe-no-sandbox’
Ok replace the quotes, still would it make any difference. Just saying it from practical experience it doesn’t allow as already mentioned above by few people.
Help pls., yes, even I got addicted to Chrome and not feeling comfortable with IE
@Danny: You need a space between the filename and the ‘-no-sandbox’. Take a look at Angus’s comment above: he explains this pretty well.
I found somewhere that renaming chrome.exe to whatever.exe works without enabling the -no-sandbox option. And it does for me.
YES yes yes, i went to C:\Users\(your profile name here)\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application and renamed the file from chrome.exe to whatever.exe, note you wonte see the .exe but the file is the application or executable file. I did the change went to my desktop launched it and Oh yea it works baby.
Tried the -no-sandbox it didn’t work, plus there is a security issue.
@Palekiss & @Solidus: Interesting. I’ll add that to the list. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to debug this issue (doesn’t happen in Windows 7), so please let me know if this trick doesn’t work for some reason.
Same issue. I’m a web developer and Google Chrome <3'r. This is VERY annoying, to say the least.
Ohhh, thank for the comments my google chrome does work now! I just rename it to whatever.exe
Ty all .
So does renaming to whatever.exe create a security problem or not?
I cannot locate my Google Chrome .exe file to rename it. I have used the search button and searched it. All it locates is… (ON WINDOWS XP) C:/Documents and Settings/”USERNAME HEE”/Start Menu/Programs/Google Chrome
wtf?
I have the no-sandbox thing activated. Is this going to significantly slow and processes or anything? LMK
This worked!! Thank you!! My OS is XP. BTW: You can see the file extensions if, when you get to the Applications folder, you go to Tools>Folder Options>View and check the box “show extensions.” Thank you again.
i went to C:\Users\(your profile name here)\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application and renamed the file from chrome.exe to whatever.exe, note you wonte see the .exe but the file is the application or executable file. I did the change went to my desktop launched it.
google chrome sucks one min it is working the next it is not. i have important stuff in my favorites i cant even access them.
Yay! I got it working again. Apparently the problem was some kind of malware rootkit that wasn’t detected by Norton. (And apparently all other kinds of virus scanners. Kaspersky actually made some kind program that worked for me. That probably explains why no sandbox worked. It practically disables Chrome’s security feautures. I hope it works for you to.
http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/solutions?qid=208280684
I haved that problem and i fixed it via folowwing methods:
Go to (win XP): C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application
On WIN7: C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\
Find file “chrome.exe” and rename it to “728392.exe” (example)
And launch it
————————
Method 2:
Downloat following software: http://www.superantispyware.com/
And scann your computer.
Then remove all detected malwares.
Google chrome should work now.
…………………
Where is the problem?
Trojan Horse / Malware is blocking your Google chrome,but if you rename executable file of google chrome,they can’t find it again.
you are the best!!!!
Thanks a lot!
PaleKiss you are a genius. I renamed google.exe and now it finally works again. I have tried every other suggestion with no luck. God bless you.
pen cmd with administrative right and enter sfc /scannow
I have loaded Google chrome about twice and it
disappear from my browser for unknown resean need
help
I i have loaded Google chrome twich and it disappears
with no reason please advice me what to do
I love Chrome and it stopped working today for no apparent reason. Pages wouldn’t load anymore and I just got the ‘unresponsive pages’ messages. I couldn’t even go into options or clear browsing data.
I fixed it (at least for now!!! All fingers crossed!!!!) by renaming chrome.exe like suggested above! Shame I had de-installed it previously and lost all favourites… Let’s hope this works!!
I have exactly the same problem – Chrome won’t load up ANY pages, not even a new tab, for no good reason as far as I can see. Really don’t want to be frigging a solution, as I don’t know enough about technical stuff. Google – get your act together and sort it out!
xZero ยป You are a top man, I followed your file path and the problem is now sorted (see post Number 34 above). Thank you very much.
PS the shi**y thing though is I have lost all my saved tabs!! – VERY FRUSTRATING!! A PLAGUE ON GOOGLE, I say!!!
right click the google chrome shortcut, go to properties, append the target field with –no-sandbox , as i did
“C:\Documents and Settings\Karan\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” –no-sandbox
wow it worked…
I have a similar issue but I am on Mac OSX Lion. It seems everyone dealing with this issue is on a PC platform? Not sure what a sandbox is.
I know it’s not a malware/spyware issue–
At first it said profile does not exist. Now, regardless of what my search is or what I type in the address bar, nothing loads. The page just sits there..
Please advise?
I have OSX 10.6.8 with this issue. Any help for us Macheads?
Changing the name of chrome.exe did not suffice for me. I also had to create a new user profile by renaming the “default” directory as suggested by Google (https://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95669). I copied some of my files from the old “default” directory (like bookmarks, history, etc.) to restore my old configuration. My anti-virus is up to date, so I am at a loss as to what is causing this. Perhaps an extension problem. In any case, these two things fixed it for me.
For some reason, Chrome loads my home page, then immediately replaces it with a BSOD. It does still play the audio, but you can’t see anything. What is even stranger is that I can see all my other pages using Chrome, for example, http://www.races2u.com/about. The only differences I can think of between my home page and the others is that there is flash video on the home page. Any advice would be appreciated.
sand box one really works trust me