Google Chrome Crashes w/o Error Message

[EXCellR8]

This one's got me pretty stumped. Years ago I set my dad up with a mini ITX computer that ran Windows 7 64-bit and he never really had any issues with it, ever. More recently, though, he ran into a problem where any web browser would simply crash and I chalked it up to malware. For whatever reason he seemed to have ditched the AV software I installed so, instead of wasting time trying to clean up, I simply wiped the drive (Samsung SSD) and did a fresh install of the same OS. I also installed the latest version of Avast free.

This computer uses a Biostar AH68I-350 Deluxe motherboard with embedded AMD APU

Everything was good up until the other day when the same thing happened with Chrome, just quits without warning and then doesn't want to open again. You have to kill the process manually in order to re-launch the browser and it only lasts about a minute or so and it repeats the crash. There are no extensions running, and I've reset Chrome a few times, even deleting defaults in the system folder. Still crashes.

I can't figure it out... but unlike last time IE works fine and doesn't crash with the "IE has stopped working" error message. This leads me to believe that there is a bug in Chrome or that I need to install an older version, for now anyway. Never really had any problems with Chrome like this before, so I feel now that it's got to be some kind of compatibility glitch or something.

Does anyone have an idea of what this could be?

 

[mxnerd]

Check event viewer first see if you can catch any suspicious errors.

Clean browsers' caches.

Uninstall all extensions.

Use CCleaner free if needed.

And unistall unnecessary 3rd party antivirus. You don't need it most of the time if you are cautious about what you download/visit/receive.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/new-windows-10-pro-install-missing-admin-rights.2538912/

 

[EXCellR8]

There's nothing obvious in the event viewer and this is Windows 7 so I'd prefer that he have the AV software. He's typically pretty good about his browsing habits but not completely aware. I may be moving him to Windows 10 this weekend if I have the time but I still run 7 64-bit on other machines, and use Chrome without issue, so it's just a bit peculiar.

 

[mikeymikec]

There's nothing obvious in the event viewer and this is Windows 7 so I'd prefer that he have the AV software.

Bear in mind you can remove the software for a short period of time while you test the computer. If there is an official removal tool from the AV vendor, I'd use that rather than the normal uninstall routine to completely clear out what could be a faulty AV install that doesn't get completely removed through a normal uninstall routine.

If I were you I wouldn't replace the OS until you've figured out what the stability issue is, because you could end up with a less functional OS than you had to begin with.

If the user's Chrome set-up isn't essential then uninstalling Chrome and having it delete the user data could be another tactic you might try. I'd also try Firefox on there and see if that has any issues.

I'd also check the SMART data for the storage drive (with say CrystalDiskInfo). A Malwarebytes scan might be a good idea as well (I normally do custom scan, specify C drive and tick the rootkits box).

 

[EXCellR8]

I had already done a Chrome reset, delete, and full reinstall prior to wiping the drive and then installing Windows 7 from scratch. I had also done a remote scan of the drive with ESET Antivirus and Bitdefender, which found a couple of things, but I didn't see anything too conclusive. I didn't think Malwarebytes was any good anymore, so that's something that I did not try. Just doesn't seem to be malware related since I did a fresh OS install and only restored some personal files after the fact.

Before I wiped the drive, every browser including IE and Firefox was crashing but I haven't tried them on the computer now, so I can spend a few minutes experimenting with that I suppose. The computer works fine aside from this issue so if I can't figure it out tonight I will likely wipe the drive again.

Thanks for the input.

 

[EXCellR8]

Try turning off the hardware acceleration in Chrome settings.

didn't make a difference I'm afraid; upon restarting the browser it crashed again within 2 minutes

 

[RLGL]

Test the memory with memtest

 

[mxnerd]

I also suspect memory problem.

Run memtest86 7.5

https://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

 

[Tirthankar Bose]

Try using CC cleaner or may be cleaning your browser cache

 

[Binky]

Logged into a chrome user profile? That would come with extensions and settings. Maybe those are causing it.

 

[EXCellR8]

All extensions are disabled and/or uninstalled and the cache has been cleared numerous times.

I was never actually able to figure out why this was happening. I had also tried a different set of DDR3 memory (did not think this to be the cause but had the time to try anyway) and it didn't help.