chromium no longer working [SOLVED]

[zealbert]

Hello,
All of a sudden, chromium is not working anymore. When I try to open it, it does a weird thing where I can see my desktop background, through the chromium opening page, I don't know how to explain it. Or, there is just black, and there is only "enhanced by google" in small print on the black background. My other browsers are working fine (firefox and Chrome). I tried uninstalling and re-installing chromium, re-booting, but it didn't help.
This is my system information:

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System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-72-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.8
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B460M GAMING HD serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: F5 date: 11/23/2021
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: Intel Core i5-10400 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Comet Lake rev: 5 cache:
    L1: 384 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB L3: 12 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/4300 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800
    7: 800 8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800 bogomips: 69597
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CometLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: Gigabyte driver: i915 v: kernel
    ports: active: HDMI-A-2 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:9bc5
  Device-2: WaveRider USB 2.0 Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-7.1:4
    chip-ID: 0c46:6363
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96
  Monitor-1: HDMI-2 mapped: HDMI-A-2 model: Dell S2421H res: 1920x1080 dpi: 93
    diag: 604mm (23.8")
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.2.5 direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Comet Lake PCH-V cAVS vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a3f0
  Device-2: Generalplus Usb Audio Device type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
    bus-ID: 1-7.3:6 chip-ID: 1b3f:2008
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-72-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169
    v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: tun0 state: unknown speed: 10 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 720.92 GiB (61.8%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WDS100T2G0A-00JH30 size: 931.52 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Patriot model: N/A size: 235.75 GiB serial: <filter>
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.33 GiB used: 558.73 GiB (61.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0 C mobo: 16.8 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: apt: 2282
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https: //dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //packages.linuxmint.com vera main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list
Info:
  Processes: 340 Uptime: 42m Memory: 15.49 GiB used: 6.1 GiB (39.4%) Init: systemd v: 249
  runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Unknown python3.10 client inxi: 3.3.13

[RIH]

It might be an idea to type "chromium" into a terminal & post back here any output in your next post.

Note: For ease of read it is best to always put terminal output between the code (</>) tags that appear just above the reply box.
That also goes for System information in your first post. An edit by you (use the pen icon) on your first post would make it much more readable..

[GeoffTF]

I had exactly the same problem. Firefox was fine. Reinstalling Chromium made no difference. I expect that Chromium was killed by an update to one of its dependencies. I have now installed the Flatpak version and that works.

[Artim]

The same thing happened with my Brave browser (based on Chromium) after an update last week. I replaced Brave with Chromium (.deb, not Flatpak) and it has been fine. Let it be for now. These things usually "fix themselves" with future updates.

[terry_g]

I had the same problem both Brave and Chrome stopped working. I went into my home folder and opened /.config.
/.config contains two folders google-chrome and BraveSoftware. I renamed both of these folders to google-chrome-old BraveSoftware-old and when I started Brave and Chrome the folders were created again with the original names and both brave and Chrome worked again however I lost all my bookmarks and saved passwords.

[RIH]

If you sign into Chrome when using and use sync then when you re-open the Browser after removing the google-chrome folder then you do not lose anything.
I am not a Brave browser user, but I am sure that is possible with it as well..

[zealbert]

I typed "chromium" in the terminal, and got a huge output, I don't think you want to go through it, do you? This came at the very end:
<

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Errors:
link failed but did not provide an info log

>
For some reason it also tried to start the Chromium browser, with the same previously described appearance, unusable.
Sorry, I'm not computer savvy; how does one install the "flatpak" version?

[SMG]

This sounds like the same problem everyone else was reporting with Chrome (which is same base browser).

Try the suggestion terry_g suggested. You can also try disabling Hardware Acceleration. Either one of those is likely to correct the issue.

[minticle]

Ditto, Chromium is failing after a re-install. I thought it was just me, because I use it as a javascript-disabled backup browser. Here's a fragment of my terminal output. It seems to repeat the same error message a million times, I didn't count.

And yes, renaming the chromium directory in /home/me/.config fixed it!

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------------------------
// Vertex SKSL
#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation : require
in half2 a_vertex;uniform half4 u_texCoordXform;uniform half4 u_posXform;noperspective out half2 v_texCoord;void main() {v_texCoord = half2(a_vertex.xy * u_texCoordXform.xy + u_texCoordXform.zw);sk_Position.xy = a_vertex * u_posXform.xy + u_posXform.zw;sk_Position.zw = half2(0, 1);}
// Fragment SKSL
#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation : require
noperspective in half2 v_texCoord;uniform sampler2D u_texture;void main() {sk_FragColor = sample(u_texture, v_texCoord);}
// Vertex GLSL
#version 300 es

#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation : require
precision mediump float;
precision mediump sampler2D;
in mediump vec2 a_vertex;
uniform mediump vec4 u_texCoordXform;
uniform mediump vec4 u_posXform;
noperspective out mediump vec2 v_texCoord;
void main() {
    v_texCoord = a_vertex * u_texCoordXform.xy + u_texCoordXform.zw;
    gl_Position.xy = a_vertex * u_posXform.xy + u_posXform.zw;
    gl_Position.zw = vec2(0.0, 1.0);
}

// Fragment GLSL
#version 300 es

#extension GL_NV_shader_noperspective_interpolation : require
precision mediump float;
precision mediump sampler2D;
out mediump vec4 sk_FragColor;
noperspective in mediump vec2 v_texCoord;
uniform sampler2D u_texture;
void main() {
    sk_FragColor = texture(u_texture, v_texCoord);
}


Errors:
link failed but did not provide an info log
[70927:70927:0529/093520.257898:ERROR:shared_context_state.cc(77)] Skia shader compilation error

The weirdest aspect of the problem is that the menus and the windows don't display correctly, not just the pages within the browser. Here are screenshots when trying to view the drop-down triple dot menu ("Customize and control Chromium") and the "Show side panel" option:

[GeoffTF]

Sorry, I'm not computer savvy; how does one install the "flatpak" version?

(1). Launch the Software Manager.
(2). Type chromium into the search box and hit the return key.
(3). You will see "Chromium Web Browser LM Package" and "Chromium Web Browser The web browser from Chromium project Flathub".
(4). Click on the LM Package version, and uninstall it.
(5). Click on the Flathub version and install it.

You will lose your bookmarks. The other suggested solution is probably the better one.

[LinuxMe863]

May 29 11:37 am edt
Same problem here. Running LM 21.0 Cinnamon DE on a Dell Optiplex/Intel. Firefox was running fine. Chromium over past couple days became increasingly dysfunctional.
If first typed "sudo chromium" in to Terminal and got error message. Then typed just "chromium" and it opened to my home page as normal. Banking pages also. Every image, every tab showed normally. So I opened the Settings ("customize and control") , disabled Hardware Acceleration, closed that, closed Chromium., and then when I went to re-launch Chromium, everything was back to normal. Mike, Fla

[mikeflan]

This problem, which seems to be widespread amount LM 21 users, is apparently not affecting LM 20.3 users like me. I just did a full update and Chromium works fine.

[zealbert]

I uninstalled the current version, installed the flatpak version, as suggested by GeoffTF, and reimported my bookmarks from Firefox, everything seems to be working fine. I didn't have to disable hardware acceleration.

[SMG]

I uninstalled the current version, installed the flatpak version, as suggested by GeoffTF, and reimported my bookmarks from Firefox, everything seems to be working fine. I didn't have to disable hardware acceleration.

The issue appears to be a personal settings issue. By starting over with new blank settings (because you installed the flatpak version), you cleared the settings you were using which caused the issue. Had you renamed the settings file and generated a new one with what you already had installed, you would have also cleared the issue.

[zealbert]

Yes. The problem is, I am a COMPLEAT idiot with computers, and I have no understanding of what you just wrote;
I don't know what "my personal settings" are, I don't know what "new blank settings" are, and I didn't know I had settings which "caused the issue". I have no idea what it involves to rename and generate a new setting file, and I don't even know what a "setting file" is. Sorry, I need very baby step by step instructions.
I appreciate you trying to help me though. It's just that the whole thing is like a foreign language to me.
Anyway, it seems to be working now. I think somebody messed up in one of the updates, since so many people are having the same issue.

[mikeflan]

For me I think my chromium settings are in this directory:
/home/mike/.config/chromium
I would shutdown chromium, rename chromium above to chromium-backup, and then restart chromium.

[zealbert]

Where do you type in a directory?

[minticle]

When you change settings for a program in Linux--for example, when you change your default search engine in Firefox to "Ask Jeeves" or whatever--it is enacted by modifying a file in your home directory. It's usually hidden: the filename starts with a dot. So by default you wouldn't see it as one of the folders in your graphic OS file manager.

So, to follow the instructions in this thread, you have to open Terminal. Click on "Applications>Terminal". At the $ prompt, type in:

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$ pwd 

This tells you which directory you're in. By default, Terminal puts you in your home directory. Say you called your computer "zealbert" when you set things up: pwd will give you '/home/zealbert' as your current location. So next, type

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$ ls -a 

This shows you all the files, including the hidden ones with dots in front of them. (Omit the -a and you will see only the non-hidden files.)

Navigate inside .config, which is one of the files in your home directory, by typing

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$ cd .config

There should be a chromium directory in there, not hidden. To change the directory name, type

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$ mv chromium chromium-old

By typing ls again, you will see that you've changed that directory's name. After you open Chromium (the program) again, a fresh directory will be generated, with new default settings. All your "Ask Jeeves" preferences will remain inside chromium-old, but Chromium won't be looking for them in the directory you created. That's how the fix works: it hides the original preferences from the program by forcing it to create a new default directory.

[minticle]

Also, it looks like you tried to mark the topic as "solved" but did it on a post subject heading instead of the thread title. See here for instructions on how to change the thread title:

viewtopic.php?t=267264

[PaulL]

@minticle Thank you for the very clear explanation.