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Ocean Wong avatar Ubuntu

All browser (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) won't start, hangs without any action - Ubuntu 22.04

ke flag
Ocean Wong

Problem

After a routine update, Chrome and Firefox no longer launch (which makes making this post quite difficult).

Symptoms

When launching Firefox or Chrome by clicking the icon on the dock, the mouse cursor displays the loading animation while name of the app being loaded is displayed on the top bar next to the Activities button for about 5 seconds. And then after that it disappears. top bar display

If I attempt to launch it from terminal by entering "firefox" or "google-chrome-stable", it will simply hang until I press ctrl+C, without starting any new window of Google Chrome/Firefox. launch from terminal

In both cases, it will lead to a new instance of Google Chrome/Firefox to be started, evident from the pstree, even though no visible windows are displayed. pstree

One saving grace is that all other apps that aren't browser-based apps (i.e. gedit, sublime text, even Telegram) works, and the internet connectivity is working fine.

Attempted solution and other useful clues

  • "turning computer off-and-on-again" approach - each reboot was slow and takes about 2 minutes (much longer than the usual shutdown time of <10 seconds). Attempted many reboots, and even looked into the bios.
  • log out - Logging out gives a completely black screen. I can't see a way to recover from that except to force shutdown.
  • use x11 instead of wayland - did not yield any difference
  • switching to tty and back - pressing alt+ctrl+F7 always yield a blackscreen.
  • deleted gnome extensions (i.e. extensions installed from https://extensions.gnome.org/) - This was done because, during my many reboots, firefox and chrome worked one time surpriously, and in that boot, all of the gnome extensions installed at ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/ were disabled. So I suspected that had something to do with it. In the end I've deleted all extensions in ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/ and /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions (and made my life slightly harder in the process) but with no effect at all.
  • The /var/log/apt/history.log of the specific update that broke these browsers looks like this:
Commandline: aptdaemon role='role-commit-packages' sender=':1.103'
Install: linux-modules-extra-6.2.0-26-generic:amd64 (6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1, automatic),
linux-hwe-6.2-headers-6.2.0-26:amd64 (6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1, automatic),
linux-modules-6.2.0-26-generic:amd64 (6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1, automatic),
linux-image-6.2.0-26-generic:amd64 (6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1, automatic),
linux-headers-6.2.0-26-generic:amd64 (6.2.0-26.26~22.04.1, automatic)
Upgrade: yaru-theme-icon:amd64 (22.04.4, 22.04.5),
libgpgmepp6:amd64 (1.16.0-1.2ubuntu4, 1.16.0-1.2ubuntu4.1),
libgl1-amber-dri:amd64 (21.3.7-0ubuntu1, 21.3.9-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
libglx-mesa0:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
language-pack-en-base:amd64 (1:22.04+20230209, 1:22.04+20230801),
google-chrome-stable:amd64 (115.0.5790.102-1, 115.0.5790.170-1),
libgtk-4-common:amd64 (4.6.6+ds-0ubuntu1, 4.6.9+ds-0ubuntu0.22.04.1),
gnome-control-center-faces:amd64 (1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.6, 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.7),
libunwind8:amd64 (1.3.2-2build2, 1.3.2-2build2.1),
libldap-common:amd64 (2.5.14+dfsg-0ubuntu0.22.04.2, 2.5.15+dfsg-0ubuntu0.22.04.1),
ufw:amd64 (0.36.1-4build1, 0.36.1-4ubuntu0.1),
libgbm1:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
libmutter-10-0:amd64 (42.9-0ubuntu1, 42.9-0ubuntu4),
linux-image-generic-hwe-22.04:amd64 (5.19.0.50.22, 6.2.0.26.26~22.04.7),
language-pack-en:amd64 (1:22.04+20230209, 1:22.04+20230801),
language-pack-gnome-en-base:amd64 (1:22.04+20230209, 1:22.04+20230801),
libxatracker2:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
gir1.2-gtk-4.0:amd64 (4.6.6+ds-0ubuntu1, 4.6.9+ds-0ubuntu0.22.04.1),
mutter-common:amd64 (42.9-0ubuntu1, 42.9-0ubuntu4),
libegl1-mesa:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
python-apt-common:amd64 (2.4.0ubuntu1, 2.4.0ubuntu2),
libgpgme11:amd64 (1.16.0-1.2ubuntu4, 1.16.0-1.2ubuntu4.1),
libldap-2.5-0:amd64 (2.5.14+dfsg-0ubuntu0.22.04.2, 2.5.15+dfsg-0ubuntu0.22.04.1),
mesa-va-drivers:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
libgl1-mesa-glx:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
yaru-theme-sound:amd64 (22.04.4, 22.04.5),
libpcsclite1:amd64 (1.9.5-3, 1.9.5-3ubuntu1),
yaru-theme-gtk:amd64 (22.04.4, 22.04.5),
gir1.2-mutter-10:amd64 (42.9-0ubuntu1, 42.9-0ubuntu4),
mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
base-files:amd64 (12ubuntu4.3, 12ubuntu4.4),
python3-apt:amd64 (2.4.0ubuntu1, 2.4.0ubuntu2),
linux-headers-generic-hwe-22.04:amd64 (5.19.0.50.22, 6.2.0.26.26~22.04.7),
linux-generic-hwe-22.04:amd64 (5.19.0.50.22, 6.2.0.26.26~22.04.7),
python3-distro-info:amd64 (1.1build1, 1.1ubuntu0.1),
gnome-control-center-data:amd64 (1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.6, 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.7),
linux-firmware:amd64 (20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.14, 20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.17),
distro-info:amd64 (1.1build1, 1.1ubuntu0.1),
libglapi-mesa:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
libgtk-4-1:amd64 (4.6.6+ds-0ubuntu1, 4.6.9+ds-0ubuntu0.22.04.1),
gnome-control-center:amd64 (1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.6, 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.7),
language-pack-gnome-en:amd64 (1:22.04+20230209, 1:22.04+20230801),
thermald:amd64 (2.4.9-1ubuntu0.2, 2.4.9-1ubuntu0.3),
libegl-mesa0:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
libgtk-4-bin:amd64 (4.6.6+ds-0ubuntu1, 4.6.9+ds-0ubuntu0.22.04.1),
mesa-vdpau-drivers:amd64 (22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.3, 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1),
yaru-theme-gnome-shell:amd64 (22.04.4, 22.04.5)
End-Date: 2023-08-07  09:51:49```
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Ocean Wong avatar Ubuntu
ke flag
Ocean Wong

Thanks for @HuHa 's answer, I looked into journalctl and finally pinned down this issue as a graphics card issue. In the Software & Update App -> Additional Drivers tab, I switched driver from X.Org X server -- Nouveau display driver From xserver-xorg-video-nouveau (open source) to the first option NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-535 (proprietary, tested) (something I never thought I'd do, switching back to NVIDIA) and the issue fixed itself.

There are still a few errors here and there, mainly some momentary blackscreens and mysterious journalctl messages during login/out and turning on/off. But they're much preferable to not having internet access.

(And I managed to re-enable all my gnome extensions with a little bit of fiddling around (opening the Extensions app from the start menu and toggling the first box there.))

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HuHa avatar Ubuntu
es flag
HuHa

Those chrome_crashpad processes that you see in the pstree output sound like something has crashed.

Maybe your machine ran out of memory (RAM + swap). Maybe your disk got read errors. Maybe your RAM got a hardware problem. This may appear on Internet browsers first because they consume a lot of disk space and a lot of RAM.

Check the journal (sudo journalctl) for suspicious messages. Check the disk with smartmontools, the RAM with memtest86.

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Ocean Wong avatar
ke flag
Ocean Wong
Thanks for that! I've confirmed that this isn't a memory issue, and BIOS diagnostics says the hardware is intact. However, there's a clue in the `journalctl` that shows every boot after the update comes with suspicious `kernel: CPU: 0 PID: 1947 Comm: gnome-shell Not tainted 6.2.0-26-generic #26~22.04.1-Ubuntu` type warning message. Perhaps I'll start a different question/thread.
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