Gmail won't load

February 21, 2019 8:11 AM

For a couple weeks now, Gmail won't load on my Chromebook. Apparently it's been an issue for others. I went through the protocols I found online. Delete cache, and so on. No success. It works in Incognito mode. The slow, standard, clunky mode works but, yuck. Any suggestions? Thanks.
posted by holdenjordahl to Technology (11 answers total)

Best answer: I've had the same issue on my work computer, having to go to incognito mode. The problem... just went away on its own.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:19 AM on February 21, 2019

Response by poster: Hello Capt. Renault.
How long until it went away?
Thanks.
posted by holdenjordahl at 8:47 AM on February 21, 2019

Best answer: If it works in incognito mode but not in regular mode it's usually because of an extension. Does it work in regular mode with all extensions disabled?
posted by Cosine at 8:50 AM on February 21, 2019

Best answer: How long until it went away?

A month? All the usual or suggested steps did nothing. Then one day it just came back.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:27 AM on February 21, 2019

Best answer: The only way to know for sure, since Gmail starts fine in incognito mode, is to disable all your extensions in non-incognito Chrome and restart your browser. Then reactivate one single extension, close and reopen your browser, and try to open Gmail. If Gmail opens fine, repeat the process with a second extension activated (do not deactivate the first one). Repeat for each extension you have, until you find the one that, when you reactivate it, makes Gmail not start. There's your problem. Remove that extension entirely.

If you have a lot of extensions, this can be both tedious and a really good opportunity to take a look at your installed extensions and think "do I need this?" and if not, uninstall ones you don't need.
posted by pdb at 9:49 AM on February 21, 2019

Best answer: I had a similar problem when i was setting up a chromebook a few years ago, I had so many clunky extensions, the browser wouldn't even open to let me remove extensions. I had to log into another computer, remover/trim all the unnecessary extensions then go back to my chromebook, which then loads my profile with all my extensions, and it was able to bring up the browser.
posted by edman at 10:19 AM on February 21, 2019

Best answer: If you've not done so already, turn on developer mode before you try to load Gmail and see if anything in the console gives you an indication what's hanging up.
posted by Candleman at 10:55 AM on February 21, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks for all these responses!
I'll try to eliminate conflicting extensions this evening.
One thing I've noticed. It works fine when I switch the browser to Firefox. It was hung up in Chrome.
Might that be significant?
posted by holdenjordahl at 11:37 AM on February 21, 2019

Response by poster: Just took a gander at the extensions.
First one, Awesome Screenshot. Turned it off. Reloaded the browser.
Bingo - success!
Thanks everyone!
posted by holdenjordahl at 11:48 AM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

holdenjordahl -

Sort of? That confirms that a Chrome extension is more than likely causing your problem.
posted by pdb at 11:50 AM on February 21, 2019

Seems that Awesome Screenshot has a post about their issues with Chrome here

But seriously, you want to avoid Awesome Screenshot due to privacy issues as illustrated here and here. Now people could say but that was SO LONG AGO, but what do we say in relationship threads in AskMefi, if someone shows or tells you who they are then believe it.
posted by jadepearl at 3:31 PM on February 21, 2019