Chrome is one of the oldest and most loved browsers. But, it is having a hard time staying relevant due to numerous frequent errors, like the site crashing, high CPU usage, slow performance, and more. One of them is an empty black screen that can appear out of nowhere.
The reasons for such an error are comparatively unknown. But, we suspect that it can be due to compatibility issues with either the current Chrome version or your Windows OS. This is why we’ll need to apply a variety of solutions to properly get rid of the error.
Table of Contents
How to Fix My Google Screen Black
Prior to moving to the solutions, try closing and restarting Chrome itself. Next, you can also resize the window. Click on the Restore Down option and use Chrome in a windowed mode. But, if you’re still facing the black screen error, here are some remedies to apply:
Disable/Remove Suspicious Extensions
Extensions are fun to use, but they’re not always the best companion for your browser. This is because selected suspicious extensions can come with bugs, corrupted files, or even malware. They’re also always running in the background, which can contribute to its high CPU usage problem. As a result, there will be compatibility issues with Chrome and lead to webpage crashes.
Here’s how to remove a Chrome extension:
- Click on the three-dotted menu and go to More Tools.
- Then, select Extensions.
- Look for the extensions that might be causing the error. Then, slide the toggle and click on Remove.
Run Chrome in Compatibility Mode
Chrome can also crash and show a black error due to compatibility issues with your Windows version. In such cases, it’s best to run it using the compatibility mode option. Doing so will launch Chrome, that’s best suited for an older Windows version.
- Hit right-click on the Chrome icon on your PC.
- Go to Properties.
- Now, click on the Compatibility tab.
- Check the box that says Run this program in Compatibility mode for.
- You can now choose either Windows 7 or Windows 8.
- Lastly, click on Apply and OK.
- Restart Chrome.
Disable Your Chrome Flags
An uncommon corner of Chrome is its flags. These are features that are still in the experimental phase on your browser. This also means that they are fragile and may stop working or crash the browser sometimes. Thankfully, Chrome allows you to disable these flags when needed. Here are the steps to do so:
- Simply visit
chrome://flags, and then you’ll view a page where you can see all of the flags. - Next to each flag, click on the Default option.
- Then, select the Disabled option.
Turn Off Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration means that certain apps or programs delegate some heavy tasks to the hardware components on your PC. Usually, hardware acceleration is always turned on by default, and it’s not ideal to keep it turned off as it will be taxing on your CPU. However, the very same factor can also be heavy on your browser, like Chrome.
As a result, you might face sudden errors like the blank black screen. So, in exceptional cases like these, you can try turning off hardware acceleration temporarily. Here’s how you do it:
- Go to Chrome settings by clicking on the three-dotted menu in the top-right corner.
- Next, click on System from the left sidebar.
- Next to the option that says Use Hardware Acceleration When Available, slide the toggle back to turn it off.
- Click on Relaunch.
Now, you may restart Chrome.
Reset Chrome Settings
An unknown black screen error can also pop up due to changes in your Chrome settings. Although the settings themselves aren’t anything to worry about, they can lead to compatibility issues.
On the other hand, additional extensions or certain links and downloads can also make unauthorized changes to your settings due to viruses. To counter all these unexpected changes, you can simply reset your settings back to default. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Go to Settings from the three-dotted menu in the top-right corner.
- Click on Reset and Clean Up from the left sidebar.
- You’ll now visit a new page where you’ll see the option that says Restore settings to their original defaults. Click on it and proceed.
- In the pop-up option, click on Reset settings to confirm your changes.
If you want to directly visit the same page, you can also copy and paste this URL into the address bar: chrome://settings/resetProfileSettings.
