I have used Brave browser for almost a year with no issues but in the past week I have started having constant crashes that make it impossible to use. I open the browser and after 1 minute I get the “Aw snap” error message and it goes to desktop. I have tried all of the suggested fixes: reinstalled brave multiple times, tested system compatibility (I have windows 10 version 21h1), used InPrivate, cleared cache. After all of these attempts, it still crashes. I have Brave version 1.44.101. I also tried another browser (Firefox) and I experience the same crashing.
The above post has some workarounds.
Basically it said that if you are using PC matic then try disabling it and then it should work. Do check for yourself though.
I think the troubleshooting points in the topic @SmartyAadi linked are:
Extensions may be causing the problem. However, if the problem is still occurring in a new private window, it probably isn’t an extension. Still, you may want to try disabling any extensions you have and see if the same behavior occurs.
Anti-virus software installed: Try temporarily disabling any anti-virus software you have installed and see if the behavior still occurs. If your anti-virus is causing the problem, then confirm Brave is whitelisted and/or add Brave to any allowed lists. If you do not have that option, then contact your anti-virus support for help.
Please post an update with the name of the anti-virus software you are using if that’s what is causing the problem. I think this type of information is reported to the dev team so they are aware and maybe can address the issue on their end in some way.
Other troubleshooting things you can try and requests for additional information listed below. Please post an update. If nothing works, your next option is to tag Brave support for help.
Is there any other information besides “Aw snap” displayed? There are many types of “Aw Snap” errors and providing the specific error your are getting can be helpful when troubleshooting. I am posting links to various articles for troubleshooting “Aw Snap” errors. A lot of the information applies to any of the various errors while some are more specific. Just click the right error to expand the topic.
Are there any crash reports at brave://crashes? If there are, please post the crash ids. Also, make Automatically send diagnostic reports at brave://settings/privacy is enabled.
And stopping now since Mattches posted. I really meant to just save this and not post it! Ooops. Hope you can find a solution! Take care.
@Matzes,
To be clear, you are seeing this behavior in both Brave and other browsers? If so it (obviously) is not specific to Brave. I’m wondering if you’re using a VPN or maybe you have some anti-virus software running on your system that may be interfering with the browsers.
All of my extensions were disabled and I still experience crashes. I did not have any antivirus installed when the crashes started. I currently use bitdefender. This is a screenshot of the error message. I cannot get a better one because it closes immediately after this
Can you try right-clicking on the Brave icon in the taskbar and select New private window and tell me if you get the same behavior? I’m wondering if a specific site that you have open in one of the tabs is causing the issue.
Can you please try disabling BitDefender and test anyway to check and see if anything changes?
I opened Brave with new private window like you suggested. No tabs or applications open. Just the default new tab page. After approximately 1 minute it crashes to desktop and I don’t even get an error message. I also disabled Bitdefender and I had the same result.
@Matzes,
Very strange — thank you for testing. In that 1 minute time period, can you please go to brave://crashes and snag some of the crash report IDs you see there and share them so I can take a look?
As @Chocoholic said above, these IDs won’t appear until the report is sent. If Automatically send diagnostic reports is already enabled, then you should see the IDs listed. If not, you’ll have to select Send now on the relevant crash, then the ID will appear.
I understand that you have limited time here but if you can move quickly before the browser crashes you should be able to grab some. Would go a long way to figuring out the issue at hand.
@Matzes,
I’ve informed the team about this. In the meantime, can you please try updating the browser to the latest build (v1.44.105 at the time of writing this) and test to see if this fixes the crashing?
Since your browser will likely crash before the update is complete, please try re-running the installer to update (doing this will simply fetch the latest updates, not overwrite your current installation).
So it’s now crashing faster than it was previously?
I’m going to have to ask some devs about this as I’m not clear on what would be causing these crashes at this point. In the interim, can you try downloading the Beta build of the browser and test to see whether or not it to crashes?
I uninstalled Brave and tested the Beta build. Still crashes. I am still unable to get error logs. I tested it with and without extensions and it invariably crashes. My extensions are bitdefender anti-tracker, bitdefender wallet, and safe torrent scanner. If that helps.
And when you said in your earlier reply that you’d disabled BitDefender, were you referring to the application installed on your system or were you referring to the extension in the browser?
