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Description of the issue:
I have been using the Brave browser since Feb 2022 and have encountered no major issues prior to this past month. Recently, whenever a downloaded file is completed the browser itself locks up and is rendered effectively unusable. Only upon a Cntrl-Alt-Dlt forced ‘End Task’ & a restart will the browser work again until the next download (of any size or time) occurs in which the same issue happens. If it is a single file it typically does fully download but at the expense of the browser properly functioning. What would be suggested to fix this issue?
How can this issue be reproduced?
Expected result:
Brave Version( check About Brave):
Up to date
Additional Information:
Only began in the last month.
Please always give an exact version number. We’ve had people say things like up to date but then after tons of attempts for help, they finally mentioned their version and we found out it was outdated. Once they updated, it fixed. So generally, it’s not liked to see someone answer with up to date.
Beyond that, I wanted to ask, which version of Windows are you using? It helps to know if it’s Windows 10, Windows 11, or what?
That aside, let me get more to the basic questions really quick:
Try to create a new browser profile. This should help to test if settings or any extensions might be causing any problems.
I know recently, Brave has changed how notifications work. Instead of the traditional button on the bottom, it now appears in a bubble up top. If you go to brave://flags and disable the Enable download bubble flags, do you still have the issue?
Beyond that, I’ll actually tag in @Mattches really quick because I’m also seeing someone else with a similar issue, over at How do I restore the download bar? - #4 by jman2k so hopefully he can check on the both of you and see if might have ideas.
@Amarillion,
As @Saoiray asked, I would also like to know whether or not disabling the download bubble resolves the issue of the browser crashing after downloading content.
that did not help for my issue. It doesn’t freeze it just endlessly goes into a loop. Small file size items will download eventually if I leave it for a long time.
I hope support responds more expediently on this one.
The issue for me gets worse if I have more tabs and windows open. I do prefer the new downloader though from a functional standpoint.
I have this same problem: After an upload or download to WordPress or Google Drive, the mouse completely freezes up within the browser (it still works in other programs) and the only way to use the browser is to kill it with the task manager and start over. This issue just started last week.
Thank you for the “flags” suggestion, which seems to have worked on a small uploaded test file.
FWIW, I am not an IT professional, I don’t understand what “bubble” and “shelf” mean, and I am disturbed by the “warning you could compromise your security!” notice when I followed your direction to go brave://flags/ and mess around with “experimental features”. What security am I compromising?
And on the next browser update, will I have to change these flags again?
Anyway, thanks again and let me know if you need more information about my experience to get it fixed.
@timbit2006,
Do you have any extensions installed in the browser this time? Further, can you please try testing the download behavior using a new profile and tell me whether or not you get the same results?
@radishthegreat,
The “bubble” we are referring to in this context is the download “bubble” that appears when you complete a download (shown below):
With respect to web browsers, these “flags” are essentially features that are not included in the browser UI due to them being either experimental (that is, they are still being worked on/may produce bugs or issues), do to the developer teams not wanting to have all of these options available, or a slew of other reasons.
As long as you do not go start changing the values of flags willy nilly without knowing what they do, you will be just fine and you will not be compromising anything with respect to security. Lastly, you will not need to change or reset these flags after a browser update.
