Windows 10 crashing when launching Brave Browser

Description of the issue:
Since a week everytime I launch Brave Browser, Windows 10 crashes each time.

How can this issue be reproduced?
It happens everytime when I launch Brave Browser for the first time after Windows starts or has restarted.

Expected result:
Brave Browser starting normally and Windows 10 not crashing.

Brave Version:
Latest from downloading with BraveBrowserSetup.exe
Can’t check as Windows keeps crashing.

Additional Information:
It started with the Brave Browser freezing 2 weeks ago. Then it seemed solved but it returned that same day and then the Windows started to crash.
I uninstalled Brave Browser and the operating system worked normal.
I installed a few days ago the Brave Browser again and now every time I launch the Browser Windows crashes, reboots the system with error code CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED
Then the operating system keeps hanging at the operation system boot up (blinking - operator) and I have to do a hard start (power off) to start Windows normally again.

System: Windoes 10 Home Version 1903 Build 18362.535
AMD Athlon X4 8880K
16 GB RAM
GTX 1070

1 Like

@mr.Natural,
Can you please try the solution found in this thread and see if this resolves the issue for you?

1 Like

@Mattches Thanks for the help. Long story short. I used the shortcut trick --disable-gpu and Brave browser started (after a few minutes) just to find out that hardware accelration was already turned off :frowning:

So it is definitely gpu related. I updated my gpu driver as I found out that yesterday there was a new release. And after reinstalling Brave it starts now.
Although I have to mention that is still takes over a minute to actually start after launching and my Windows 10 is somewhat frozen during that period.

The other odd thing is that after the first problematic launch and closing again, Brave launches within seconds as intended.
I like to point out that I’ve kept hardware acceleration turned on. Turning it off does not improve the slow starting problem. It actually makes it worse (takes longer).

I can live with it now and hopefully will improve with the next gpu driver update.
With my old driver all was fine:
430.64-desktop-win10-64bit-international-whql
The poblems started with:
441.20-desktop-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql
and was improved with:
441.87-desktop-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql

@mr.Natural,
I’m glad you were able to at least get the browser up and running. Do you have any extensions installed in the browser at this time or does this happen with just the base installation?

@Mattches
Just base installation, fresh install , all default

A side note: Minecraft (bedrock) was also sometimes crashing when the problem started. (I have all settings up to max possible). After latest update it is also not crashing anymore.

1 Like

With the latest update (V1903 Build 18362.592) the crashing of windows is sometimes happening again. And I doubt that there is a crash report send to Brave as windows just dies (black screen).

@Mattches how can I assist with tackling this bug?

@mr.Natural,
This may sound a bit weird but can you try downloading and installing the Beta build of the browser and see if you get the same results? Note that this won’t delete or overwrite any information from your previous Brave installation.

2 Likes

The Beta works like a charm. Whatever it is, it is fortunately not my system that is corrupted or infected (and yes I scanned my PC).

I would hate to not use Brave, certainly not since there is the Tor Tab. Love it :slight_smile:

1 Like

@mr.Natural,
If the Beta is working then your original installation can probably be fixed as well. Can you try clearing your browsing data/history/cache and then see if the browser will launch without crashing? I have a feeling it’s bad data in there.

1 Like

Also experiencing this on 2 different Windows 10 laptops. Seeing same with Beta version. Runs with compatibility set to Windows 8, but it’s a horrible experience to have to right click and set the compatibility EVERY time I want to open the browser.

How do we fix??

@bousquetcm,
Your description sounds a bit different – do you have Symantec Endpoint protection installed by chance?

@Mattches
Tried everything, also used CCleaner. It is still crashing or taking like 5 minutes to start.
It is the same Chromium version as the beta (79.0.3945.130) but Brave is version 1.3.99 with the Beta and the Stable is still on version 1.2.43 (was 1.2.42)

@mr.Natural,
If you launch the browser (stable) in private browsing mode, does the browser still crash or does it stay open?

@Mattches
I changed the brave shortcut by adding -incognito. No difference.

What is odd that sometimes when launching Brave, Windows crashes, Brave crashes or after one or two minutes Brave starts and I can use it. I can’t see a pattern other then Windows doesn’t like what is happening (Windows becomes very slow or non-responsive while Brave is starting).

Thread continues here

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