How to Fix Chrome Black Screen

A black Chrome window, or black pages inside Chrome, almost always means Chrome and your computer’s graphics chip are not getting along. The fix that works most often is to turn off graphics acceleration, so Chrome draws pages without the graphics chip:

1. In the address bar, go to chrome://settings/system. Or select More (the three dots at the top right) > Settings > System.
2. Turn off Use graphics acceleration when available.
3. Select Relaunch.

Google’s own help page for Chrome crashes gives the same fix, under its older name, “Use hardware acceleration when available”. These steps are for Chrome on a computer. If the page goes white instead of black, see how to fix a white screen in Chrome.

If the whole Chrome window is black

When you can’t see anything in Chrome, you can’t reach Settings either. Start Chrome once with the graphics chip switched off, using the --disable-gpu switch from the Chromium guide to command-line switches:

• Windows: close Chrome, right-click the Chrome shortcut, select Properties, and add a space and --disable-gpu at the end of the Target line. Step-by-step help is in our Windows black screen guide.
• Mac: quit Chrome with Command + Q, open Terminal and run:
  /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --disable-gpu
• Linux: quit Chrome and run google-chrome --disable-gpu in a terminal.

The switch only lasts until Chrome closes. We checked in Chrome that it does not change the setting, so once Chrome is readable, turn off Use graphics acceleration when available as above, then quit and open Chrome normally. On Windows, remove --disable-gpu from the shortcut again.

Check whether it is Chrome or your computer

If other apps go black too, or the whole screen does, the problem is not Chrome. On Windows, Microsoft’s blank screen guide suggests pressing Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B, which resets the graphics driver. You should hear a beep or see the screen flicker.

Update Chrome and your graphics software

Graphics problems are often fixed by updates on either side.

• Chrome: select More > Help > About Google Chrome and select Relaunch if an update is waiting. More help: how to update Chrome.
• Windows: update or roll back the display driver in Device Manager. The Windows guide linked above has the steps.
• Mac: choose Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update (Apple’s instructions).

After updating, you can try turning graphics acceleration back on. Video and 3D content run better with it, and our guide to hardware acceleration problems explains how to tell whether it is working properly.

If only some pages are black

A black page on one or two sites can come from an extension or from an experimental setting.

1. Test without extensions: select More > New Incognito Window and open the same site. If it works there, go to More > Extensions > Manage extensions, turn all extensions off, then turn them back on one at a time to find the one causing it. These are the steps in Google’s help for videos and games that won’t play.
2. Undo experimental flags: if you ever changed anything in chrome://flags, open it, select Reset all at the top, and restart Chrome. Google’s flags guide warns that flags can stop working or be removed without notice.
3. Try another browser: if the site is black there too, the problem is the site or your network, not Chrome.

Last resort: reset or reinstall Chrome

Go to More > Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their original defaults > Reset settings. Google says your bookmarks and passwords are kept. Your extensions are turned off, site permissions go back to their defaults, and cookies and site data are cleared, so you may need to sign in to some sites again. See resetting Chrome for what changes. If that does not help, reinstall Chrome.