Chromium based browsers are not loading pages properly on Linux, here's how to fix it

Ashwin
Jul 12, 2023
Linux
|
13

Several users have said that their Chromium-based browsers are not rendering pages on some Linux distros. The issue seems to have surfaced after a recent update for Linux's LLVM libraries, specifically libllvm 15 (1:15.0.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.2).

What's the problem

According to reports from users, Chromium-based browsers such as Vivaldi stopped rendering web pages. They didn't stop loading the page, it's just that the visual elements on the site are invisible. So they just display blank pages. Usually, when such glitches happen, it is often considered as a problem with the graphics driver, and that one may need to uninstall and reinstall them. But that does not seem to be the case here, as none of the users seemed to have faced a problem with other apps.

Chromium based browsers are not loading pages properly on Linux
Image courtesy: reddit

Even the fact that the icons appear on the panel at the top in the screenshot indicates that this is not a GPU related issue. This is likely a software bug, which some users have attributed to Ubuntu's LLVM.

I came across the issue on Vivaldi's subreddit and the company's own community forums, but the issue is not exclusive to the browser. Users on the Linux Mint forums and the distro's reddit, have reported that this bug also affects Google Chrome and Brave as well. The problem is also present on Ubuntu. Don't worry, there are a couple of workarounds that you can try to solve the issue. The first thing is to disable hardware acceleration in the web browser's settings, which seems to fix the rendering problem. You may also want to try adding the following parameter to the browser's shortcut: --use-gl=desktop. Both of these workarounds could have a performance impact on your browsing experience.

There is another fix, which is a more effective solution, and that is to delete the web browser's GPUcache folder. Here is how to do it.

How to fix blank page issue in Vivaldi, Brave and Chrome in Linux Mint

1. Close the browser.

2. Open the File Manager and go to your /.config/ directory.

For example, mine is under: /home/ash/.config

3. Look for your browser's folder in the config directory.

They may have names like these: BraveSoftware or google-chrome or vivaldi.

4. The app's folder should have various subdirectories in it, look for the one that has GPUCache in the name.

The common locations to look for are under:

.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/Default/GPUCache

.config/google-chrome/Default/GPUCache

.config/vivaldi/Default/GPUCache

5. Delete the contents that are inside the GPUCache folder.

6. Start your browser, and it should now work normally as before.

GPUCache folders in web browsers linux

Note: If the above steps didn't fix it, there is a chance that your browser may have multiple GPUCache folders inside various subdirectories. If that is the case, use the Find tool in the File Manager to search for the other folders and delete their contents. You can also try re-installing the web browser from scratch after removing it, but please be aware that this could result in a loss of other data.

Alternatively, you can use Timeshift to roll back to a previous snapshot of the operating system which has the old version of LLVM. But this is a bit of a hassle.

Summary
How to fix blank page issue in Vivaldi, Brave and Chrome in Linux Mint
Article Name
How to fix blank page issue in Vivaldi, Brave and Chrome in Linux Mint
Description
Are web pages not loading in your browser on Linux? Here is how to fix the blank page issue.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Vítor I said on July 26, 2023 at 8:01 pm
    Reply

    What?!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. Friar Tux said on July 23, 2023 at 6:11 am
    Reply

    Had this happen. Not only to my Vivaldi Browser but also to my file manager (Nemo) and the Mint/Cinnamon settings dialog. Not font, only the icons showed. Solved it by simply reinstalling Mint/Cinnamon (ver. 21.2). (I thought it was something I did.)

  3. Vinicius Ferreira said on July 22, 2023 at 10:10 pm
    Reply

    booted my linux mint after a while and had this unpleasant surprise. Your fix worked flawlessly, thank you so much.

  4. Anonymous said on July 14, 2023 at 10:48 am
    Reply

    Thank you very much!

  5. Scott Arthur said on July 13, 2023 at 7:45 am
    Reply

    Thank you! Been having issues with Brave and Google Chrome since the last update and this fixed it.

  6. Anonymous said on July 13, 2023 at 4:59 am
    Reply

    thank you. fixed.

  7. Andy Prough said on July 13, 2023 at 1:43 am
    Reply

    Step 7 – stop using chromium based browsers and trusting your web browsing experience to the world’s largest advertising company (google).

    1. Iron Heart said on July 13, 2023 at 11:47 am
      Reply

      Trust Google-funded Mozilla instead!

      1. Justin said on September 18, 2023 at 10:14 pm
        Reply

        It is hard to avoid google. It provides plugs for almost every hole. It is Big Brother implemented. For super big brother one just need to merge Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple.

  8. Rodrigo said on July 13, 2023 at 1:40 am
    Reply

    Thanks a lot! Problem solved!

  9. Anonymous said on July 12, 2023 at 11:28 pm
    Reply

    Many thanks! Issue fixed!

  10. Le_Frank said on July 12, 2023 at 6:15 pm
    Reply

    Yip, for vivaldi, there were other directories with folders that needed cleaning out.
    Was lost, guide was correct and helped resolve issue.

  11. Gredis said on July 12, 2023 at 10:04 am
    Reply

    Thanks, this fixed the issue.

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