How do I fix something went wrong when displaying a website?

by Martin Brinkmann on May 23, 2013 in Google Chrome - Last Update: July 24, 2014 - 73 comments

I have recently seen an increase in Aw, Snap! error pages in Google Chrome. This error message is displayed when a page cannot be loaded in the browser. I experienced the issue when I tried to connect to sites such as Neowin or Reddit to name two, and while it is certainly possible that the issues were caused by too much load on the server side, it seemed unlikely that this was the issue.

Especially Neowin is causing the errors lately, even when I'm already browsing the forum. I'm not sure what is causing it though but it could be the auto-updater (mini spy).

The reason for this is that a click on the reload button a second later loaded the website that refused to be loaded just fine. While this can be a big coincidence, it is likely that the issue is related to other things.

If you are experiencing Aw, Snap! errors in Chrome regularly, you may be interested in resolving those errors so that they go away completely.

Aw, Snap!

Something went wrong while displaying this webpage. To continue, reload or go to another page.

Reload.

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If you're seeing this frequently, try these suggestions.

Temporary Fixes

Before I look at permanent fixes for the issue, I'd like to provide you with temporary fixes that may help you out right away in case you receive that message only occasionally.

1. The most obvious option is the reload button that Google Chrome displays on the error page. Just click on it to try a reload of the page in question.
2. You may also want to try Ctrl-F5 to reload the site by bypassing the local cache.
3. Use a site checker such as Down for Me or Everyone to find out if others can connect to the site. If the site cannot be accessed by other users it is likely a server issue.
4. Clear your browser cache.
5. Try a different browser to see if it resolves the connectivity issue.

Troubleshooting the Aw, Snap! error

Google has created a support page that lists four solutions to resolve the site loading error when you receive it frequently in the browser.

1. Check Anti-virus and firewall.
2. Check your extensions and user scripts
3. Check for malware.
4. Create a new user profile.

The first thing you may want to do is check if you can connect to other websites. First unrelated websites, for instance bing.com and if that is possible to another page on the same domain you tried to connect to. If you wanted to open a page on it, try the homepage instead to see if it is available.

If you can open other websites but not this one, check your user scripts and extensions to see if they may block access to the site in question. One of the easiest options to find out is start the browser in incognito mode. Why? Because extensions and scripts do not run in it by default.

Open a new Incognito window with Ctrl-Shift-N and try to load the web page that threw the Aw, Snap error to see if you can load it. If you can, try to load it again in your normal browser window. If you can load it in private browsing mode but not in the normal mode, then an extension or script is likely interfering with the connection.

I suggest you disable extensions one by one then to see which is causing the issue. Open chrome://extensions/ to do so.

Another option is a corrupt profile. You can create a new profile, but if you do, custom data won't be available by default. This includes bookmarks, extensions and settings that you may have changed in Chrome.

To create a new user profile, close Chrome and open the profile folder on your local system. Rename the default folder to default.backup and restart Chrome afterwards. It creates a new default profile folder that is used from that moment on.

You can move data back into the default folder but need to understand that this may bring back the issue that you are experiencing.

Connection errors may also be caused by Chrome's DNS prefetching. I have covered the topic previously, check out the link for detailed instructions:

• Open the settings in chrome chrome://settings/.
• Click on show advanced settings.
• Uncheck "predict network actions to improve page load performance".

Have another solution? Be so kind and post it in the comments so that all users can benefit from it.

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