Why Google Chrome 79 Could Fail to Load Pages with “Aw, Snap!” Error

After updating Google Chrome to version 79 (released this week), the browser fails to load any page with an “Aw, Snap!” error for a number of users.

The issue doesn’t happen just for a specific website, but for all links sent to Google Chrome, with the browser returning the aforementioned error regardless of the domain that is provided by the user.

The problem isn’t a new one and was originally acknowledged by Google back in October when it was discovered that Google Chrome 78 failed to load websites due to a compatibility issue with certain software products.

Google said at that time that Symantec Endpoint Protection, PC Matic, Print Audit, and Palo Alto Traps failed to work correctly with a feature called Renderer Code Integrity in Google Chrome, causing the browser to return the “Aw, Snap!” error when trying to load websites.

Google still working on a fix

According to the updated post, the issue also impacts Google Chrome 79, as the company reverted its temporary solution of disabling Renderer Code Integrity in the browser.

“We’re following up to let you know that we plan to enable the underlying feature (Renderer Code Integrity) that resulted in the previous incompatibilities with the release of Chrome M79 today. We are continuing to partner with affected software providers to improve compatibility,” a Google Chrome support manager explained.

Users hitting this issue are now instructed to update antivirus software to the latest version and, if the problem isn’t fixed, to reach out to the security software provider to ask for information on compatibility updates.

For the time being, Google still claims the crash only happens when the aforementioned software solutions are installed, but I’m also hearing from users that other products might be impacted as well.

It remains to be seen when Google comes up with another fix for this problem, but for now, your options are limited to disabling the Chrome feature manually, update or uninstall your security software.