Freeze & Crash a Chromebook with Simple URLs

Written by Kyle Smith

Last Updated: January 20, 2023

Are you looking for an easy way to force a Chromebook to crash? While a system crash is often unexpected and the last thing you want to see on your Chromebook, there are a few easy ways to cause a sudden crash. Unintentional crashes can be caused by software or hardware issues. This wikiHow article will teach you how to crash a Chromebook, plus help you determine the causes of unintentional crashing and freezing.

Things You Should Know

You can easily crash a Chromebook using the Chrome browser's built-in debugging URLs.
The crash could damage your Chromebook depending on what caused the crash.
Try crashing your Chromebook using Google Chrome’s built-in debugging URLs.

Section 1 of 4:

Crash Using a URL

1
Open Google Chrome on your Chromebook. Click the icon on your desktop or taskbar that looks like a blue circle surrounded by a multicolor circle.
2
Type chrome://inducebrowsercrashforrealz/ in the URL bar. This is a built-in debugging link that simulates a browser crash. Keep in mind that this will crash the Chromebook, so you will lose any unsaved work.

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3
Press ↵ Enter on your keyboard to crash your Chromebook. While this will crash your Chromebook, you can start it back up easily after the crash.
4
Try these other built-in URLs to crash your Chromebook. These other debugging URLs also crash many Chromebooks as well as the Google Chrome web browser on other computers:
- chrome://crash/
- chrome://gpucrash/
- chrome://restart/

Section 2 of 4:

Can a crash damage a Chromebook?

Yes, the damage done depends on the nature of the crash. Since crashes can be caused by a variety of problems, the damage will vary.
- A mild crash could result in losing data that wasn’t saved.
- An operating system crash may occur if there’s corrupted information on the disk. This could cause additional crashes even after rebooting the computer.^{[1]
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- A crash caused by hardware issues may indicate that one of your Chromebook’s physical components is already damaged.

Section 3 of 4:

How many open tabs will crash a Chromebook?

The amount of tabs that will crash a Chromebook depends on your model. Chromebooks with more random-access memory (RAM) can open more tabs before crashing. If you're using an older Chromebook with less RAM, opening many tabs (especially tabs with processor-intensive activities like streaming video and games) will likely freeze or crash your Chromebook.
- If your Chromebook is crashing or freezing unexpectedly, try closing tabs.

Section 4 of 4:

Why is my Chromebook crashing?

Your Chromebook might be crashing due to a software or hardware issue. Crashes or freezes may occur if there is an error with the operating system. Physical hardware failures can also cause crashing.
- An out-of-date operating system increases the chance of your Chromebook crashing.
- Excessive heat or dust can cause hardware to fail and crash the computer.
- Read about more ways to diagnose potential issues causing freezing.