Chrome STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION — Renderer Process Crash

Overview

Fix Chrome STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION error causing tabs or the entire browser to crash due to memory access violations in the renderer process.

Key Details

• STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xC0000005) means a Chrome process accessed invalid memory
• Usually crashes a single tab (shows 'Aw, Snap!' page) or the entire browser
• Common with GPU rendering issues, corrupted extensions, or memory corruption
• Chrome's multi-process architecture usually isolates crashes to single tabs
• Can be caused by buggy GPU drivers, specific websites with problematic JavaScript, or hardware

Common Causes

• Buggy GPU driver causing hardware-accelerated rendering crash
• Corrupted Chrome extension with memory bugs
• Specific website JavaScript or WebAssembly code triggering memory violation
• Chrome installation corrupted
• Insufficient system memory causing Chrome processes to fail

Steps

1. 1Disable hardware acceleration: Settings > System > turn off 'Use hardware acceleration'
2. 2Disable all extensions and re-enable one by one to find the culprit
3. 3Update GPU drivers to the latest version from the manufacturer
4. 4Clear Chrome data: Settings > Privacy > Clear browsing data > All time > all categories
5. 5If persistent: uninstall Chrome completely, delete C:\Users\[name]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome, reinstall

Tags

More in Chrome

Frequently Asked Questions