Getting "Chrome didn't shut down correctly." on a Chromebook

I have been getting the “Chrome didn't shut down correctly.” message on my Chromebook for over a month when signing on. After clicking on the Restore button to restart the previous session of the Google Chrome browser, I would then "gracefully exit" by logging out of any web apps and then closing the tabs/browser, only to be greeted by the same message when I started up Chrome again. I've even tried repeating the same process and then closed any other apps, signed outed as a user and turned off the Chromebook. But when I turned on the device and start up Chrome, I get the same message. Any suggestions? I've got many bookmarks in Chrome and don't know how they are stored on the Chromebook so I have been hesitant to attempt resetting to default settings as was suggested on Windows OS solutions.

4 Answers

I fixed the problem: (1) Click the Chrome Tab (the 3 line icon) on the upper right. (2) Click on "help". (3) Click on "report an issue". When I did this the screen went blank. (4) I signed out and then re-signed in. For the first time in over a month, Chrome opened directly on my designated start-up page, and I did not get the message "Chrome didn't shut down correctly."

If you are signed in to Chrome using your google account, then Chrome automatically syncs all your bookmarks to your google account, so you can sign in any Chrome browser and restore all your bookmarks. You can restore your Chromebook without fear of losing any data, and this generally fixes most issues, so I would say go with that.

I also had a problem with the same signs but on a Chromebook (HP14 G4). In addition, the Chromebook would shutdown after less than a minute after being restarted, only to restart in the same state.

I am posting this answer despite this difference in case the automatic shutdown is related to the model or version of the Chromebook. I believe the version was 55 but cannot be sure as I solved my issue before I saw this post and did not have a need to record that information at the time.

Background:

My device is enrolled in a domain (Google for Education), set to retain local data on the devices. The device did not have the problem described when I used a different username to login. The user account having the problem worked on other devices. I tried "power-washing" the device but the problem persisted.

My Solution

1. Ensure the device is connected to your wifi network.
2. Change the password for the user account having the issue using another device.
3. Attempt to login with the new password.
4. You will be presented with a dialogue explaining that you must enter the last valid password used on the device to recover local data.
5. Click the link "Forgotten your password?".
6. You will be presented with another dialogue confirming that you can proceed with the login but local data will be erased.
7. Click "Proceed".

I cannot explain why this worked when the powerwash did not. However, it did resolve my problem, and I hope it will help those with a similar issue.

Using Powerwash (Factory Reset) seemed to fix this issue for me.

Click on three dots on the top right of the screen. In the menu that appears, click 'Settings' and then 'Advanced Settings' at the bottom of the page. You will find the Powerwash setting at the bottom of that page.