Google Chrome doesn't load certain websites and downloads [FIXED]

My law firm has third party technical support. We recently upgraded from the stone age, going from XP to Windows 7 and upgrades to our servers.

After the upgrade, I cannot access certain websites in Chrome. The sites seem to be "heavy workload" sites if that makes any sense: espn, cnn video, westlaw (legal research cite), etc. These cites just "time out" after a while and do not load anything. I do not get any error messages. Also, when I start most downloads they get corrupted shortly thereafter. The tech guy's response is "use IE." I refuse, and want to find a fix for this.

This problem exists for everyone at the firm using Chrome. I have tried searching google for this problem but cannot find it.

My first plan of attack is to take my tower home, hook up to the home network and see if it works. Not sure if this will work, however, because I dont think I will be able to log on to the work network at home.

Any ideas?

have you check your firewall setting?

I know it's not what you want to use, but just as a troubleshooting step, does IE work? If so, it may be a bad setting or corrupted Chrome installation. In that case, you can try going into settings, options, under the hood, clear browsing data and select "the beginning of time" and all checkboxes. Also, uncheck "Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors", "Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar", "Predict network actions to improve page load performance" and check Extensions and disable any that might be installed. If none of that works, you might try removing and reinstalling Chrome. There may also be company-specific software that's causing problems with the installation.

You can take the computer home and connect it to you home network. You won't be able to access any company data or resources, but it should let you browse the internet.

Good luck!

I'm amazed a law firm would let you take a tower home but thats a different story... also, could you try with a 3rd browser and at least get quorum on what works and what doesn't work?

Quote from fallencptjack : You can take the computer home and connect it to you home network. You won't be able to access any company data or resources, but it should let you browse the internet. Good luck!

you could with a vpn.

anywho, were all these machines in the office imaged from the same image or hand built one by one?

So, does it work with IE? That should have been the first step to pinpoint whether this is network related or browser related. My guess its network related?

Quote from nizzy1115 : you could with a vpn.

Sure, if we assume that the company has one, and that the OP has access to it, and that his machine is set up for it.

Try Firefox. Try Safari for Windows (very similar in look and feel as Chrome). Try anything but Chrome and IE to see if the issue exists.

I can understand why an IT Dept does not want to support any browser other than what they use Group Policy to manage.

Do you know if there is a web filter like Websense that your internet traffic goes through?
Do you know if there is a proxy server that your internet traffic goes through? Heavy bandwidth sites would stall out if piping through proxy server as live streams and various video is not cached.

There could be a lot of deliberate reasons why your sites are stalling after and IT upgrade.

Quote from manoosie : My law firm has third party technical support. We recently upgraded from the stone age, going from XP to Windows 7 and upgrades to our servers. After the upgrade, I cannot access certain websites in Chrome. The sites seem to be "heavy workload" sites if that makes any sense: espn, cnn video, westlaw (legal research cite), etc. These cites just "time out" after a while and do not load anything. I do not get any error messages. Also, when I start most downloads they get corrupted shortly thereafter. The tech guy's response is "use IE." I refuse, and want to find a fix for this. ... Any ideas?

Yeah, they don't want you to use Chrome.

Use IE.

Quote from fallencptjack : I know it's not what you want to use, but just as a troubleshooting step, does IE work? If so, it may be a bad setting or corrupted Chrome installation. In that case, you can try going into settings, options, under the hood, clear browsing data and select "the beginning of time" and all checkboxes. Also, uncheck "Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors", "Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar", "Predict network actions to improve page load performance" and check Extensions and disable any that might be installed. If none of that works, you might try removing and reinstalling Chrome. There may also be company-specific software that's causing problems with the installation. You can take the computer home and connect it to you home network. You won't be able to access any company data or resources, but it should let you browse the internet. Good luck!

Tried those things, no luck. Yes, IE and Firefox work, but not Chrome. It is very strange; can access slickdeals no problem, but other sites are a no go. I have no idea if there is a filter on the server side. So far the only response was "use IE." I will follow up with the IT people today, but my guess is they will have no idea.

Quote from manoosie : Tried those things, no luck. Yes, IE and Firefox work, but not Chrome. It is very strange; can access slickdeals no problem, but other sites are a no go. I have no idea if there is a filter on the server side. So far the only response was "use IE." I will follow up with the IT people today, but my guess is they will have no idea.

Well, generally speaking, regardless of your own opinion, if IT tells you to use a certain program instead of another program, you should listen. I don't care how stupid they are. IT is their job, not yours.

Perhaps it will help to show what loads and what doesn't:

ESPN only loads the very top of the page, and nothing more.

Westlaw never shows up.

TMZ shows up, but not the videos.

Java website shows up in text only. No graphics.

MSNBC does not load.

Westlaw does not show up.

No NPR.

Craigslist shows up fine.

Any websites I should go and check out that might help?

Very strange. I would just try a reinstall of Chrome, if you have admin rights on the PC. It can't hurt, and might fix the problem.

Ok, IT just looked at it for about an hour. Different IT guy, this guy much better. He was stumped; tried everything. He is going to look into it further and get back to me. I will let you know what he says.