google-chrome-stable opens with blank page and needs manual refresh

Question

In my centos linux environment, I run a gunicorn flask webserver and subsequently on the same port I start the client via chrome browser When I want to start the client with these settings, the page does not open properly.

google-chrome-stable \
  --no-first-run \
  --password-store=basic \
  --disable-gpu \
  --new-window \
  --no-default-browser-check \
  --no-default-browser-setting \
  --user-data-dir="$user_data_dir" \
  --disk-cache-dir="$user_data_dir/cache" \
  "http://localhost:$port" &

The --user-data-dir="$user_data_dir" \ is responsible for the flawed behaviour, but is still necessary as I want to enable the user to open several clients storing the local files in distinct session directories.

Lets say the port is determined before to be 5000, then the chrome browser opens and displays the localhost:5000 in the address bar, but the page remains blank. As I refresh the browser, the page loads but the address changes to auto:blank, which does not make sense.

Leaving the setting with user-data out and only work with a single session gives the desired behaviour, as the browser opens the page and displays the correct link in the address bar.

I tried all other settins the chrome which could affect that behaviour. This problem occurs on the version 114, but not on a computer with chrome 94. For me it is not possible to change the version.

Clicking F12 on the blank page + correct URL turns the correct URL into about:blank and then clicking F5 does not give me correct page. There are not console errors and no network entries visible.

Creating the user-data-dir directory and sleep shortly before google-chrome-stable also has no effect.

Logging everything with --enable-logging and feeding them into chatgpt for explanation get me these result. I don't see these errors on the computer wiht the older chrome:

The log errors you provided indicate several areas where Chrome is experiencing issues. Let's break down these issues:

DBus Issue:


[15081:15081:0809/145748.532428:ERROR:object_proxy.cc(590)] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.portal.Settings.Read: object_path= /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface 'org.freedesktop.portal.Settings' on object at path /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop
This error is related to the DBus service. It indicates that Chrome is trying to interact with a service through DBus and failing because the service doesn't recognize the method being called.

Manifest Fetching Error:


[15081:15081:0809/145748.555489:VERBOSE1:extension_downloader.cc(732)] Failed to fetch manifest ...
This error suggests that Chrome couldn't fetch an extension manifest from Google's servers. This could be due to a network issue, or perhaps this particular installation of Chrome is trying to fetch something that doesn't exist or is not accessible.

Gaia Authentication Error:

[15081:15081:0809/145748.555730:VERBOSE1:gaia_auth_fetcher.cc(816)] Got authentication error
[15081:15081:0809/145748.555815:VERBOSE1:gaia_auth_fetcher.cc(817)] net_error: net::ERR_FAILED
Gaia is Google's authentication service. This suggests there's an issue with authentication, but it might not be directly related to your issue of a blank page. It might just be a side effect of running Chrome in a scripted manner without a proper user session.

Network Service Crashed:

[15081:15081:0809/145748.566833:ERROR:network_service_instance_impl.cc(558)] Network service crashed, restarting service.
This is a significant error. The network service crashing could very well result in pages not loading, as Chrome's network service is essential for making web requests.

Account Reconcilor Errors:

[15081:15081:0809/145749.975742:VERBOSE1:account_reconcilor.cc(555)] ...
These errors seem related to account management within Chrome. Like the Gaia error, it may not be directly related to your issue but rather a side effect of the environment in which you're running Chrome.

Answer 1

just another stackoverflow question that was not proposed by initial search and during the post of the question

Copying the standard user data dir to the new one and then starting google-chrome gives the desired behaviour