I Can’t Load Gmail and It Drives Me Crazy
When the boss says, “I have a problem,” my ears perk up. Lifehacker is fine; we were not blown up by PAM . However, Melissa is unable to load her Gmail no matter what she tries – a problem that has plagued her for months. This is the feature that makes me “hmmm” as I never have problems downloading Gmail.
Melissa didn’t email me about this, but to keep the tradition of readers asking questions in Lifehacker’s tech tips column , here’s something she told me on one of our Slack channels:
“This is a REAL PROBLEM for ME. I have no problem with any site other than Gmail, and this has been happening for months now. I have googled several times and haven’t found any good information. ”
Don’t worry, Melissa. I have a couple of ideas. The remainder of this column will guide us along the troubleshooting path. I don’t have any specific advice as to why Gmail – and only Gmail – doesn’t really work for you. However, there are a few tricks I use in situations like this to help me figure out the problem.
Try a new browser
You didn’t mention which browser you are using. (I might ask, but I’m going to treat your Slack posts as a regular reader’s question in the Tech 911 mailbox ). So my first troubleshooting step would be downloading another browser like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari. or even aChromium based Edge which has been fun to use lately. If your backup browser gives you great access to Gmail, great! We narrow it down.
Check for problematic “useful” applications
If you still can’t access Gmail, no matter what browser you’re trying to use, there might be something at the system level to blame. It might be something wrong with your operating system (possibly your hosts file ), or it might be some application you have installed that is restricting your access for some reason. You will probably know if you recently installed any new antivirus or anti-malware tool that might be in effect. If so, consider checking the settings on it to see if Gmail can be whitelisted; at a minimum, try disabling it (temporarily!) to see if that solves your problem at all. If not, the app might not be the problem.
If you haven’t installed anything like this recently, you should still run applications on your computer to see if there are any similar applications that you might not be aware of. Same deal; see what you can whitelist and consider disabling apps for a while to see if your problem solves. If so, consider looking for a new antivirus or antivirus app if you’re unsure of how to get Gmail to work with what you’re currently using.
Reset all
Other steps I would try include resetting your cable or DSL modem, as well as your router (if separate). While I doubt anything has changed in your router settings to prevent Gmail from loading anymore, it is worth considering. Make sure your router has the latest firmware, and if that doesn’t help, consider starting from scratch – reset your device to factory defaults and set up Wi-Fi again. It doesn’t take long, and it ensures that some random setting isn’t accidentally set to mess up Gmail. (I doubt this is the case, but troubleshooting is about troubleshooting.)
Stop using your ISP’s DNS
You might also consider switching DNS to something else, as I am assuming you are not yet using a third party service like Google DNS or 1.1.1.1 . After that, how you configure it on your computer, be sure to flush the DNS cache by entering «ipconfig -flushdns» in the Windows command prompt or one of the many commands for any version of MacOS, you are using.
(You can also configure your router to use one of these DNS services. This is a slightly more complicated process, but it will force everything connected to it to use better DNS.)
What if your browser is to blame?
Let’s go back to the beginning. If your backup browser is loading a website that your regular browser cannot load, make sure you are using the most recent version of the latest (which you can usually check by visiting its About page, usually hidden in the Help menu) … ). However, I bet some extension of yours messes things up.
This is most likely some kind of privacy extension. Review everything you use and you need to know what it is to see if you can whitelist Gmail in any way. (I often find that uBlock Origin, great as it is, can ruin some of the sites I visit frequently.) If you’re stuck, you can also go to your browser’s extension manager and turn everything off. See if Gmail loads. If so, slowly start enabling the extensions one by one, loading Gmail in between each one to see which one responds.
You can also try clearing your browser cache and cookies to see if that solves the problem. There could also be some general issue with Gmail and cookies, so go to your browser settings ( like here ) and make sure you don’t accidentally block cookies for mail.google.com (or anything else for Google- y). Just in case, whitelist mail.google.com and www.google.com and see if that solves the problem.
If this is all a bit tricky to figure out, you can simply reset your browser settings to their defaults , which should also fix whatever you accidentally did to prevent Gmail from loading. If you are using Firefox, consider updating your browser as well – you may have problems with your specific profile.
Maybe everyone has a problem too
While this won’t help in your particular situation, I bet I would also recommend that you bookmark “ Down for everyone or just me” which is a great tool you can use to check if a website is really down , or , well, the whole problem is on your shoulders.
If all else fails …
I wouldn’t recommend this as a long-term solution, but HTML Gmail can also at least give you access to your inbox while you troubleshoot the problem. Of course, you can also integrate your Gmail with a third-party application ; what you lose in the google user interface, you get … the ability to post.
I think that’s all for my list. Hopefully one of these many solutions will get you back to Gmail. If not, let me know! And if you’re reading this column and have a great idea of what I’ve missed, let me know in the comments! I will pass on the suggestions.