Google Chrome Searches Links to Blank.html

This problem has been brought up during one of the LogicLounge’s video-meetings, and it is apparently affecting to many people (glad it is not just us). If you are apparently using Google Chrome recently, you may notice that the Google Chrome browser is linking to blank pages when searching using the omnibox.

To recap on Google Chrome’s Omnibar, it is…

The address bar that sits at the top of the browser window (sometimes called the “omnibox”) doubles as a search box. Simply type your search term in the address bar and press Enter to see results from your default search engine. You can also use it to search specific sites. In addition to search terms, you can type in the web address of a site, then press Enter to go to the site.

Since the late night on Monday, many people have been complaining that they are unable to get search results using the omnibox search in Google Chrome, and saying they are either getting no results or even a blank.html page. As of the time of this writing, there is a Google Group with more than 116 post of people complaining about the issue saying that Google redirects to something like

https://www.google.com/blank.html#hl=en&output=search&sclient=[client code here]&q=[search term here]&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=[fp here]&bav=[bav here]&biw=[window width]&bih=[window height]

For some reason, in our tests, Google Chrome’s “Incognito Mode” does not have that effect. Also, in the Google Group thread, users have suggesting going into the “Settings” menu, then to the “Manage Search Engines” and add

http://www.google.com/search?q=%s

and title the search service anything (or Google) and make it default will resolve the issue.

Hopefully, Google will resolve this issue and issue it out to browsers without users having to update.

-UPDATE- Looks like the situation has been resolved as of right now