Weird problems with Safari: search bar and tabs

Question

Suddenly Safari is having weird problems:

• The search bar is no more searching: I can type URLs but the suggestions are not appearing and queries are not sent to Google (or any other search engine I choose in the preferences)

• If I open a new tab, the tab is not shown: I see the old one in dark grey, the new one is open but not shown in the tab bar. The address bar shows the URLs of both tabs superimposed

Restarting the whole machine did not bring anything.

Any idea what could I try to fix the problem? I am using Safari 9.0.3 on El Capitan.

Answer 1

I had exactly the same (but on Yosemite), and found this (https://discussions.apple.com/message/29693684#29693684) resolved it.

Uncheck Use Safari Suggestions in the Search tab in Safari Preferences.

Certainly not a solution to the problem, but gets around it until more concrete information comes out..

Answer 2

I had the same issue since this morning, I guess it could be something "malfunctioned" or badly processed data arriving from Google suggestions:

Got rid of it by going to: Safari -> Preferences -> Search

Here everything was ticked, I unticked all, then reticked "Include search engine suggestions" only, the problem stopped.

Edit: Safari suggestions was the problem, not google, sorry, ticking back everything else and it works, ticking back Safari suggestions and it dies.

Answer 3

I had the same problem today under the latest macOS version. Despite following the advice of the chosen solution (excerpt below), the problem persisted.

Uncheck Use Safari Suggestions in the Search tab in Safari Preferences.

What worked for me is resetting the NVRAM. This can be done by pressing and holding the key combination ⌘ + ⌥ + P + R after having initiated the boot sequence.