Why does upgrading chome and chrome driver stop web application from loading - jenkins

Question

Im Running E2E testing on a web application in Jenkins using a centos node with webdriver IO.
Chrome :google-chrome-stable-96.0.4664.110-1.x86_64.rpm
Chrome driver:
sh 'sudo yum info google-chrome-stable | grep Version > chromeOutFile'
def CHROME_VERSION = readFile('chromeOutFile')
def Version = CHROME_VERSION.split('Version :')
def VersionNumber = Version[1].trim()
sh "./src/main/web/node_modules/protractor/bin/webdriver-manager update --versions.chrome=${VersionNumber}"
Id like to update this to user the latest version of chrome with a corresponding chrome driver.
Webdriver IO config:
services: [['chromedriver', {
chromedriverCustomPath: '../node_modules/webdriver-manager/selenium/chromedriver_96.0.4664.110'
}]],
Problem: when I try to use a more upto date version, even if its chromedriver_97.0.4692.99, my web application no longer starts up in Jenkins. When I try to visit the url, the screen shot just shows a blank screen. Im not sure the application is even loading.
Why does it only work with 96 but not others?
I tried to map the version of chrome with an appropriate version of chrome driver using https://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com/LATEST_RELEASE_97.0.4692 but that still doesnt work for me.
Running tests:
cd e2e && wdio run wdio.ci.conf.ts --suite access --logLevel=info
+ lsb_release -d
Description: CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core)
Thanks

Answer 1

Have you tried to check memory limits? I had a similar problem with automated testing and had to change memory limits to either 1) limit chrome's memory or 2) pre allocate a set amount of memory ahead of time from my webserver if you are testing on the same device.