Sorry to intrude with a question. I am using Kubuntu 10.10 and have installed fully with restricted/multiverse. I use Chromium as the browser. What have I loaded that is causing Chromium to shut down as soon as any page loads? Any ideas on how to circumvent the disappearing act by Chromium when loading the browser?

Have you tried running chromium in Konsole to see if it outputs any messages of relevance? It is probably a incompatible plugin.