Can't read IIS threads

[telecasterguru]

I have a little problem. Since last Friday afternoon, I have not been able to get to the threads on this website. I can get to the threads index but when I try and open a thread I only get a black page with the IIS logo at the top and a "done" message on the bottom bar, while the circle telling me that I am still haven't completed the down load goes round and round.
Any ideas how I can get on to the threads?
My computer did the same last weekend but came good on Monday.
Any ideas what could be wrong?
I use wireless broadband on my laptop.
I am on a different computer at the moment.

Thanks

Frank

[iceman]

Hi Frank

1) What browser are you using?
2) Ensure javascript is enabled
3) Ensure *.iceinspace.com.au is in your allowed/trusted sites list.
4) Use Firefox or Chrome.

Most likely it's 2 or 3.

[telecasterguru]

Mike,
I have a new Asus laptop computer running Vista Ultimate.
I just downloaded the latest Java Updates (v6 13) and it has made no difference.
I can get onto the IIS website no problems, I just can't get into the threads. I can get to the thread index but it won't let me read individual threads.

In five months I have only had this problem once before and that was last weekend. It came good again last monday but I haven't been able to read a thread since Friday lunch time.

I will try downloading chrome other than that I'm stumped.

Frank

[dpastern]

Frank,

A few questions:

1) What browser are you using?

2) Do other websites have the same problem? Try something like www.cnn.com, or www.ninemsn.com.au etc.

If you are using FireFox, does the problem happen when using IE?

Have you installed any add-ins like "noscript"?

As Mike has said, make sure that JavaScript is turned on in the browser, make sure that iceinspace.com.au is in the allowed/trusted sites list.

Dave

[telecasterguru]

I have no problems with any other websites.
As I said, I have had no problem finding anything on the IIS website before, except for last weekend and now since Friday. That is two weekends in a row.
I have downloaded the latest Java and I can get on the website, log in, get to the threads page and open into the threads index. What I can't do is get to the individual threads, they won't open so that I can read them.

Frank

[iceman]

What browser are you using?

Did you try Firefox or Chrome?

[telecasterguru]

Mike,

How do I work out what browser I am using?

I tried to down load google chrome but it keeps stopping half way through the download.

Frank

[iceman]

When you start browsing, do you click on an Internet Explorer icon, or a Firefox icon?

There should be a "Help" menu, and it'll say "About Internet Explorer" or "About Firefox".

[telecasterguru]

Definitely Internet Explorer.

[iceman]

Which version?

When you click "Help->About Internet Explorer", what's the version number?

[telecasterguru]

Windows Internet Explorer 7

[dpastern]

OK, since the problem occurred, have you installed or updated any software, maybe anti virus/Internet security suite software perhaps?

IE doesn't have add-ons like FireFox, so it's not that.

For starters, let's completely reset IE back to its defaults. Firstly, by default, IE does not display the menus. To show the menus, press the F10 (function 10) button once. Now click on:

Tools > Internet Options > General tab

You'll see this:

http://www.macro-images.com/web/help/help1.jpg

Under the "browsing history" section, click the delete button (circled in the above image).

You'll now see the following window:

http://www.macro-images.com/web/help/help2.jpg

I'd strongly suggest clicking the "Delte all..." button. Please be aware that this will also get rid of all remembered passwords etc. So - make sure you know your passwords. IMHO, never rely on a machine to remember your passwords.

You'll now see the following window:

http://www.macro-images.com/web/help/help3.jpg

Tick the tick box for "Also delete files..." and then click the Yes button.

It'll take a minute or so to do all of the necessary things. IE won't respond until it's finished. Once done, my next suggestion is to reset IE to its factory defaults. To do this, click on the Advanced tab. The window will now look like:

http://www.macro-images.com/web/help/help4.jpg

Click on the "Reset" button. Follow the prompts, it's pretty straight forward.

Once this is all done, close the browser, reboot the computer and then re-test with the iceinspace.com.au website.

Let me know how you go.

Dave

PS I can upload a copy of FireFox to my website and provide you with FTP instructions if you want so you can download it if you're having problems downloading programs, etc. Let me know.

[telecasterguru]

Thanks for the advice Dave, but I don't think I want to wipe IE and start again because I can't download the threads pages.

It might just be easier to use CN.

Frank

[iceman]

Re-installing IE is not a big deal.

In fact, Firefox is much better than IE anyway - you really should try a different browser.

The fact that you're using it ok from a different computer highlights the fact that it's a localised problem to THAT computer.

Download firefox and try it - it's free, easy to install and setup and you don't need to remove or touch IE to do it.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html

[telecasterguru]

Mike,
I have installed Firefox and my laptop is now receiving IIS loud and clear.
I was getting very depressed at not being able to work it out. I've been trying since last Friday and I didn't like using the 9-5 computer for the obvious reasons but it has sorted out.
Now all I have to do is set up all new bookmarks and away I go again.

Thanks for all the help and to Dave as well.

Frank

[iceman]

Glad to hear, Frank!
You'll like Firefox even better than IE once you get used to it.

[dpastern]

Frank - you weren't uninstalling IE, you can't - it's tied into the operating system and kernel calls. What I suggested was only going to do a factory reset, nothing more. Pretty straight forward and it'll probably fix your problem I suspect.

FireFox is OK, it's not my preferred browser (Konqueror on the Linux platform is). FireFox is a known memory hog, and has had major memory leaks since Firefox was pre alpha stage. Still hasn't been fixed. For a great while, PDF files would not work when embedded with FireFox too.

Oh, and FireFox is based on the old, and obsolete (imho) Gecko rendering engine - khtml and webkit are far better imho. To this day, FireFox still does not render flash pages correctly, at least if they are made W3C compliant and use the <object> tag...FireFox still relies on the <embed> tag which is not a W3C tag, has never been, and never will be. FireFox is the ONLY browser that does not recognise the <object> tag btw. Opera, Safari, Chrome, IE, all support the *correct* tag.

Sorry for the diatribe Mike, but FireFox is vastly overated imho.

Dave

[iceman]

No need to apologise, I prefer Chrome over everything. But I still prefer FF over IE.

[dpastern]

[OT] a few friends also prefer Chrome (mostly techies from work) - I don't use it simply because I do not trust Google with any information. Other than that, Chrome does appear very nice (and uses webkit as well). Webkit is derived from KDE's most excellent khtml.

I have FireFox, IE, Safari, Chrome & Opera on my PC (if I'm working on my website I like to test what it'll look like etc). I also have several VMs with UNIX/BSD/Linux too that I sometimes employ for web testing. A main consideration for me is W3C compliance, something few browsers do *properly*.

My personal favourite on Windows is probably FireFox, but only because I really use it at work (some stuff like the web developer add-on is handy for me when doing web stuff @ work). I'm the web hosting/DNS/hosted exchange "guru" at work. I'm not really, but when the resident guru left, I got promoted to his role and thrown in the deep end. I lack his technical knowledge, but I'm handling the job very well, learning very quickly and I'm far better organised and have far better time management skills. hehehe. Sorry for going slightly OT, tis OK to remove post if you feel it warrants it (or the OP thinks so).

Dave