Strange IE behavior

[StormBringer]

First off, Im looking for a way to fix this, so don't tell me to use another browser.

Here is the problem, IE has started acting very strange, many pages are no longer fully loading, some fail to load anything yet they claim they are "done". Other places, like TS and other msg boards will load but QUOTES appear as empty boxes and some lines of text won't show up either.

I have had this happening for almost a month and have tried Spybot, Adaware, and HijackThis. They are all fully up to date. I have also tried scanning for virii with fully updated NAV, as well as using every online scan I know of.

The problem seems isolated to IE, as it does not affect Firefox. I have reasons for needing to use IE for some things so I don't want to just give it up completely.

Here is an example https://www.techspot.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=229&size=big&password=&sort=1&cat=500

 

[ravenjy]

do u have sp1 installed? if u do, try to re install it. either way, install it again and it should patch everything up.

 

[StormBringer]

Explain how its going to fix it and where you got your info from please.

 

[Nodsu]

When I see a blank IE window with "Done" in status bar I think "encoding problem".

From your screenshot it looks like you may have some font setup issue because the text not showing is italic.

Clearing the font cache, looking over the font substitution tables, maybe reinstalling fonts that don't exist anymore.. (Reinstalling SP1/Windows might actually help here )

 

[iss]

Have you tried fushing the DNS resolver cache? I find doing this has resovled similar problems in IE as you describe ( though not always)

command prompt

ipconfig /flushdns

another option si to use the repair IE feature in XP its in the add remove section and if I recall correctly in 98 it's in the system information/tools section

 

[StormBringer]

Already tried that ISS.
Nodsu, fonts aren't the problem, I checked that just now. I guess I should have posted a few more examples because the one I posted just shows the missing quoted text and my signature missing.
Other problems that I see are pages like CNN News, the ads and menus load, but the article does not, meaning I get a blank field where the news story should be.

I'm thinking it has something to do with tables, it seems that looking closely into this and looking over pages that have the problems; every page this happens on uses tables.

 

[lowman]

I'm going to dive into this one and see what I can find out...not that I'm a genius or anything Storm...but if you manage to resolve this before any of us finds anything (which will probably be the case), can you let us know what the resolution was? I have some issues like this with some users at work and haven't really been able to dig up much of anything...

 

[RealBlackStuff]

I had a similar problem with Avant (which is an overlay really over IE) and solved it by completely cleaning up all my temp. internet files, history and cookies.

 

[StormBringer]

Ok, maybe I should have been more thorough, I should have mentioned I had tried all the following.
Cleared cache, cleared temps, all Internet history, cookies, temp inet files, etc. Tried IE Repair. Tried Scanning for spyware and virii as indicated earlier. Tried flushing DNS. Even tried a restore point when the problem first surfaced, after not being able to fix it by other means. Also tried the things that have been mentioned in the replies which I had not already tried.

 

[lowman]

IE Issue

This is starting to keep me up at night...it seems Storm has tried everything my primitive brain could come up with. I am at a complete loss...but still trying to find something to go on...

 

[Masque]

Re: IE Issue

Originally posted by lowman
This is starting to keep me up at night...it seems Storm has tried everything my primitive brain could come up with. I am at a complete loss...but still trying to find something to go on...

But I'm betting he hasn't used 'fdisk' or 'format'. I find when things are getting to be that much of a pain in the arse that a reload is simpler....not matter how complex.

Yeah, I know.....man vs. machine.....but for the sake of a little sleep........take the black eye. :blackeye:

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Try installing the Avant browser (overlay over IE). That might bring back your missing fields and has the added advantage of tabbed windows. It will retain your IE-compatibility.

 

[FeTaLDaMagE]

One question, have you tried making another user log in profile? If not, try that and see if ie works correctly. Just to see if the problem is in your profile settings.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Do the sources show up correctly when the pages itself do not?

 

[Rick]

Something I've found is IE repair is worthless. I think it pretends to do something, but doesn't.

You may want to try a program like XPlite, which you can really remove and reinstall Internet Explorer. PM me for details.

 

[StormBringer]

I'm actually just about to try that Rick(or was thinking about whether it would work or not). I had decided that since no one has given any actual help, I'd just try to remove IE and reinstall it. So I have been looking into several methods that claim to be able to allow me to do that, the first one did not work at all and the second one seemed to be a pile of crap. The third is XPlite.

BTW Mict, the source, sometimes it shows sometimes it doesn't. Ususallly the source I see is even more screwed up than the page.


EDIT: XPlite allowed me to remove IE. I then reinstalled it and updated it, I have reset all my tweaks and settings and it looks to be fixed. Still, I'm no better off because I have no idea what the cause was, nor how to fix it other than this, should it happen again.

Thanks Rick, I might have passed over using XPlite if you hadn't mentioned it.