IE Trouble Viewing Hotmail?

Raf · #1 November 8th, 2004, 02:58 AM

I'm having an IE problem that I hope someone with greater knowledge than I can help me fix. I can go to the hotmail and MSN homepage no problem, I can log in no problem, but one my hotmail accoutn is finished downloading--the page is completely blank--there is no wrror message or anything. 50% of the time I can eventually view the page by going back and forth to the MSN home page and then to MY MSN and then back to hotmail ( with a subsequent log-in now and then). I can view hotmail from other terminals no problem. Is there somethign wront with my browser or computer settings??? I would appreciate your help.

raf

hypnotizeminds · #2 November 8th, 2004, 08:14 AM

This might sound funny but have you recently installed any downloaded software?

In particular, WeatherBug? If so, delete it. WeatherBug has been known to cause many.. many problems within IE related to page viewing.

I had it installed and eventually was unable to view Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com, MSN.com and a view others at all. It was as if they did not exist.

Deleted WeatherBug, and instantaneous re-enabled access to all of the above. Not even a restart required for me.

It is not only WeatherBug that can do this, but most any software that relies on Internet access to serve it's most primary purposes can cause these types of problems.

gazftm · #3 November 8th, 2004, 12:05 PM

did you get any joy from that "weatherbug thing" cos i am having the same problem

Raf · #4 November 8th, 2004, 10:08 PM

I have not dowloaded weatherbug or anything recently. I did get some malaware infections and used adaware, cwshredder, spybot search and destroy and Hijack this to get rid of it. It worked--but maybe I deleted something I needed?!?Not sure. Again it's only my hotmail account page which is the problem I can view all other pages in hotmail and msn. it's very. very odd. I 'd appreciate any other tips you may have.

cheers

raf

hypnotizeminds · #5 November 8th, 2004, 10:13 PM

Try restoring to an earlier point with System Restore if you have backed up in the past. Otherwise, post your HJT log and a qualified member or mod will assist you.

**AnnMarie** · #6 November 9th, 2004, 06:26 AM

Hi Raf, check your hosts file, it may be blocking the page. Close Internet Explorer and run a search for hosts (the file that you are looking for is in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers etc). Open the file with Notepad and see if there is a reference to the page that you cannot access. It will look like this:

127.0.0.1 <name of the site>

If you find any entries in your hosts file that reference hotmail.com, msn.com or similar, delete the line/s, save the changes, open IE and try again.

Raf · #7 November 11th, 2004, 01:47 AM

AnnMarie---thanks for taking the time to look at this problem.

I did as you instructed--closed IE, searched for hosts and about 6 hits came up--the only one close to the one you referenced was LMHOST---c:/windows/system32/drivers etc. I opened it with notepad and it appeared to only be an old tech (and fixed) document talking about web addressess and lots of other stuff I did not understand. There was no reference to hotmail or msn etc.... I looked in a few of the other hits (but not all of them) but there was nothing in them but some type of code that perhaps I'll be able to decipher in another lifetime.

I went back to hotmail and tried to get it, and like before, I can view the MSN page, view the hotmail log-in page, but when I log on and my account is loaded--the page is blank with no error message, but the msn tab is still visible at the top of the page. I then click on MY MSN which brings to to MY MSN log-in page. sometimes I am already logged into this page (probably becasue I logged into hotmail successfully, but just can't see it) and then if I click back on the hotmail tab it takes me to my account, which I can see. But sometimes I have to log into MY MSN, and then I can get to my hotmail---but sometimes I have to do this back-and-forth game several times.

I've emailed hotmail and they said they would get back to me--but this is only after they sent me two pre-written help emails that had nothing to do with my problem. I have more confidence in you than in MSN. I'd appreciate any other thoughts you may have

Regards,

Raf

**AnnMarie** · #8 November 11th, 2004, 05:41 AM

Hi again Raf, perhaps we should have a look at your startups to make sure that all is well there.

Go here and download the latest version of Hijack This to a new folder on your drive, unzip it and click on scan. Most of the files listed will be harmless and/or required so do not make any changes, just click on Save Log, copy it and post it back in this thread.