Internet Explorer 8 fails to load certain pages; times out


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At work, we have two lenovo desktops. They're both fairly decent when it comes to business specs (core i3, 4gb ram, Win7 x64, etc.). They're both the same model, but one of them has an issue of not loading pages in internet explorer. We don't have a tech because our company is cheap, so I've been fixing up the computers since I started working there. I do what I can, but I can't figure out this particular issue.

Computer 1: Go to website, activate customer's phone, click "submit", page loads, says "Complete!"

Computer 2: Go to website, activate customer's phone, click "submit", page times out, does not load. Have to refresh, log back in, and start over.

Both computers have the same hardware and same IE settings. There's also a weird issue of not being able to install malwarebytes on it... but I think that's pretty unrelated. Besides that, they both run fine. I'd try upgrading to IE9 but our plugins and poorly designed at&t websites aren't compatible.

Any ideas?

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try it on another browser? like firefox?

have you tried ipconfig /flushdns ???

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try it on another browser? like firefox?

have you tried ipconfig /flushdns ???

We can't use other browsers. Well, we can use Firefox/Chrome for personal browsing, but we have to use IE for actual work due to the tokencode plugins and stuff. But yeah, I've done flushdns. Didn't help.

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try everything on the router end???

do you use anything like a hosts file or anything?

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try everything on the router end???

do you use anything like a hosts file or anything?

Yeah, even got a new router yesterday and decided to go wired to see if it made any difference. Still nothing. I'll check the hosts file when I go to work.

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ok also make sure all the settings are fine on it. i don't know what router you use so I can't tell yah exactly....

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The host files were untampered with on both computers. No idea what's causing this...

The router/modem is a Sagecom 1704 from Windstream, the worst ISP ever. Not sure if it would be in the router settings though, seeing as how both computers are wired and one works, the other doesn't.

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"not being able to install malwarebytes on it"

Not being able to install anti malware is quite often a sign of being infected with something ;)

Having issues with websites, yeah again another sign of infection ;)

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IE8 ?

Are your machines fully updated ? IE9 is latest

"not being able to install malwarebytes on it"

Not being able to install anti malware is quite often a sign of being infected with something ;)

Having issues with websites, yeah again another sign of infection ;)

Indeed, I have gotten around that issue by renaming the installer, and also the exe once installed, although I seem to remember reading something about the newest version forcing installs even on machines infected that would have previously denied the install

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IE8 ? Are your machines fully updated ? IE9 is latest

Considering that he's talking about a business, I would imagine there is a particular need to stick with Internet Explorer 8. We still have a group of people that are on IE6 because certain applications aren't yet compatible with IE8. In fact, he says exactly that in his last sentence (I missed it the first time round).

Odd question, maybe unrelated, but what happens if you enter compatibility mode? Can you continue then?

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Considering that he's talking about a business, I would imagine there is a particular need to stick with Internet Explorer 8. We still have a group of people that are on IE6 because certain applications aren't yet compatible with IE8. In fact, he says exactly that in his last sentence (I missed it the first time round).

Odd question, maybe unrelated, but what happens if you enter compatibility mode? Can you continue then?

Ah yea I missed that the first time around too... maybe was edited after reading it

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Hate to say it but I have to agree that there is an infection somewhere...he mentioned that he can 'use other browsers for personal stuff'...as a last resort before reloading get a adapter cable and pull the hard drive out and hook it to a computer that is working fine and scan it...also try reseting ie8 and see if that helps

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IMO if the two computers are exactly the same, image the computer that is good over the computer that is bad and run sysprep after on the one that was bad.

Otherwise take several screen shots of the advance tab of internet options and compare the two. Quite possibly a malware infected computer, in which case the above option would be your best case scenerio.

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IMO if the two computers are exactly the same, image the computer that is good over the computer that is bad and run sysprep after on the one that was bad.

Otherwise take several screen shots of the advance tab of internet options and compare the two. Quite possibly a malware infected computer, in which case the above option would be your best case scenerio.

This is pretty good advice, if you're able to/allowed to re-image the computer, that is.

Personally, I'm gunning for infected machine. See if you can see anything in the IE history which indicates anything? Personally, I would have thrown up a red flag the instant I couldn't install Malwarebytes. See if you can use the free anti-virus tools from Kaspersky from their website and see if you can run any of those to detect infections.

Alternatively, if you can, run Microsoft Security Essentials.

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IE8 ?

Are your machines fully updated ? IE9 is latest

Indeed, I have gotten around that issue by renaming the installer, and also the exe once installed, although I seem to remember reading something about the newest version forcing installs even on machines infected that would have previously denied the install

We have to use IE8 for addon and website compatibility, otherwise I would have upgraded them to IE9. I tried renaming the installer a while back and it didn't help.

Considering that he's talking about a business, I would imagine there is a particular need to stick with Internet Explorer 8. We still have a group of people that are on IE6 because certain applications aren't yet compatible with IE8. In fact, he says exactly that in his last sentence (I missed it the first time round).

Odd question, maybe unrelated, but what happens if you enter compatibility mode? Can you continue then?

I don't know if that'll work, but I'll try it tomorrow.

IMO if the two computers are exactly the same, image the computer that is good over the computer that is bad and run sysprep after on the one that was bad.

Otherwise take several screen shots of the advance tab of internet options and compare the two. Quite possibly a malware infected computer, in which case the above option would be your best case scenerio.

I was thinking about doing that as a last resort. I may have to.

This is pretty good advice, if you're able to/allowed to re-image the computer, that is.

Personally, I'm gunning for infected machine. See if you can see anything in the IE history which indicates anything? Personally, I would have thrown up a red flag the instant I couldn't install Malwarebytes. See if you can use the free anti-virus tools from Kaspersky from their website and see if you can run any of those to detect infections.

Alternatively, if you can, run Microsoft Security Essentials.

The computers are basically set with zero restrictions. They're just as unsecured as my own personal PC. And by unsecured, I mean, we're allowed to do anything to them. I had MSE on it for a while and it didn't find anything. Removed it and installed Avast; still no results. Scanned with Super Anti Spyware, and zero infections were found.

I'll try taking screenshots and comparing what's checkmarked in the advanced tab, but last I checked they seemed identical.

But yeah this is really throwing us off. Slows down the flow of customers since we can only 100% use one computer. I might have to come in on a day off and re-image it. I'm just afraid that doing so will somehow break our security ticket addon, which apparently took AT&T and the previous tech a number of weeks to set up. Something called RSA toolbar which gives us a security token and stuff. I think each computer might have a separate one; i'm not sure. I'll have to check when I go in tomorrow.

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Well, the least you can do is upgrade to IE 9 and then set it to Compatibility mode *in* IE 9.

If not, I dunno tbh.

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Clutching at straws here but as the machines are identical, could there be a network conflict somewhere?

Could the identical hardware be seen by the router as the same machine in some way?

Other than that, possibly a faulty cable / ethernet card / onboard ?

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But yeah this is really throwing us off. Slows down the flow of customers since we can only 100% use one computer. I might have to come in on a day off and re-image it. I'm just afraid that doing so will somehow break our security ticket addon, which apparently took AT&T and the previous tech a number of weeks to set up. Something called RSA toolbar which gives us a security token and stuff. I think each computer might have a separate one; i'm not sure. I'll have to check when I go in tomorrow.

My business head tells me that if you're already losing customers because of the lack of 100% PCs, having to re-image it and waiting a few extra weeks for AT&T to setup RSA Toolbar is a small molehill compared to the mountain you'll come across as you keep losing business because of the lack of fully working machines.

I'd say a short term headache is worth experiencing to get those PCs back in working order, and get your customers back, rather then have the massive headache of lack of business because you can't resolve a few small issues (not to insult you or trivialise your problems, but you know what I mean).

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