IE page loads timeout - consistent & strange

[Digger]

Howdy, long time lurker, first time poster...

First off, I've been reading through this group for a few weeks trying
all suggestions that seemed to be related to this problem without any
success.

System - Windows XP SP1; AMD Athlon 1.7
All drivers up-to-date
Cable modem

Problem - websites consistently timeout. There's a strange pattern
though. I can browse a site (bioware for my favourite example) happily
for a few clicks. Selecting "search" or "forums" or such though, and the
logo turns (as if it's doing something, the cable modem indicates no
activity) and the bar at the bottom starts creeping along - but it never
finishes. I've left it for hours. Here's the kicker - I know the site
works. At this point any browser window that is open will do nothing at
any site. Additional browser windows fail to even load the home page. BUT
I can make that same URL work if I:
* <copy shortcut> on the URL that caused the failure
* exit all browser windows
* start a new IE and paste that URL - it works!

Same deal on all sites giving me this grief. But I can surf a site like
MSN all day long without a hiccup.

What I've tried:

* Run adaware, always updated (nothing comes up)
* Re-registered all DLL's, etc. as are listed in this group and on
microsoft's site
* Reinstalled Windows XP from the original CD. Tried this without the
patches from windowsupdate & with - no difference.
* Tried running without ZoneAlarm or Norton Antirus - no difference.
Reinstalled both apps thinking it may have been some weird conflict
* Checked event log for errors or warnings from IE - nothing.
* Reviewed all security settings (can't imagine this is it) to see if
there's anything obviously wrong. Also checked for nasty plugins and
purged anything downloaded as a control.
* Run the microsoft setup/integrity utility (sfc /scannow)
* Checked the registry keys as per one of the IE support pages
(improperly registered DLL's)
* Repaired the LAN connection in Network properties

I first thought it might be technology but the sites this is happening on
are a mixture of ASP/CGI/java/etc. No obvious pattern. I also thought it
might be when it's shifting from HTTP to HTTPS or back but the bioware
site doesn't use that. So I'm at something of a loss as to what to do.
I've seen this behaviour before and the only way I've ever been able to
correct it (previously on Windows ME) was to nuke Windows and start from
scratch rather than reinstall over an existing image.

any suggestions or help much appreciated...

 

[DVarnau]

Digger,
You've probably tried this, but...
Clear the cache and set it's size to about 50MB
Clear History.
If you use an Internet Shortcut to get to these sites, delete that shortcut
and create a new one.
Delete the History and TIF folders. http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

It's easy to overlook the basics <G>

Don

 

[Digger]

"DVarnau" <don_04[at]varnau[dot]org> wrote in

Hi Don, yup you bet, tried all that. Funny enough, the cache is *already*
50MB exactly...

Now what's interesting - found this out playing with it late last night,
is the "trusted zones". Wish I could credit whoever it was, but in one
thread they mentioned "try adding that site to the trusted zones". I only
did it with one site, but it worked! So perhaps a security update has
altered some basic setting affecting anything other than HTML pages. I'm
not sure why this works - the one site I tried it on uses nothing but ASP
- no controls, java or domain redirections, no HTTPS, etc. It's a great
finding but now I'm stumped as to why I'd have to add all these sites to
a trusted zone when they previously worked. At least I have a workaround.

Now it's narrowed down to security settings in IE that have been modified
& made more restrictive.

thanks for the response.
D.