damn red x's again

[badgolferman]

Those damn red x's have shown up on my browser again. I have cleared cache
and lowered security settings to default levels but they are still there at
many sites. Here is one example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5363655781&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

The counter from Andale on the bottom should be visible with a four digit
number on it, but I can't see it.

I have WinXP SP1 with all security updates except SP2, Kerio firewall,
avast! antivirus, Spybot clearing of malware. I have disabled the ActiveX
BHO of Spybot but continue to experience the red x's.

Your help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[mac]

The counter from Andale on the bottom should be visible with a four digit
number on it, but I can't see it.

I can see it, it is 5 numbers, BTW - bid $6 you will be tops )

 

[Jon Kennedy]

At your example, the counter came up a red x for me, too - until I
refreshed. Maybe the site that is providing the counter is bogged down.
But, if you are seeing red x's for lots of sites that have images on them,
see...

Pictures Are Not Displayed on Web Sites in Internet Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283807

If no joy, see this site for possible help:
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/answers.htm#jpg_gif

 

[PA Bear]

It's RedX'ed here, too. It's a coded image which displays via a direct link
to another page: This linked image is blocked for both of us. (WinXP SP2
here + SpywareBlaster, IE-SpyAd and Mike Burgess' hosts file.) I can live
w/out it.

 

[badgolferman]

Well, we are the sellers and want to see the counter. This is the same in
Firefox too. However when I view these same pages from work with W2K they
appear perfectly. Do you suppose I have enabled a hosts file that is
blocking these images?

 

[badgolferman]

Neither of these solutions has worked for me. Perhaps there is a hosts file
involved since Firefox doesn't show it either.

 

[Jan Il]

Hi badgolferman

Do you have Zone Alarm Pro?

Zone Alarm Pro can block Images in IE



1. Go into IE>Tools>Internet Options>Security>Custom level>reset custom
level to Medium or Low

2. Go into IE>Tools>Internet Options>Privacy>set the slider to Medium or Low

3. Go to this site and read on adjusting the Privacy settings in ZA. It will
explain how to customize on a per site basis.

http://www.donhoover.net/privacy.html



Hope this helps

Jan
Smiles are meant to be shared,
that's why they're so contagious.

Replies are posted only to the newsgroup for the benefit or other readers.
How to make a good newsgroup post:
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

....

Well, we are the sellers and want to see the counter. This is the same in
Firefox too. However when I view these same pages from work with W2K they
appear perfectly. Do you suppose I have enabled a hosts file that is
blocking these images?

Break the symptom down into its details.
E.g. right-click on the Red-X and extract the URL from its Properties.
Tip: doubleclick somewhere in the Address (URL): and press Ctrl-a
Ctrl-c to capture it all.

<example>
http://counters.honesty.com/cgi-bin...hidden=0&site=0&type=0&border=1&style=default
</example>

What happens if you open that in its own window? In case it's cached
(surprisingly it looks as if it will be) first try opening it from your TIF
by setting Work Offline. If that works it means that the image arrived
but was not rendered. When I saw similar cases (a long time ago)
I found that setting my cache-checking option to Every visit... (Alt-T,O,Alt-S,E)
helped make rendering more reliable albeit slower.

Otherwise you will have to go online with that URL and try to reload it.
Note: it is not necessarily valid to do that, especially with a counter,
since you don't have a Referer: header to send with its request;
however, it may give you some clues if the problem is DNS related.
Hint: if you get an HTTP 404 error response it is *not* DNS related.

I think you are going to need a full packet trace to capture this.
The first time I tried I saw a Red-X for the counter. I have evidence
of a request being made for it by IE but no evidence of a response.
So I guess there was some kind of timeout happening.
However, a Red-X was rendered far too fast for it to have been
a normal HTTP timeout; so it must have been either IE abandoning
the request after its version of a timeout or misinterpreting some
other event. Unfortunately such possibilities are hidden from us.
E.g. I know of no IE logic trace we could activate to get more details
of what is happening internally and nothing about it is documented
publicly.

In case it is reproducible by requesting just the URL *with* the
correct Referer: you could greatly reduce the amount of data you
need to capture by turning off Show Pictures (Options, Advanced,
Multimedia section) and then right-click, Show Picture. Unfortunately,
when I tried that there was no Red-X. So then perhaps using
right-click, Show Picture could serve as a workaround for you?


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---

 

[badgolferman]

Break the symptom down into its details.

E.g. right-click on the Red-X and extract the URL from its
Properties.
Tip: doubleclick somewhere in the Address (URL): and press Ctrl-a
Ctrl-c to capture it all.

<example>
http://counters.honesty.com/cgi-bin...hidden=0&site=0&type=0&border=1&style=default
</example>

What happens if you open that in its own window?

The page can not be displayed.

In case it's cached

(surprisingly it looks as if it will be) first try opening it from
your TIF
by setting Work Offline.

It did not load or do anything when offline.

If that works it means that the image

arrived
but was not rendered.

Did not do anything.

When I saw similar cases (a long time ago)

I found that setting my cache-checking option to Every visit...
(Alt-T,O,Alt-S,E) helped make rendering more reliable albeit slower.

No good.

Otherwise you will have to go online with that URL and try to reload
it.
Note: it is not necessarily valid to do that, especially with a
counter,
since you don't have a Referer: header to send with its request;
however, it may give you some clues if the problem is DNS related.
Hint: if you get an HTTP 404 error response it is *not* DNS
related.

No HTTP 404 error.

I think you are going to need a full packet trace to capture this.
The first time I tried I saw a Red-X for the counter. I have
evidence
of a request being made for it by IE but no evidence of a response.
So I guess there was some kind of timeout happening.
However, a Red-X was rendered far too fast for it to have been
a normal HTTP timeout; so it must have been either IE abandoning
the request after its version of a timeout or misinterpreting some
other event. Unfortunately such possibilities are hidden from us.
E.g. I know of no IE logic trace we could activate to get more details
of what is happening internally and nothing about it is documented
publicly.

In case it is reproducible by requesting just the URL *with* the
correct Referer: you could greatly reduce the amount of data you
need to capture by turning off Show Pictures (Options, Advanced,
Multimedia section) and then right-click, Show Picture.
Unfortunately,
when I tried that there was no Red-X. So then perhaps using
right-click, Show Picture could serve as a workaround for you?

Show Picture does not work either.

Nothing seems to work. Does the clue of Firefox not showing it either help
in any way? I have changed HOSTS files, cleared cache, lowered Security
settings and everything else I can think of except clearing cookies. Is it
possible the ISP (Cox) is blocking the site where the image comes from? I
have double-checked at work and all these images from different sites that I
can't see here are visible on W2K and WXP machines. Would a repair of IE
help in any way? I haven't changed any settings on Kerio firewall and the
only new software is avast antivirus, but I have shut off all its modules
except for realtime scanner.

 

[badgolferman]

Hi badgolferman

Do you have Zone Alarm Pro?

Zone Alarm Pro can block Images in IE



1. Go into IE>Tools>Internet Options>Security>Custom level>reset
custom level to Medium or Low

2. Go into IE>Tools>Internet Options>Privacy>set the slider to Medium
or Low

3. Go to this site and read on adjusting the Privacy settings in ZA.
It will explain how to customize on a per site basis.

http://www.donhoover.net/privacy.html

No, I have Kerio 2.1.5 and I haven't changed any settings on it. The only
new software is avast antivirus but I have disabled all modules except for
realtime scanner.

 

[Jon Kennedy]

Sorry to hear you are still having problems. After reading this thread, and
the great work Robert Aldwinckle did for you, I would say that the problem
lies at the source - the site providing the counter. I revisited your eBay
page and noted the counter showed up fine - but it may have been pulled from
my cache. It's count was at 29. So, I refreshed the page, and it remained
at 29. Even did a CTRL+F5 and it stayed at 29. (Could be that the auction
has ended, so has the counting?) In any event, it would appear most likely
to be a server-sided issue, and not one with your computer or IE as others,
including myself initially until a refresh, had this problem. There could
be some site-blocking by your ISP, so check with them if they have any
issues. I also take it you don't have any ad-blocking, filtering, or other
such software installed. Or try to totally disable your firewall and AV
program to see if they're the problem.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

The page can not be displayed.

I still think a packet trace is the way to go but there are some things
you can do to investigate the symptom as a problem with your DNS.

Alternatively, since you have a firewall, you might want to investigate
what kind of monitoring it does. E.g. you might find clear indications
there that your DNS (port 53) is not responding to requests about
this site for some reason.

In any case you can use nslookup to find out whether your DNS
knows the name and also how it responds to requests about it.
E.g. sometimes responses time out so badly that I have had to
switch to using the domain's nameserver. Often after doing that
the normal lookup works without such symptoms. Since both
ping and tracert do their own lookups and reverse lookups, using
them can have a similar effect. An additional effect with the latter
is that on NT5x the lookup can be cached. Either kind of prepping
(i.e. making sure your DNS has seen it recently or caching it in NT5's
dnscache) could help IE with its lookups.

<example>
FWIW here's what I get for just the normal lookup:

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: counters.honesty.com
Address: 209.11.131.36
</example>

and here's what I get with set type=any:

<example>
Non-authoritative answer:
counters.honesty.com internet address = 209.11.131.36

honesty.com nameserver = z1.ns.lhr1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = z1.ns.nyc1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = z1.ns.sjc1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = andale.ns.nyc1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = andale.ns.sjc1.globix.net
z1.ns.lhr1.globix.net internet address = 212.111.32.38
z1.ns.nyc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.66.55
z1.ns.sjc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.34.55
andale.ns.nyc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.64.50
andale.ns.sjc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.33.34
</example>

So if you don't get either of those results at first try using
the site's primary nameserver as nslookup's server.
I have given you both the nameserver's name and address.
The server command accepts either.


Good luck

Robert
---

 

[badgolferman]

I still think a packet trace is the way to go but there are some
things
you can do to investigate the symptom as a problem with your DNS.

Alternatively, since you have a firewall, you might want to
investigate
what kind of monitoring it does. E.g. you might find clear
indications
there that your DNS (port 53) is not responding to requests about
this site for some reason.

In any case you can use nslookup to find out whether your DNS
knows the name and also how it responds to requests about it.
E.g. sometimes responses time out so badly that I have had to
switch to using the domain's nameserver. Often after doing that
the normal lookup works without such symptoms. Since both
ping and tracert do their own lookups and reverse lookups, using
them can have a similar effect. An additional effect with the latter
is that on NT5x the lookup can be cached. Either kind of prepping
(i.e. making sure your DNS has seen it recently or caching it in NT5's
dnscache) could help IE with its lookups.

<example>
FWIW here's what I get for just the normal lookup:

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: counters.honesty.com
Address: 209.11.131.36
</example>

and here's what I get with set type=any:

<example>
Non-authoritative answer:
counters.honesty.com internet address = 209.11.131.36

honesty.com nameserver = z1.ns.lhr1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = z1.ns.nyc1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = z1.ns.sjc1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = andale.ns.nyc1.globix.net
honesty.com nameserver = andale.ns.sjc1.globix.net
z1.ns.lhr1.globix.net internet address = 212.111.32.38
z1.ns.nyc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.66.55
z1.ns.sjc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.34.55
andale.ns.nyc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.64.50
andale.ns.sjc1.globix.net internet address = 209.10.33.34
</example>

So if you don't get either of those results at first try using
the site's primary nameserver as nslookup's server.
I have given you both the nameserver's name and address.
The server command accepts either.


Good luck

Robert
---

I deleted my HOSTS file and made it jusr local host and now the images have
returned. Thank you for helping me troubleshoot it.