page cannot be displayed- PLEASE HELP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lindsey
  • Start date Start date
L

Lindsey

I have a Compaq notebook that came with ME and came with a
Windows XP upgrade that I have been using without many
problems for a couple of years. Recently, however, there
has been the onset of "page cannot be displayed" in my IE6
on certain sites that mostly seem to be secure like
checkout pages to purchases items, windows updates, and my
online bank and phone accounts. This seems to have
happened for no reason (at least I can't find one) and
this happened once before and I adjust the security
settings and that fixed it. Now, however, I have changed
the settings (made all of the settings to low security,
etc.) and the problem persists. I have received extensive
support from Compaq trying to change security settings,
trying to unsuccessfully uninstall IE6 to reinstall it,
and unsuccessfully reinstalling windows XP upgrade (my
computer is working fine except for the IE problem and it
is unclear if XP reinstalled or not). I even tried
changing files under REGEDIT at their instruction and
disconnecting and reconnecting my cable modem and nothing
has worked. Interestingly, my computer, email (for now),
and browser still seem to work except for this problem. I
also ran a virus scan on my computer and it was negative.
If anyone can offer any helpinsight I would greatly
appreciate it. Thank you.


Sincerely,
Lidnsey
 
I don't know anything about laptops, but I do know I have
XP & was having that exact problem. (That you've already
figured out it's secure pages that are the problem puts
you way ahead of me when I first started trying to fix.)
Anyway, the first part of this is quick, easy & risk-
free; if you go to the second part it sure isn't quick
(took me about 6 hours) but it's pretty easy & should be
safe since it involves installing an MS download.

Open IE, go to Help & About IE. If it says your cipher
strength = 0, that's probably your entire problem right
there & no amount of security setting fiddling will help.

After trying, both on my own initiative and at the
instruction of a couple of other tech support depts, to
install the download that offers the latest version of
IE, spending half an hour waiting for download to end,
only to have my system tell me that download is not
marked "designed for XP" & therefore would not be
installed, I did a little more looking. (The only other
advice I was getting from all quarters was to completely
reinstall Windows XP from disk.) What worked for me was
downloading & installing XP Service Pack 1a. If you've
already got it, this message is a waste of time. If you
have neither SP1a nor SP1 (they advise against installing
1a if you already have SP1) this is definitely worth
checking out. It's just that it takes hours for the
download alone & then installation & then post-
installation "processes." When my download was nearly
finished I checked on it & nearly screamed when I saw
message that it had been disconnected from the server.
One click of "retry" got it going again, but you may not
want to just go away or go to bed while doing this. Good
luck.
 
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