[solved]internet explorer problem

[reingiolt]

i was able to complete the setup and properly connect to the net but my IE just acts like i'm not even connected to the net. there doesn't seem to be any problem with the connection since i can still use utorrent and was even able to open a port to enable share. my DL and UL speeds are both the same as before.

i've already gone to the site and searched for people having the same problems using google but still haven't found a solution. i also tried turning my off windows firewall but it was no use. i've even upgraded to IE 8, i was just using IE 7 before. now i'm back to using my old router just so i can browse the net. :defeat:

any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[Sakunyuusha]

I'm not telling you to not use IE forever! I'm just temporarily suggesting you to try this out:

1- Install any secondary browser of your choice. Firefox, Opera, I don't care, I have no agenda here. The goal is simply to get a second browser.

2- With the NEW MODEM attached and uTorrent up and running, confirming you are successfully doing stuff online, I want you to try to access the Internet using that 2nd browser.

Doing this will greatly narrow down the list of problems, 'cause right now we don't even know the answer to this one fundamental question: is it an OS problem, a router problem, or a browser problem? It'd be nice to know to what extent, if any, other browsers and other Internet-using programs (like AIM or Steam) are able to connect to the internet.

And I spoke in the 1st person plural, lol @ me, but I'm hardly the man for the job to help you. XD Just trying to help you specify things better for techie and the others. ^_^;

 

[Sakunyuusha]

You don't have to worry about losing your favorites' list because I'm not asking you to replace IE with the new guy. I'm asking you to install him alongside IE.

When you install a 2nd web browser, these are the only things you need to be worried about, and most secondary web browsers (including both Firefox and, last time I used it, Opera), will always politely ask you first rather than just doing it without your permission:

#1 - you need to make sure that IE remains your default browser if that's what you want it to be. [hide]What this means is that any applications which attempt to load a web page within the system's browser-of-choice will be using IE (as they currently do) and not the new guy. For example ...
- if you double-click on a .html file in your computer's hard drive, IE is what opens it now. It could be switched to the new guy if you wanted it to be. So when it asks you, just tell it "No thanks, keep IE as #1."

- if a commercial CD-ROM has a java applet with a clickable region, and if that clickable region is supposed to ordinarily launch the web browser and load up the corporate home page, right now it's IE that does that for you. Again, you could alter this, or you could not, and it's all up to you. Don't want Firefox to be the new king of the hill? It doesn't have to be: it asks you, "Firefox has noticed that it is not the default browser. Would you like to make it the default browser?" And you usually have the three options to pick from of "Yes," "Not Right Now," and "No, and Never Ask Me Again."[/hide]

#2 - when it asks you, "Do you want to migrate your bookmarks from Internet Explorer to [it]?", you need to answer accordingly. [hide]I can't guarantee it, but I'm preeeeeeeeetty sure that they DUPLICATE the list. In other words, you shouldn't have to worry about Firefox deleting IE's favorites as it moves 'em over to Firefox. But if you're worried about it, maybe do a Google search to see if it's a real concern? And there's always the other option of telling Firefox, "No thanks, stay virginal."[/hide]

That's about it. Otherwise, you should be able to run both browsers at the same time in order to diagnose your problem.

IE fails, Firefox works ------> something's wrong with IE or how the router is communicating, specifically, to IE.

Both fail ------------> something's wrong with the router or (universally) with Internet access privileges on your machine.

Both work ----------> yay, success, you're happy.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

Where to get secondary* web browsers:

Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html
creator: Mozilla, the team previously affiliated with Netscape (back in the early '90s) who then morphed into a quasi-GNU monolith of sorts. *shrug*

Opera: http://www.opera.com/browser/
creator: Telenor Norway's #1 telecommunications company (or so they say. I dunno. I'm not Norwegian. ^^; ) (see also Telenor)

Chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome
creator: LOL, take a wild guess

May 2009 pie chart showing relative "market shares" between the main web browsers (courtesy of Wikipedia)

For a list of other web browsers, click here or just search for "web browser" and see what you come up with. For the most part, I think the pie chart is fairly accurate, though I must confess I'm surprised by how large Firefox and Safari's pieces of pie are compared with Chrome and Opera's. I would have thought that Opera was at least one-third to one-half Firefox's size, but I guess that just goes to show how many people (self included! ^_^;) they lost between 2004 and the present. Man. Sucks for Telenor, I guess. :\ And as for Google Chrome, yeah, sure, it's still really young, but sheesh, what a tiny piece of pie!

.......... what? You want to know if I've ever used Google Chrome. err, well, not exactly, no ... but I'm still surprised! ^_^;

* I use the term "secondary" because most people reading this post will be Windows or MacOSX users and Windows comes bundled with Internet Explorer while MacOSX comes bundled with Safari. I am aware that most distros of Linux come bundled with no browser at all, with Firefox, or with yet another browser. ^^;

 

[reingiolt]

thanks for all the help. i don't know how but it kinda sorted itself out. :XD: after making my last post i went and downloaded Firefox 3.0.11. It also didn't work just like IE. i thought that setting a dynamic IP address might work so i used the one from my old router. that didn't work either so i loaded the previous configuration of the router which i managed to save beforehand. i rebooted the router via the router setup utility ( i used to just unplug and plug it in again ) and suddenly IE and Firefox were ok. i guess it just needed to be rebooted?

 

[Sakunyuusha]

LOL!! It reminds me of an old engineering joke from the 1980s or early '90s! There are probably several versions of the joke since this one has four drivers and I only remember there being three, but it's close enough.

Four men rode in a car: a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, a chemical engineer, and a computer engineer.

The car stalled out.

The mechanical engineer said, "It must be the pistons; let's repair them and be on our way."

The electrical engineer said, "It has to be the spark plugs; we'll replace them and be ready to roll in no time at all."

The chemical engineer said. "No, it's got to be bad gas; we'll flush the system and be on our way."

They turned to the computer engineer. "What do you think we should do?" they asked.

The computer engineer shrugged and said, "Let's get out of the car, close the doors, then get back in and try restarting it."