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Forum problem - cannot log in (?)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 5:38 am
by dodecahedron
i have the weirdest problem logging into the forum.

i go to the Forum Index page and try to log in. tried both ways: clicking the "Login" link at the top right of the page (=>Login screen), or using the "Login" button at the bottom of it. in any case after the login procedure i get back the Forum Index window, but the unlogged version! with the "Login" links at top and bottom. unread posts not marked in red, no link to "View posts since last visit" (aaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!)
the weirdest thing is that my name IS listed as one of the registered users online!!!!!

so am i logged in or not?

i start browsing the forum, open a few Forum pages (CD-RW, Feedback etc.) and they all have the Login link at the top => i'm not logged.
if i go into a topic and try to post ("Post reply" etc.) i get the login screen. so again i type my username and password, and i'm apparently loggin in, in the Post a reply screen i have the "Logout" link at the top. so i can post. after posting it apears that i am logged in - partially ?!?!?. continuing to read topics (in that forum, i think) i appear to be logged in, there's the "Logout" link at the top, and i can post/reply etc. in this forum's index screen i can even see new posts in red. if i go to the previously opened forum index screens of other forums and refresh, some of them change to the logged in version and some do not!!!

well, this is very annoying to say the least, not having unread posts marked in red is a MAJOR hassle for me.

this all happened on my home computer. Windows XP (non SP1). Norton AntiVirus 2002 and Personal Firewall, no viruses on the computer. it just happened one morning with no explanation. had not changed anything in the system, hardware or software, prior to that (i mean recently - like in the week or two before this started). no changes just before this happened to any aspect of my system to the best of my knowledge.

cleared the History, Temporary Internet Files, offline content and Cookies in Internet Explorer, didn't help.

this happens only on my home computer, when i browse from another compuer at univ no problem, everything is completely ordinary.

can't figure out what happened. wha't screwed with my comp?
can anyone help????

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 1:19 pm
by Dan
Sounds like a cookie issue, but not having changed anything in a few weeks makes it bizzare that it would just stop working like that.

:-?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 1:33 pm
by dodecahedron
yeah, i thought so too.
but in IE i went Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete Cookies.
and then checked the D:\Documents and Settings\username\Cookies folder, it really was empty.
but that didn't fix it.

any help?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 3:00 pm
by Matt
Install phoenix and see if it does the same behavior... if it does somethings br0kde3d on your windows, otherwise its your IE and something getting caught somewhere.

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 3:13 pm
by dodecahedron
thanks, Matt, i will try it.
can you tell me first what pheonix is?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 4:48 pm
by glock20rocks
pheonix=mozilla=netscape=not IE=good=not opera=bad

PostPosted: Thu Jan 23, 2003 4:50 pm
by dodecahedron
glock20rocks wrote:pheonix=mozilla=netscape=not IE=good=not opera=bad

:wink:
thanks! :D

PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2003 8:48 am
by dodecahedron
OK, what's the difference between the following browsers?
    Mozilla
    Pheonix
    Netscape

PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2003 2:17 pm
by MediumRare
I am interested in any solutions to this behaviour.

I ran into exactly the same symptoms with Opera. I'm trying out Opera (7 beta) as an alternative to IE. In case it is a cookie problem: I try to be restrictive with cookies, but do allow first-party cookies. I don't have a great deal of experience with Opera, so it may be a configuration problem.

I'm back to IE at present (it works).

G

PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2003 6:27 am
by dodecahedron
don't take this the wrong way, MediumRare, but i'm glad i'm not the only one with this problem!

anyone: any recommendation as to which browser to try as an alternative to IE from the three i listed above?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2003 2:57 pm
by MediumRare
dodecahedron wrote:don't take this the wrong way, MediumRare, but i'm glad i'm not the only one with this problem!

You don't know how happy I was to find your description of exactly the problem i was having !!

I'm writing this with Opera now, so somehow it does work (it takes some getting used to though: e.g. the cursor is ignored when inserting BBcodes). I deleted the cookies file and allowed more than I intially wanted before restricting them again. Why this worked, I don't know. Maybe you have to check your security/privacy settings to make sure you're letting the required cookies through. Did you update your IE at home or play in the "weekly" security patch ?
anyone: any recommendation as to which browser to try as an alternative to IE from the three i listed above?

As far as the Mozilla variants (I'm not an expert):
- Netscape is owned by AOL and partially adapted to its needs :evil: :evil:
- Mozilla is the Opensource heir to the original Netscape, but suffers from feature bloat
- Phoenix is supposed to be a "lite" version without mail-client, site managing software etc. Beta 5.

G