Cookies not being accepted

[skimo]

Our company has a website that sales reps login to. The site puts a cookie on the pc with the users info. Some users can't login even though cookies are enabled and I set the site as a trusted site in the browser. All the machines have IE 5 or 5.5 and Win2k SP1. Any ideas on why the machines won't accept cookies?

 

[paulwood]

Sorry to be dense, how do you know that cookies are the problem? Just wondering.

How are they logging in, via an ISP and are all the logins through the same means, or same ISP?

 

[skimo]

The users all log on to our LAN to get internet access. The ones who can't get to the website don't have the site cookie on their machine. Nothing else seems to be different.

 

[PAndersen]

Do the machines accept cookies from other sites ?

 

[skimo]

Yes the machines accept cookies from other sites and I talked with the company that hosts our web site and they can't duplicate the problem. I have deleted all the cookies on the machines and reset the web settings to original. I am stumped!!!

 

[paulwood]

OK what is the error message they get?

 

[skimo]

If the user logs with a valid user name and password there is no error message, just returns to the login page. If you login with a valid username and incorrect password, you get a access denied error, so the site must know it is being hit. I even took the cookie from a machine that can login and placed it in a machine that could not login, changing the cookie content to reflect the new user and still no luck.

 

[paulwood]

The cookies are just text files, and the users' settings are the problem (the rejected users can't log on at another workstation), or is the problem with the workstations?

Is there anything that might cause the cookies to have passed the max expire time in the ones that are rejected, if so they wouldn't be saved to the local machine. What about the length of names/passwords/invalid characters in the cookies? OK, these are guesses, but it is a bit wierd!

 

[PAndersen]

Maybe, it is a question of permissions at the
(probably) protected web site. The security settings
should be checked. Are the users included in the group
which has browse access ?

 

[skimo]

I solved the problem. You ever get so used to using the same old products you never try anything new? Thanks for Netscape, Mozilla and Opera all worked just fine. I even reinstalled IE 5.5 and had no luck. Thanks for all the responses.