Guest_imported
New member
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Summary: When trying to log into Hotmail, it will display in Netscape but not IE - on one computer. But on another computer, Hotmail works on both IE and Netscape.
Details:
My roommate and I have computers which are Ethernet'ed to a Linksys router, which in turn connects to an Alcatel modem that uses BellSouth FastAccess DSL.
My roommate is running Windows 98; I am running Windows 95. Both of us have IE 5 and Netscape 4.76.
Recently, I joined a mutual fund and wanted to access their website, but couldn't get the site to come up. Their tech support said that some DSL users with a router have reported this problem, and it is fixed by enabling the router's MTU setting to 1492. I did this, and I was able to access their site.
About the time that I did this (not sure if it was EXACTLY the same day or not), my roommate became unable to log into his Hotmail accout using IE. He would get to the login screen, but after typing in his login/password, IE gives a "this page cannot be displayed" error message. Prior to this time, he had been logging into Hotmail from IE for months with no problem.
When my roommate told me about his Hotmail problem, I went back and disabled the router's MTU setting, as it had been before. We power-cycled the router, the DSL modem, and my roommate's computer. We also went into IE and cleared his Temporary internet files. None of this fixed the problem.
We also re-installed IE on his computer; this did not fix it either.
But we installed Netscape on his computer, and Hotmail works fine from Netscape. (Well, the page formatting is a little funny, but he can at least log in and check his messages.)
It has been a week or so since then. I have left the router MTU setting disabled. No other router settings have been changed, so the router settings are identical to what they were before the Hotmail problem.
My roommate still cannot log into Hotmail from IE, but can from Netscape. (He can log into other sites from IE with no problem.)
To reiterate, the problem is a "this page cannot be displayed" error message. It is not a matter of an incorrect password, but the page doesn't display at all.
From my computer, logging into Hotmail works fine both from IE and Netscape.
For Internet Options / Connections, it is set to "Never dial a connection". LAN settings are set to Automatically detect settings. These settings are identical for my computer (which works for Hotmail) and my roommate's (which does not work for Hotmail).
It is possible that something else may have happened to cause this problem (and hence the MTU change is a coincidence). On a couple of other occasions, my roommate has gotten things messed up on his computer; for example, once upon a time he got one of those hoax emails claiming that a certain filename was spreading a virus, and he deleted it, but of course the file is really a needed Windows file. He asked me for help after some things on his system stopped working, and I figured out what happened and got his system restored.
But in this present case with Hotmail on IE, I asked him if he did anything else on his computer just before this problem began, and he cannot remember anything significant - any programs he installed, files he deleted, etc. In summary, there may be something that my roommate cannot recall which really started this problem, but I cannot figure out what that may be.
Any suggestions to get this working? My roommate prefers to use IE - he is used to it, and especially since Netscape has a little trouble formatting a couple things on the Hotmail page.
Details:
My roommate and I have computers which are Ethernet'ed to a Linksys router, which in turn connects to an Alcatel modem that uses BellSouth FastAccess DSL.
My roommate is running Windows 98; I am running Windows 95. Both of us have IE 5 and Netscape 4.76.
Recently, I joined a mutual fund and wanted to access their website, but couldn't get the site to come up. Their tech support said that some DSL users with a router have reported this problem, and it is fixed by enabling the router's MTU setting to 1492. I did this, and I was able to access their site.
About the time that I did this (not sure if it was EXACTLY the same day or not), my roommate became unable to log into his Hotmail accout using IE. He would get to the login screen, but after typing in his login/password, IE gives a "this page cannot be displayed" error message. Prior to this time, he had been logging into Hotmail from IE for months with no problem.
When my roommate told me about his Hotmail problem, I went back and disabled the router's MTU setting, as it had been before. We power-cycled the router, the DSL modem, and my roommate's computer. We also went into IE and cleared his Temporary internet files. None of this fixed the problem.
We also re-installed IE on his computer; this did not fix it either.
But we installed Netscape on his computer, and Hotmail works fine from Netscape. (Well, the page formatting is a little funny, but he can at least log in and check his messages.)
It has been a week or so since then. I have left the router MTU setting disabled. No other router settings have been changed, so the router settings are identical to what they were before the Hotmail problem.
My roommate still cannot log into Hotmail from IE, but can from Netscape. (He can log into other sites from IE with no problem.)
To reiterate, the problem is a "this page cannot be displayed" error message. It is not a matter of an incorrect password, but the page doesn't display at all.
From my computer, logging into Hotmail works fine both from IE and Netscape.
For Internet Options / Connections, it is set to "Never dial a connection". LAN settings are set to Automatically detect settings. These settings are identical for my computer (which works for Hotmail) and my roommate's (which does not work for Hotmail).
It is possible that something else may have happened to cause this problem (and hence the MTU change is a coincidence). On a couple of other occasions, my roommate has gotten things messed up on his computer; for example, once upon a time he got one of those hoax emails claiming that a certain filename was spreading a virus, and he deleted it, but of course the file is really a needed Windows file. He asked me for help after some things on his system stopped working, and I figured out what happened and got his system restored.
But in this present case with Hotmail on IE, I asked him if he did anything else on his computer just before this problem began, and he cannot remember anything significant - any programs he installed, files he deleted, etc. In summary, there may be something that my roommate cannot recall which really started this problem, but I cannot figure out what that may be.
Any suggestions to get this working? My roommate prefers to use IE - he is used to it, and especially since Netscape has a little trouble formatting a couple things on the Hotmail page.