Hi all,
This is my first time ever posting here, mainly because I've almost never run into an issue I couldn't solve on my own or via documentation on the web. I run a web hosting service and also an image hosting service, and have been hosting/building sites since 1996. Before that I spent a few years as a systems integrator (fancy term for tech who builds computers from scratch) for a big computer company.
I have a customer on my image hosting service (I didn't post the URL because I don't want anyone to percieve this as spam) who has been with me almost 2 years. She has always used WindowsXP / AOL and has never had a problem.
Last week her PC crashed and she got a new laptop. Now she cannot upload photos to the service - it gives her an "Upload Failed: possible reason- File type not supported." error. (that error normally only happens when a user tries to upload something other than a .gif, .jpg, or .png. which are the only acceptable file formats on the image server).
I had her email a .jpg file that she was trying to upload, I logged in to her account, and it uploaded perfectly for me. Also, no other customers of my service are having this problem.
So now I know one thing for sure - the problem is on her end and something to do with her new system.
Then it occurred to me that AOL's proprietary image compression feature tends to turn any image into .art or .bmp. So I'm going to call her and suggest that she disable AOL's image compression feature, but....
I have many other customers who also run WinXP / AOL, and they're not encountering this problem. She was also running WinXP/AOL on her previous system with no problems.
So I'm wondering if somehow installing AOL on her new laptop has taken over the way her browser handles even uploading .jpg's and somehow is trying to submit her pics to our system as .art or .bmp somehow silently. I even had her set Internet Explorer stand-alone as the program that handles .jpg's and had her close the AOL browser and try uploading directly from IE.
But then how come it hasn't affected others?
I am completely 100% baffled. The feeling of defeat is killing me, and I'd hate to lose a 2-year customer over a possible simple browser or o/s issue that I might be overlooking. In all the years I've been doing this, I don't believe I've ever encountered an issue like this that I could not easily resolve for the customer.
Does anyone here have any ideas?
Thank you VERY MUCH in advance for any suggestions.
PS - I'm wondering, can AOL possibly take over an XP system's images and interpret them all as .art files? Stabbing in the dark here...
This is my first time ever posting here, mainly because I've almost never run into an issue I couldn't solve on my own or via documentation on the web. I run a web hosting service and also an image hosting service, and have been hosting/building sites since 1996. Before that I spent a few years as a systems integrator (fancy term for tech who builds computers from scratch) for a big computer company.
I have a customer on my image hosting service (I didn't post the URL because I don't want anyone to percieve this as spam) who has been with me almost 2 years. She has always used WindowsXP / AOL and has never had a problem.
Last week her PC crashed and she got a new laptop. Now she cannot upload photos to the service - it gives her an "Upload Failed: possible reason- File type not supported." error. (that error normally only happens when a user tries to upload something other than a .gif, .jpg, or .png. which are the only acceptable file formats on the image server).
I had her email a .jpg file that she was trying to upload, I logged in to her account, and it uploaded perfectly for me. Also, no other customers of my service are having this problem.
So now I know one thing for sure - the problem is on her end and something to do with her new system.
Then it occurred to me that AOL's proprietary image compression feature tends to turn any image into .art or .bmp. So I'm going to call her and suggest that she disable AOL's image compression feature, but....
I have many other customers who also run WinXP / AOL, and they're not encountering this problem. She was also running WinXP/AOL on her previous system with no problems.
So I'm wondering if somehow installing AOL on her new laptop has taken over the way her browser handles even uploading .jpg's and somehow is trying to submit her pics to our system as .art or .bmp somehow silently. I even had her set Internet Explorer stand-alone as the program that handles .jpg's and had her close the AOL browser and try uploading directly from IE.
But then how come it hasn't affected others?
I am completely 100% baffled. The feeling of defeat is killing me, and I'd hate to lose a 2-year customer over a possible simple browser or o/s issue that I might be overlooking. In all the years I've been doing this, I don't believe I've ever encountered an issue like this that I could not easily resolve for the customer.
Does anyone here have any ideas?
Thank you VERY MUCH in advance for any suggestions.
PS - I'm wondering, can AOL possibly take over an XP system's images and interpret them all as .art files? Stabbing in the dark here...
