[WEB4LIB] Peculiar problem with two computers

[Ron Cripe]

More than likely some other problem has developed on your machine than your
problems being caused by IE5.5.  Not to down-play your problem, but I'm
always a little amused when someone wants to blame Microsoft software
installs for breaking their systems, not that it can't but there is much to
check before arriving at that conclusion.  (The Microsoft OS does not stand
alone in bugginess...)  Microsoft would be out of business tomorrow, for
good, if they released a product to their huge user base that causes the
kind of problem you describe.  It is most likely not the software install
that caused the problem.  I fear that the problem solving you've already
done may have already made your difficulties worse.

* You don't mention in your email if you can telnet anywhere?
* Can you connect to a local network and browse local machines via Network
Neighborhood?
* At a DOS prompt (going to a command shell from within Windows) can you
ping other machines by ip?
* At a DOS prompt (going to a command shell from within Windows) can you
ping other machines by DNS name?
* Have you verified that nothing in your network has changed which the other
workstations were modified to deal with but your laptop missed out on?
* Have you tried other connection locations, bad wall plate?
* Tried a different cable, maybe it has been damaged?
* Does the portable have a PCMCIA Ethernet card or a connector in the back
or side of the unit?  If it is a PCMCIA ensure it is securely connected,
remove and reinsert if necessary (more than once), try another of the same
model PCMCIA if you can.

Just a few things to check I thought of right off....

>Be not afraid to entrust the end user with unpleasant facts,
>foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a mass of
end users that
>are afraid to judge the truth and falsehood of all computer companies in an
open market
>is a user base that is destined to failure. - Ron Cripe



-----Original Message-----
From: Drew, Bill <drewwe at snymorva.morrisville.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Date: Thursday, July 27, 2000 11:22 AM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Peculiar problem with two computers


>I have a lap top and a desktop I use in my office.  I installed IE 5.5 on
>both machines. There is one website neither machine can connect to:
>
>http://www.oneonta.edu
>
>I get the standard page back saying the server is unavailable.  It will not
>work with Netscape (any version) for either of these machines as well.
What
>has IE5.5 Setup changed?
>Any ideas?  I tried uninstalling IE5.5 on the desktop.  It uninstalled but
>not cleanly.  It should have reverted back to IE 4.1 but did not.  Now when
>I go to reinstall IE4.1 it tells me a newer version is on the machine and
>will not install over it.
>
>I can reach the website from any other computer in the library.  They all
>have IE 5.1 or earlier versions.
>HELP!!
>___________________
>Wilfred (Bill) Drew
>Associate Librarian, Systems and Reference
>SUNY Morrisville College Library
>drewwe at morrisville.edu
>Home: http://www.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/
>Not Just Cows: http://www.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/njc/
>Library: http://www.morrisville.edu/library/
>Have Laptop -- Will Travel.
>
>
>We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts,
>foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation
that
>is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market
>is a nation that is afraid of its people. - John F. KENNEDY
>
>