IE 6 lockups and stymied in repairing the problem

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Guest

Several days ago I made the mistake of plugging in to a hotel hi speed port
while my pc was on and configured with hard LAN port assignemnts. Long story
short - MS IE 6 is now locking up on certain sites, most notably Windows
Update. It appears the ability to run scripts has been compromised.

Following advice on the MS site I attempted to diagnose and repair the
problem but every solution ends up at a roadblock.

I tried running the System File Checker RUN sfc /scannow biut it asks for
the original XP install disk - and my Toshiba only has an image disk. They
will not provide an XP install disk.

The other recommendation was to reinstall IE 6. MS says to unistall the
current version. However there is no uninstaller available either under MS IE
or under the Add/Remove Programs or A/R Windows Components.

The current upload of IE 6 will not install because it says it finds a
current version.

Following MS instructions to modify the registry with "isinstalled" set to
"0" to indicate no IE6 installation does not work. I still get the message
and a refusal to install a fresh IE 6.

Of course I tried all the other usuals: three adware/spyware scans, attempts
to go back to an earlier restore point - none of which work. That message
was "Could not restore, try another restore point..." The scans all say the
system is clean. I had also uninstalled and reloaded Java to no effect.

I have run out of official options. Does anyone have some simple ways to
reinstall IE6 that I haven't tried so I can try installing a clean new
version?

Any way to get System File Checker running without an XP install disk?

Many thanks for your help - Rol
 
Rol said:
Several days ago I made the mistake of plugging in to a hotel hi speed port
while my pc was on and configured with hard LAN port assignemnts. Long story
short - MS IE 6 is now locking up on certain sites, most notably Windows
Update. It appears the ability to run scripts has been compromised.

Following advice on the MS site I attempted to diagnose and repair the
problem but every solution ends up at a roadblock.

I tried running the System File Checker RUN sfc /scannow biut it asks for
the original XP install disk - and my Toshiba only has an image disk. They
will not provide an XP install disk.

The other recommendation was to reinstall IE 6.
Click to expand...


Not for your OS.

MS says to unistall the
current version. However there is no uninstaller available either under MS IE
or under the Add/Remove Programs or A/R Windows Components.

The current upload of IE 6 will not install because it says it finds a
current version.

Following MS instructions to modify the registry with "isinstalled" set to
"0" to indicate no IE6 installation does not work. I still get the message
and a refusal to install a fresh IE 6.
Click to expand...


Where did you see that? KB318378?
What service pack level do you have? XPsp2?
See the instructions for that OS level in the article?


---
 
Robert Aldwinckle said:
Not for your OS.




Where did you see that? KB318378?
What service pack level do you have? XPsp2?
See the instructions for that OS level in the article?
Click to expand...
 
Robert Aldwinckle said:
Where did you see that? KB318378?
What service pack level do you have? XPsp2?
See the instructions for that OS level in the article?
Click to expand...
REPLY: Yes, it was KB318378.

I have XP SP2 and IE 6 SP2

Thank you for your reply - I see I missed the item indicating that for SP 2
I should reinstall XP SP2 instead of IE 6.

However on my PC IE 6 is locking up so I can't access Windows Update. If I
try to use FireFox to access that SP2 install information I get a message
saying I must have IE installed.

I looked at the alternative, to download and install XP2 by downloading and
using the full network installation package, but it is more than 250 MB in
size and since I access via hi speed satellite I would hit my usage penalty
at 140 MB and the connection would slow to a crawl.

I have spent quite some time going back and forth in the Windows help &
support pages and do not see an alternate solution to enable me to reinstall
SP2 / IE 6.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Rol
 
....
I have spent quite some time going back and forth in the Windows help &
support pages and do not see an alternate solution to enable me to reinstall
SP2 / IE 6.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...


Automatic Updates should notice that XPsp2 is missing
and offer it for you. Set AU to full prompt. Then you can pick
just that update for downloading and then installing.

BTW how did you install XPsp2 in the first place?
Lots of people had so much trouble doing a web install of it that
for some time MS offered it on a free CD. If you have it on a CD
that would be the preferred way to install it.

Thanks!

Rol
Click to expand...


Good luck

Robert
---
 
Robert Aldwinckle said:
Automatic Updates should notice that XPsp2 is missing
and offer it for you. Set AU to full prompt. Then you can pick
just that update for downloading and then installing.

BTW how did you install XPsp2 in the first place?
Lots of people had so much trouble doing a web install of it that
for some time MS offered it on a free CD. If you have it on a CD
that would be the preferred way to install it.
Click to expand...
Robert,

Microsoft Updates does not notice XP SP2 is missing because it is there, or
at least most of it. Thus it does not offer a reinstall or update.


I originally installed XP SP2 using the web update and it worked fine at
that time.

I suspect that the new problem involves only one or a few corrupted files or
missing associations related to IE 6 and its ability to handle scripts. My
worst lockups actually occur on the Microsoft Update site, alothough some
other sites result in similar lockups.

Some lockups only lock up IE and I can stop the program with Task Manager.
Some lock up the entire operating system and CTL-ALT-DEL even fails.

This only happens when browsing with IE 6 and on sites that seem heavy with
scripting.

Rol
 
Rol said:
Robert,

Microsoft Updates does not notice XP SP2 is missing because it is there, or
at least most of it. Thus it does not offer a reinstall or update.
Click to expand...


Oops. I have always assumed that "reinstall" there implied
first uninstall and then reinstall. Perhaps not? <w>
BTW also not stated but implied I think is that all subsequent
maintenance to your OS would have to be redownloaded
and reinstalled but maybe that would only happen if you
actually did the uninstall first... who knows? ; }

I haven't tested that case so I'm just speculating about
what seems logical and reasonable. I do have XPsp2
on CD so I suppose I should at least see what happens
if I try to reinstall it when XPsp2 is already installed.
I will be very surprised if it acts like the benign repair tool
the article is implying and absolutely astounded if it
doesn't cause me to reinstall all my maintenance
(which I don't have separate copies of.)

I originally installed XP SP2 using the web update and it worked fine at
that time.

I suspect that the new problem involves only one or a few corrupted files or
missing associations related to IE 6 and its ability to handle scripts. My
worst lockups actually occur on the Microsoft Update site, alothough some
other sites result in similar lockups.
Click to expand...


In that case the usual first action would be an IE Repair (ref. KB194177)

Unfortunately most XP users can't do that any more.
E.g. unless you installed IE6sp1 before installing any XP service packs
you wouldn't have the setupwbv.dll module to at least allow it to be
invoked from the command line.

XPsp2 tried to provide an alternative (the /rereg command line switch)
but botched the implementation. I have provided the necessary edit
to its ieuinit.inf file elsewhere to at least allow users to run it for full
effect.

Instead German MVP Kai Schaetzl has prepared a cmd file
which would allow XPsp2 users to mostly simulate a better version
of the /rereg switch's ieuinit.inf repair script.

I'm not sure if he has modified it for IE7 use completely
or how well it will work with other versions of IE. I don't think it would
hurt to try it in any case. E.g. if a module is referenced which doesn't
exist on a user's machine the cmd file would essentially ignore
that fact.

http://iefaq.info/index.php?action=artikel&cat=24&id=31&artlang=en

BTW I think he uses regsvr32's /s (silent) switch to suppress prompts
but it also suppresses any sign of errors from the re-registrations.
Unfortunately I don't know of any way to both capture the errors and
suppress the prompts. One way might be to check the return code
after issuing each command and then echo any unexpected codes
back to the console. Then the user could subsequently rerun any
suspicious ones manually to see their messages. Etc.
Note that this would just be a useful enhancement because neither
of the other repair procedures provide detailed diagnostic info.
for their operation either.

Some lockups only lock up IE and I can stop the program with Task Manager.
Some lock up the entire operating system and CTL-ALT-DEL even fails.

This only happens when browsing with IE 6 and on sites that seem heavy with
scripting.
Click to expand...


If you suspect scripting support needs to be reinstalled you could
do that by manual download and reinstall (e.g. using your other browser.)

Another alternative to reinstalling XPsp2 but closer to a reinstall/repair
of IE would be to try downloading and installing the latest cumulative update
for it--that you should be able to do either using a different browser
or via Automatic Updates. E.g. uninstall the latest if you already have it
and then AU would suggest you download and install it again.


Good luck

Robert
---
 
Robert,

Thank you for all the information and leads. I will study it and see if I
can try some of the suggestions. It does sound pretty complex since while I
am literate I am not a power user!

I did uninstall and reinstall Java with no effect.

I suspect Active-X. Is there a way to uninstall and reinstall all Active-X
scripting and controls? I cleaned out all the Active-X items using IE's
options but I would imagine there is a certain amount built into IE 6.


A possible alternative I have identified is to uninstall XPSP2 and reinstall
it using Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs. And then of course I would have
to do all the updates.

Or perhaps I will order the XPSP2 CD from Microsft and see if I can
scan/verify the system files using that.

Thanks for all your detailed information. I appreciate your expert opinion!

Rol
 
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