Customer cannot login to Hotmail account

[Stu]

I have a customer who cannot login to his Hotmail account using IE6 on WinXP SP2. He enters his credentials (which he knows to be correct) and the page changes as if it's logging in, then just sits there on a blank white screen. Nothing seems to happen, it didn't even timeout while I was there.

I tried the obvious things like clearing out his cookies, running CCleaner and running a Winsocks repair utility, but it makes zero difference.

Anyone else come across this before?

I ought to have run Dial-A-Fix too, but it slipped my mind at the time.

 

[NYJimbo]

This is really something for him to trouble shoot with the people running HotMail. You cannot tell why the screen would look like that, only the HotMail would know what is being done on the server end and if his credentials are accepted or if they are sending something he is blocking.

He should contact HotMail or forums that deal with them. It could be so many things from cookies to pop-up blockers, to a routine running on the server that never completes to send the final web page content due to something specific to the users account.

 

[seedubya]

Numerous times. It's probably post viral. There's a virus out there that messes with IE's ability to open HTTPS pages which is what is probably going on. I've attached a zip file containing two batch files. Run unreg.bat first then reg.bat then restart.

If that doesn't work, come back.

 

[Stu]

Thanks seedubya, I will give those batch files a try. However, I think I have seen what you describe before, and in that case anything requiring HTTPS got an instant DNS error. This problem seems different somehow.

 

[Simmy]

Did you install firefox? Even just as a temporary way to prove his login details are correct and that the problem is related to IE and not a firewall/network problem.

Can't say I've come across this particular problem though I'm afraid. I would try upgrading to IE7 first.

Can you view the source file of the blank white screen that you get?

 

[Jura]

You should install something more simple and user friendly instead of Firefox. Like Safari or later on Chrome.

 

[seedubya]

Maybe Chrome, I don't know enough about it to judge, but definitely not Safari. It's a damn security nightmare. Jura, be careful what you recommend. Opera would have been better than either and Firefox is no more user-unfriendly than IE which they're already using.

 

[jimman65]

Seedubya, I came across your reply when I encountered a similar problem. Happy to say that it worked a treat.

BTW As well as trying Firefox, try using any Email account or service that requires a https connection, i.e. Yahoo. In my case, Yahoo and gmail both failed at the login stage.

 

[seedubya]

Glad to have been of assistance jimman65.