can't open links in IE 6 and it freezes the browser

[princejoe]

I've been using XP Pro for a month already, everything has been fine, until I downloaded some critical updates from window update. Things were still ok last night because I didn't restart the system as I still needed to use the internet after it finished downloading and installing the updates, but as I boot up the windows today and logged to the internet, I found out that everything is ok except that I couldn't open links on any of the IE browser(I only use IE as my internet browser). Doesn't matter what sites I was on, if I tried to open a link on that browser, it will freezes it, the only to close it would be click ctrl+alt+del. I could right click the link and open a new window without any problem like before, but that is troublesome. Does it have anything to do with the updates I've had last night. are there any ways for me to make it work just like before? Thanks

[mjc]

I kind of remember seeing this before (someone else posted ...), and connected to an update from MS...you might be able to try to run the IE repair option, or use the sysrstore to go back to before you added the updates.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[princejoe]

thanks for the reply, mjc. Could u please tell me how to do the IE repair option or sysrstore? Thanks

[ErnieK]

mjc
I have searched previously for the IE Repair but could not find it. As IE6 is the default installation I do not think that there is a repair for it. My problem with links (in IE) only dissapeared after re-inserting old Ghost image that did not have the so called updates from MS. Now I am trying tofigure out how make file association so that I can open links from OExp. (Have the instructions but have not quite figured how to follow them yet)

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Ernie

[mjc]

Ok, it seems that I was a little wrong.... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif , and ernie you're correct, there is no "repair" feature if it is the "native installtion", so that option is out, unless you want to download IE6 and install it over top of the existing install.

But after a little fishing I think this may apply:



Go to Start/Run, and type:

REGSVR32 URLMON.DLL

Then open IE, Tools menu,Internet Options, Program Tab, and click the "Reset Web Settings" button.





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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[Paul Komski]

I know that ErnieK had this problem and couldn't resolve it. It still keeps cropping-up in the IE6 newsgroups and I have been following this "bug" a little. This quote is the most recent "fix".

Try this:
Click Start, click Run, type the following command in the Open box, and then
press ENTER:

regsvr32 urlmon.dll

regsvr32 comcat.dll

regsvr32 shdocvw.dll

regsvr32 actxprxy.dll

If the above suggestion does not work, then check out this MS KB Article for
help:
Unable to Open a Link in New Window in Internet Explorer (Q281679) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q281679

--
Kenrick Fu
MS MVP (IE)

The two main areas involved seem to be (a) somehow having some of the incorrect .dll files installed over the originals and (b) the web url associations becoming corrupted following an upgrade/update. As an interim measure some people can get the pages to load by pressing refresh (sometimes holding down CTL at the same time). Good luck; you may need some. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Take nice care of yourselves - Paul
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots."

[mjc]

Paul,

half a step ahead of me, I see...I didn't quite find the same one you did but it seems we are on the right track....they agree on at least the urlmon.dll as being one of the causes.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[princejoe]

thanks for all the feedbacks, guys, I really appreciated. I tried all the commands Paul gave me: run, type all the commands and enter, then I tried clicking a link on some sites, still didn't work. I also went to the site Paul shown me(I right click it and opened a new window, had to do this, otherwise the pcguide window would have been frozen), I am not sure if the situation ErnieK experienced or what they described in that site is similar to what happenened to PC. May I should put it in details again. If I try to click a link on any website, the window would be freezing up, u can't click on anything, such as back, forward, or refresh, etc. no pop up windows, the site I clicked on didn't go blank at first, not until I went to other windows and come back to this window, it would be blank, which means it wouldn't change to blank unless I went to a different window and come back. there are no ways to close this window except ctrl+alt+del, the windows task manager pops up, select the frozen window, then end task. ErnieK, is this what u experienced? This is getting frustrating, please help me out

[ErnieK]

Princejoe
Try typing "SFC" (without quotes) System file checker will the flash across the desktop (quickly showing a "DOS" (?) window. This might repair any corupted files. I re-inserted a ghost image that did not have any updates in it. This seemed to have caused my probs (same as yours)

mjc
It is not often that I am right. Just looked out the windows and there is a blue moon. So that must be the reason http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Ernie

[princejoe]

ErnieK, yes there was small dos window flash across the desktop, but still the windows freezes when I try clicking a link.

[Paul Komski]

mjc Yup - same general direction - but this is a real thorny problem that I wish we could get to the bottom of.

BTW folks; does sfc work under XP? it was replaced by sf-protection in ME.

GENERAL POINTS

Web pages not opening from "links" (and browser-freezing) seems most common using IE6 but also can happen with IE5.5
This problem seems to occur most often after upgrading or updating various patches.
Related issues are 'opening browser in another window' and 'opening links from within OE'.
CauseA: Install shield malfunction leading to incorrect file versions being overwritten.
CauseB: Interference by the (mis)installation-of and/or running-of other programs: notably NAV and McafeeAV, Acrobat and MS Money.
CauseC: URL file associations wrong or retain DOS-like 8/3 paths (eg /INTERNE~1 instead of Internet Explorer)
CauseD: Overblown cache, history, resources and so on.
CauseE: Spyware activex object ('Tracker Class') that tries to report your surfing habits to a server in California. That server has gone down, so after *quite* a while, it gives up and gives control back to IE. Remove it from your Windows Downloaded Program Files if it exists.

NOTES

When using Regsvr32 one should get a dialog box stating success etc. If this doesn't happen, my hypothesis is that Regsvr32.exe may also be corrupt/malconfigured/wrong-version. In that case one should manually reinstate the correct versions of these system files (including Regsvr32 itself maybe). The correct versions would normally be the original ones used from the installation-CD or from Options<>Cabs.
urlmon.dll, comcat.dll, shdocvw.dll and actxprxy.dll were mentioned above but Oleaut32.dll, Olepro32.dll, Asycfilt.dll and Stdole2.tlb are also implicated in the links-process (especially Oleat32.dll). All four can be replaced using the fix for MSMoney see MSKB-105810 (http://support.installshield.com/kb/view.asp??pcode=ALL&articleid=Q105810) to Download and Install the MCRepair.exe File. This has worked for some people - though personally I would rather be in control and reinstate them to the originals one by one.

URL FILE ASSOCIATIONS For Win9x and NT are copied below but see MSKB-177054 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q177054) to check I got it right and for other OSes.

Get to FolderOptions<>FileTypes in WindowsExplorer. Click on the FileTypes Header so that they are listed alphabetically and scroll down to a number of them starting with URL. Highlight 'URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol' and Click 'Advanced'; Highlight 'Open' and click 'Edit'.
URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol (click edit, open, edit).
The values should read:
[Application used to perform action]
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -nohome

(Double-Check the path to iexplore.exe to make sure that it is correct in the exact format used here including all punctuation and spaces in all these boxes)

[Use DDE] should be checked and in the boxes below it you should have:
#1[DDE Message]
"%1",,-1,0,,,,
#2[Application]
IExplore
#3[DDE Application not running](leave blank)

#4[Topic]
WWW_OpenURL

(The actual values specified above are the same for each Operating System though there may be slight differences in navigating to the boxes).

Repeat these steps for the following registered file types:
URL:Gopher Protocol, URL:Hypertext Transfer Protocol and URL:Hypertext Transfer protocol with Privacy
Click Close.
NOTE : If you follow these steps, you may receive the following prompt when Internet Explorer starts:
Internet Explorer is not currently your default browser. Would you like to make it your default browser?
Ensure that the "Internet Explorer should check to see if it is the default browser" check box is not checked under Internet Options , or the issue may recur. If you click Yes , the issue may recur.

FINALLY
See MSKB-129605 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q129605) on how to extract dll files.

It has been suggested that Repairing IE may work if done from Safe Mode and not when done normally.

The above is a summary of what I have learned so far about this issue. I hope it doesn't need too many corrections and is of some use until M$ (if they ever do) get IE6 properly patched! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif






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Take nice care of yourselves - Paul
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots."

[mjc]

And now another log on the fire....see my last post here (http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/003115.html)

Oh, yeah I almost forgot, the patch that causes the problem is also the same one that changes the version of urlmon.dll
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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.




[This message has been edited by mjc (edited 03-08-2002).]

[Paul Komski]

But what a good log it is!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif on what ought to be a funeral pyre. It leads to resolving how to restore the original IE for XP users (so hopefully avoiding the reinstalls/reformats which many have resorted to).

If you do not have a restore option for Internet Explorer (for example, if you are using Microsoft Windows XP), you must manually replace the Mshtml.dll and Mshtml.tlb files with the older versions of these files. The older versions of these files are located in Q313675 in safe mode. Although you can use the original Mshtml files from the Microsoft Windows XP CD, these files do not provide as much security.

IE(6) = IE(sicks) = IE(sucks) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Take nice care of yourselves - Paul
"There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots."