| Author |
Message |
    
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 6686
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 11:31 am: |     |
For the third time, some unidentifiable (at least by me) program or program setting on my computer is preventing me from accessing my g-mail account. The first two times were traced directly to symantec but this time my communication port is not being blocked and symantec is recognizing g-mail as an accepted site.
I know that my e-mail is active and working because I just accessed it successfully from the computer at the library. As an added oddity, my notify is working to the extent that it is telling me when I have unread mail and identifying the sender. I just can't get access to my inbox, outbox or address book from this machine.
Anyone have any new ideas as to what can be happening and why or at least what to do about it? I lost access to the g-mail account about a week ago but I can't recall doing anything consciously that would have lead to the problem.
Note: I have been creating ghost images of my computer daily and storing them on an external drive. Is it possible and adviseable to go back to one of those prior ghost records and try to load g-mail from there and if so, how do I do that?
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JMF
Citizen
Username: Jmf
Post Number: 178
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 1:33 pm: | |
well, I wouldn't go to the ghost image quite yet.
are you accessing e-mail through the web or through a mail application?
are you getting any error messages? |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 6690
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 7:11 pm: | |
No error messages, just the word loading in black in the above left hand corner. I am trying to access g-mail through the g-mail home page. I sign in with my ID and password but the inbox never comes up.
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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 803
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 9:32 pm: | |
I peeked at the Gmail help screens - it seems that this is a recurring problem for a few folks.
I wouldn't go to the ghost image either. While I've never had to do this, some people experiencing 'strange' Internet problems try Mozilla (another web browser) and find they have a better experience.
My gut is that this is a firewall issue, but that's a guess. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 10977
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, November 26, 2005 - 9:54 pm: | |
It's a browser issue. What browser are you using? If the "stop" button is the type that goes on and off, you will probably see that it is off. In other words, the page is not loading, and the "loading" message is a lie. Load again.
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Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 6693
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 8:02 am: | |
Case: I am using a version of IE which is on the list of browsers google recommends using. I agree this is likely a firewall problem since it was a firewall problem the last two times this occurred.
I will try downloading and installing Mozilla if you think this would help but if it is a firewall issue, it may not. Strangely, I was able to access my g-mail account from the library using a version of Netscape which does not support many of G-mail's functions.
Do you know if there is anything the folks experiencing this problem with g-mail have in common: Do they all use dial-up (meaning they have to enter and exist the g-mail program when they go off line)? Do they all use Norton, which every so often decides that g-mail is a dangerious virus carrying program? Would I be better off using a different firewall (such as the IE service pack II which I have installed but disabled on my computer or the one offered by AOL) rather than a different browser? Could one of these other security programs be causing the problem even though I have not actively downloaded the AOL program (to my knowledge, not sure how to check) and Service Pack 2 is disabled (I did check that)?
Tom:
I know my g-mail inbox isn't loading. That is the problem which lead me to start this thread. I don't think it is a browser problem since I have not been able to view the account with either browser I presently have installed on my computer and since my browser - through g-mail Notify - is able to tell me when I have unread mail in my g-mail inbox, who sent it and what the subject is.
Another observation is that my g-mail is no longer showing in my google sidebar either and I can't find a way to make it reappear.
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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 806
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 9:01 am: | |
I agree that Gmail supports your browser (web link below). This is one of those odd problems, though, and I thought throwing Mozilla at it might be illuminating (if it worked). I'd rather not have you switch firewalls just yet, that seems a tad extreme.
Here's a thread from gmail that talks about norton:
http://gmail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8837&query=gmail+norton&top ic=0&type=f
Remember to clear the cache at the end of this process.
Supported Browsers (no shock that IE is on it!)
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6557&topic=1524 |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 6697
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 9:52 am: | |
I have been able to change my display settings in google sidebar to include an e-mail display. Next step is to see if I can get to my e-mail that way.
I'll report back on how that works before trying anything more involved but if anyone has another idea or better yet experienced precisely this problem and found a way around it please chime in.
What does clear the cache mean and how do I do that? I may sound knowledgeable re computers some of the time but what little I know is almost entirely self-taught and intuitive and comes strictly from an end-user's experience. |
Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 810
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 10:36 am: | |
Ah. Check the first link that talks about Norton (above), and the instructions are at the bottom.
All you need to do is read that link; it has instructions for various versions of Norton. I'd love to see how that works - it seems to be a fairly straightforward fix.
If that doesn't work, we can assume that Norton isn't your issue. Let us know; I have one more thing I'd try. |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 6699
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 11:08 am: | |
Case:
WOW!!!! It worked!!!!
Thank you so very, very, very much for finding such a quick and easy (in terms of end-user being able to do it) fix to the problem! (If there was jumping up and down cheering emoticon available, I would post several here to show my appreciation)
Now that I know how to do it, should I schedule a periodic emptying of the cache to prevent this from recurring in the future?
Can you explain, in lay person's terms, why e-mail access became "jammed" on this computer so I and others similarly situated can better understand how to avoid the problem in the future?
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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 814
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 12:29 pm: | |
The short answer is, legal fees. Once Bill Gates stole the Apple interface, he spent most of his money on lawyers (and not enough on OS development). Problems persist to this day.
All kidding aside, I can research it but I honestly don't know for sure. Clearing out the Internet cache is one of those knee-jerk things that you just kind of... do. If I was forced to guess, the browser is trying to utilize a 'stale' page from its cache instead of loading the page directly from the 'net. Why? No idea! That's not much of an answer, but that's just off the top of my head.
Empty the cache regularly, by all means. I believe this program will automate the process for you (and do a bunch of other things as well).
http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/download.html
So did you have to adjust Norton at all?
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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 815
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 12:43 pm: | |
PS - you may want to add 'gmail.google.com' to your list of trusted sites in Internet Explorer.
Tools - Internet Options
Security - Trusted Sites
Click "sites" adn then add 'gmail.google.com' (No quotes)
This is a suggested fix from a Google message board. |
Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 6700
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 12:47 pm: | |
Case:
Thanks. For the information. I really like your theory.
I don't know if I had to adjust Norton but prior to starting this thread, I had already gone through every window I could find in Norton and I made a few adjustments. One of the thigs I noticed was that Norton had once again decided that g-mail was a "bad" site and blocked it. I changed the setting to unblock it but that apparently wasn't enough to bring g-mail back into view. Now I know to empty the cache in IE if I spot this change again. I made a few other changes in Norton as well: verifying that cookies were enabled and that pop-ups weren't blocked in g-mail.
Other fixes I tried included toggling the default e-mail on my computer to see if selecting Outlook as default was part of the problem -- the difficulty started soon after I began adding e-mail addresses to a reconstituted address book -- but I now believe that was a coincidence and toggling the browser in which g-mail would display and reactivating g-mail as a field in goggle sidebar. I doubt any of this had an impact on the problem at all since none of it worked individually or collectively.
Thanks for asking and thanks again for the help!
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 10978
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 6:04 pm: | |
Here's a jumping up and down emoticon.
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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 818
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 7:48 pm: | |
You're just happy because you were right about it being a browser issue! |
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