Old Internet Explorer can't log onto Hotmail anymore.

December 28, 2004 5:34 PM

There's probably an obvious answer to this one. My dad has an older pentium running Windows 98 and IE 5.0 connecting to the net via a cable modem. He does three things on the net 1) play chess 2) check email on Yahoo 3) check email on Hotmail. Three weeks ago he stopped being able to log into Hotmail. (MI)

He’s able to get to the login screen, type in his info, then the screen goes white and eventually times out.

I’ve had him delete his cache and history and reset the modem by unplugging it for ten minutes, etc. but none of this has helped.

He’s able to access his Yahoo email account no problem. Logging on the to chess servers, no problem. He can go anywhere on the net except his Hotmail account. Any idea what’s going?

posted by dismitree to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

In order to isolate the problem, I'd try to log in using different browsers. I know, I know, you can't force him not to use IE, but why not try to download Firefox or Opera and see if they can log into Hotmail. If they can, there's clearly a problem with IE and maybe an update or fresh install is required. If they can't log into Hotmail, then there may be deeper network problems - may spyware has mucked with your hosts file or something.
posted by Jimbob at 5:39 PM on December 28, 2004

It could be a cookie problem. It might help to just delete 'em all (unless you know which ones are from hotmail).

obligatory: get him to switch to moz or firefox, there are some good looking skins available for it
posted by PurplePorpoise at 5:39 PM on December 28, 2004

You could try downloading MSN Messenger, logging him in and clicking the little 'x new e-mail messages' link. That seems to work sometimes when the normal login won't for whatever strange reason.
posted by reklaw at 5:51 PM on December 28, 2004

I'd go for the Firefox option. It'll probably run faster than the IE version he's using on there, and there plenty of IE-esque skins you can download for it.
posted by armoured-ant at 6:16 PM on December 28, 2004

If he's just going to hotmail.com, he's not the only one having troubles. I've been going to MSN.com and logging in from there for the last few weeks, and it's been working fine.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:17 PM on December 28, 2004

Response by poster: Clearing cookies didn't seem to change anything. Tough doing this over the phone with him...I have to visualise the menus he's seeing as I've got a Mac at home. Going to see if can download Messenger and go that route.

I think I'll have to be physically present to do something as radical as installing Firefox, etc.

Thanks for the ideas...
posted by dismitree at 6:18 PM on December 28, 2004

Since you are a mac user, and he is a dad with a cable modem, follow skallas' advice and download ALL THE CRITICAL UPDATES from windowsupdate. Afterwards, download Ad-Aware and scan the system, and it may not hurt to do a free online virus scan too. Chances are, he will have some sort of adware, if not a virus or trojan. This may not be causing the problem, but you never know... most people's computers are infested.
posted by adzm at 2:44 AM on December 29, 2004

FWIW, when I've logged in at hotmail.com ever since their last redesign (about three weeks ago, as it happens), the superfluous left frame turns into an error page for the second or two between me hitting submit and my inbox appearing. Running mozilla.
posted by squidlarkin at 8:31 AM on December 29, 2004

Response by poster: Cool, I'll get over there this weekend and give it all a go.

[Venting about dad] He's had monsterous spyware in the past (he and my step-mother previously had a habit of clicking on everything and anything that said "free" or "winner"). In September his internet connection simply stopped working. I ran adaware and it found something like six hundred suspicious files. I reformatted the drive and everything. Showed him which buttons never to press, how to run a virus scan. Ah parents, you can't go on trying to protect them their entire lives.
posted by dismitree at 9:01 AM on December 29, 2004