last part of main function call:
// collapse imagelink array removing missing elements //
for (m=imagetotl-1;m>=3;m--) {
	testExists(imagelink[m]); 
	alert("test");   //this statement that must be here to make it work! (What gives???) //          
	if(nB) {
		imagetotl--;
			for (n=m;n<=imagetotl+1;n++) {
				imagelink[n]=imagelink[n+1];
			}
	}
}
// Seed the starting image sequence //
document.pic.src=imagelink[0];
break;
}
}
}
}
 
function testExists(imagepath) {
    req = getreq();
    req.onreadystatechange = imagexists;
    req.open("head", imagepath, true);
    req.send(null);     
}
 
function imagexists() {
    if(req.readyState == 4) {
        if(req.status == 200)
        {
            // image exists
            nB=false;
        }
        else
        {
            // image doesn't exist
            nB=true;
        }
    }
}
 
function getreq() { // returns false if exists
	if(window.ActiveXObject) { // if IE
		try {
		return new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
	} catch(e) {
		try {
		return new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
		} catch(e) {
		return;
			}
		}
	} else if(window.XMLHttpRequest) { // if Mozilla, Safari, etc.
		return new XMLHttpRequest();
		}
}

 function imagexists(){
    if(req.readyState == 4) {
        if(req.status == 200)
        {
            // image exists
            nB=false;
        }
	   else if(req.status==404)
	   {// image doesn't exist
	       nB=true;
	   }
        else
        {
            // all other error codes will set this
            nB=null;
        }
retur nB;
    }
}