Member Avatar for rit7777

Hello All,
I'm new to the site! I hope someone can help me. I have a client that has winxo pro on a Compaq desktop evo. The problem is all of a sudden someone was working on it for him and boom some of the web pages no longer display properly in ie 7 or firefox. If I bring up Yahoo the left side iof the page is missing the little icons / graphics and the only background I see is at the top. The rest of the page is white background. Also other sites have links that are black.

Here is what I'ver tried short of a reinstall. reinstalled SP2. Installed latest java. Cleared cache, deleted all offline files, turned off IE and reinstalled IE 7, ran SFC /scannow, ran spybot, adaware and avg spyware. Ran AVG. The system looks really clean, but still taht darn background and graphics just wont show up. I hope someone can help.

  • 3 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 127 Views
  • 8 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by jasimp

Dani AI

Generated

A concise diagnostic path for 's symptom (icons/backgrounds missing in both IE7 and Firefox on XP): when multiple browsers lose images and page styling at once, the root is more often a configuration or network-level block than simple browser corruption. Likely causes include accessibility/color overrides, proxy/hosts-level blocking, an installed content filter or toolbar, or a browser extension that disables styles or remote images.

Practical checks and isolation steps (low-risk first):

  • Verify an image URL directly: right-click a broken image, copy its location, paste that URL into the address bar. Note the host name (for example s.yimg.com) if it fails.
  • Inspect the hosts file at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts for entries redirecting image hosts; temporarily rename the file to hosts.bak and retest.
  • Check proxy settings in both browsers (IE: Tools > Internet Options > Connections > LAN Settings; Firefox: Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Connection Settings). Remove any proxy to test.
  • Confirm browsers are allowed to use page colors/styles (IE: Tools > Internet Options > General > Accessibility — uncheck any "Ignore colors" or "Always use my colors" boxes; Firefox: Tools > Options > Content > Colors... -> ensure "Allow pages to choose their own colors" is enabled; also check View > Page Style is set to the default).
  • Run each browser with add-ons disabled (IE: run iexplore -extoff; Firefox: run firefox -safe-mode) to rule out extensions.

Useful network/repair commands (run from an elevated command prompt; reboot if required):

ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock reset
ping s.yimg.com

If the problem disappears in Safe Mode with Networking or under a new Windows user account, the cause is likely a third-party service or a corrupted profile—use msconfig to do a selective startup to find the culprit. If the issue persists across Safe Mode and other machines on the same network load Yahoo normally, investigate router/firewall or ISP filtering. Back up the hosts file and create a restore point before making persistent changes like Winsock resets or editing system files. This approach will usually find the cause without a full reinstall.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for jasimp

Welcome! Please go to the correct forum and ask your question there. Try the Windows Xp forum.

Member Avatar for John A

In the future, if you've found that your thread or another thread is posted in the wrong forum, please flag it for the moderation team to move. Posting a question more than once violates the "keep it organized" rule and is harder for the mod team to keep track of. Thanks.

Member Avatar for jasimp

Sorry. I'll do that in the future.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.