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jmcampbell5
11-06-01, 11:11 AM
I have a really strange problem that no one seems to know what to do with, including Cox@home. I'm hoping someone here recognizes it.

This problem began immediately following installation of Cox@home. At first it occurred occasionally (say once a month), but as of two days ago, it has become pretty much constant. I call it the "twilight zone".

What happens is I boot up the computer and all my icons are black -- desktop icons, status bar, toolbars, etc. All my programs appear to run correctly (albeit with black icons) -- EXCEPT my internet browser and Outlook.

When I run these, it's as if I've entered another realm -- thus my nickname "The Twilight Zone". In the browser, my history is NOT the history from the last time I used the browser in its normal state. It is the history from the last time I used the program while running with the black icons in Twilight Zone mode. In Outlook, my emails are not the emails I sent and received, say, a day ago. They are emails that I sent and received the last time I was in Twilight Zone mode. My Outlook folders are the default Outlook folders. They do not contain all the folders I created in my normal Outlook account.

When I shut down, restart and get a normal multi-colored view of things, I open Outlook, and voila, my normal account is back. However, now I cannot access those emails that are in the Twilight Zone. They are over there on the "other side." I cannot intentionally go find them. I don't know how to get there. I will see them the next time the black icons show up, indicating that I am back in the Twilight Zone.

As I said earlier, this was an occasional occurrence that was annoying, but @home technicians were unable to help so I learned to live with it -- rebooting whenever it happened. Now the rebooting is not helping. I fear I am perpetually trapped in the Twilight Zone.

I'm running Windows 98 on a Compaq Pentium II with 64 MB of RAM if that helps. I have plenty of memory left, by the way.

Any thoughts from anyone? Have you heard of such a thing?

bump
11-06-01, 11:28 AM
i'd love to help if i could, but for now all i can do is comment: wow, thats awesome... *starts imagining all the "stuff" he could hide from the familiy...* ;)

my one and only suggestion, only to be taken seriously after nobody else suggests anything (aside from a virus scan or 2) is to reformat & reinstall from scratch.

MadDoctor
11-06-01, 01:08 PM
Do you need the Cox@home software? Dump it. I'll bet that's why you are having 'zone' problems.

legalmind
11-06-01, 10:49 PM
No you do not need the software in Phoenix.
Dump it/ and live free!

rodrod5
11-06-01, 11:59 PM
try running the internet explorer repair tool in start->settings->control panel

click on add remove programs.........scrool down..........look for IE and internet tools

highlight it and then click add/remove button

then choose repair IE and hit ok then hit yes on the next box and let it run

if it says it cant run reinstall IE like it tells you to

if that not fix it it sounds like you have OS issues and i would back up and run that great quick restore cd from compaq

it should not corrupt things, but you never know so back up since you are already having problems:cool: :rolleyes: :nod: :2cool: :rotfl: :eek: :confused: :sleep:

jmcampbell5
11-07-01, 02:17 AM
Thanks for the advice. I tried everything suggested. Got rid of @home, tried the IE fix, tried the Compaq quick restore. Not looking good.....

MadDoctor
11-07-01, 11:00 AM
The command "regsvr32 -u" will turn off @HOME software. Run it. If it doesn't apply to you, all you get is an error. No big thing.

Fyodor
11-07-01, 11:20 AM
These are all nice replies but they dont fix it... (no offence)

Lets tap into a simple concept behind all software: program/scripts/apps/etc are just an INTERFACE to data.

Now it's easier to get at in Unix, but everything, even in Windows, is either a file or a registry setting (also in files but good luck editing them directly without regedit). If you don't wanna hunt for files in strange places try to either export (using IE or Outlook/OE) whatever you want to save in "normal mode" or while in "normal mode" try importing things that are lost/missing. This will no doubt be the easiest way to resolve this problem.

After that, seriously, ditch the @Home software, it's slow, poorly written, and broken. There's a reason people say @Hosed.

If import/export doesn't work good luck hunting for files. It's been awhile since I've had to fix a shoddy mail client (last time was the day I switched to Pine). You will no doubt have to read and filter through a bunch or (mis)information on the web on how to retreive missing emails, bookmarks, etc etc etc...

Good luck.
:)