Mystifying problem with MS IE?!?

[kismet110]

Hi people

I'm hoping someone can shed some light on a most queer issue on my daughters laptop.

About a week ago she told me Internet Explorer has stopped working, give her the "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" error. Got her to try different sites, all the same. Can ping sites via a cmd window and use MSN etc. OK, just not the browser.

My son has exactly the same laptop with the same version of IE (7.0) running on same version of XP (latest SP) so I went through the settings on both machines and they are exactly the same yet he has no problem (via the same wireless network).

Norton reports no viruses/errors. I then d/l'ed Opera browser on the boys machine, copied across to the other one and ran the install but as soon as I fired it up it also came back with an Error straight away

Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated; definitely not the wireless network or the browser per se and seems to not be a virus issue, all config settings are the same as the working machine so running out of ideas

Thanks

[Badger0-0]

Sounds like a firewall problem to me.

If you're using one, disable it temporarily and try again.

Same applies to Windows firewall.

[Sonic68]

I've come across IE7 doing a few strange things! Click the tools tab at the top left and go to "manage add ins" then go through disabling them one at a time (or all at once if you like). Usually it turns out be something in there.

[Badger0-0]

Yes, good shout.

You could also try installing Firefox 3.

It's rated as faster than IE.

[kismet110]

Thanks guys, wasn't a firewall issue (Router or Windows) as the other laptop set up exactly the same works OK as do the PC's (one running XP, other Vista).

But it is fixed! After installing Opera and getting the same error a reboot was done, after that it worked fine.

IE still gives the same error but not too bothered as Opera as more than adequate