Display Problems On Internet Sites

When I go on the internet all the printing and pictures all run together. Can somebody help me to adjust something to clear it up. Don't laugh / I'm not a computer whiz. My computer crashed and I had to have a new hard drive put in. The service shop I took it to for repair lost everything I had loaded on it. I have everything back on except for this problem that I can't figure out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Craig

Hi Craig,

Which browser are you using? If you are using both Internet Explorer and Firefox, does it happen in both? Which browser version? Do you mean that the areas where there are text and the areas where there are images are overlapping?


A screenshot might help. I can recommend FastStone Image Viewer for a screen shot if you don't have anything like this. It's a really good freeware application that will let you get a shot of just a window, or of a rectangular area of your screen.

Thanks.
Zllio

Edit: Added comment.

Edited by Zllio, 20 June 2009 - 11:24 PM.

Hi Craig,

Which browser are you using? If you are using both Internet Explorer and Firefox, does it happen in both? Which browser version? Do you mean that the areas where there are text and the areas where there are images are overlapping?

Thanks.
Zllio

Hi Zllio,
Thank you for responding. I'm only using Microsoft Internet Exployer using Windows XP Home Edition service pack 1a. Yes, the text and images are overlapping terribly. Everything looks fine on my computer until I go on the internet. Then it's all srambled, text all over the place overlapping. Craig

Hi Craig,

Let's try two things. First I'd like for you to install Fireforx to see if you are getting the same effect in both browsers. You can download the most recent version at the following link:

Download Firefox


If you find you are getting the same effect with Firefox, tell me. If you are not, then I'll give you a link to instructions for running a repair install of Internet Explorer at Microsoft's website which can be found at the following link:

How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer


Let me know how this goes?
Zllio

Thanks Zllio,
I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and it cleared it up. The web pages aren't quite as they used to be when I first got this computer from Dell running Internet Explorer but it straightened out the pages and text where you can read them normally. I just wonder if the original problem is from a driver that didn't download correctly or something when I reloaded everything back on from the disc's that came with the computer when I first got it. Thank you again for all your help. Craig.

Hi Craig,

My first thought when I read your post was that you hadn't downloaded all your drivers after you reformatted. So, yes, that could be a problem. You can check your device manager to see if there are any warning shields, although I doubt it. Richt-click on My Computer, select Properties and then the tab Hardware, then click on Device Manager. In the window that opens up, expand all the + signs and see if there are any yellow warning signs.

Which Internet Explorer are you using? Depending on which version of XP your computer came with (whatever the installation disks are - not what was originally installed by Dell - these can be different), IE6 may be the default browser at the moment of installation and there is a specific version of IE6 which Microsoft offers in connection with XPSP3. If you are installing XPSP2 or lower when you reinstall your software, then a service pack is put on for IE6 when you update Windows after the reinstallation of Windows which causes IE6 to keep up with the changes in XP. Most people don't do this, they go straight to IE7 or IE8.

Did you try the repair installation for Internet Explorer? In the long run, you need Internet Explorer to work, because there are a few things which won't run on Firefox due to Internet Explorer's use of Active X. One of these is Windows Updates.

Zllio

Hi Craig,

My first thought when I read your post was that you hadn't downloaded all your drivers after you reformatted. So, yes, that could be a problem. You can check your device manager to see if there are any warning shields, although I doubt it. Richt-click on My Computer, select Properties and then the tab Hardware, then click on Device Manager. In the window that opens up, expand all the + signs and see if there are any yellow warning signs.

Which Internet Explorer are you using? Depending on which version of XP your computer came with (whatever the installation disks are - not what was originally installed by Dell - these can be different), IE6 may be the default browser at the moment of installation and there is a specific version of IE6 which Microsoft offers in connection with XPSP3. If you are installing XPSP2 or lower when you reinstall your software, then a service pack is put on for IE6 when you update Windows after the reinstallation of Windows which causes IE6 to keep up with the changes in XP. Most people don't do this, they go straight to IE7 or IE8.

Did you try the repair installation for Internet Explorer? In the long run, you need Internet Explorer to work, because there are a few things which won't run on Firefox due to Internet Explorer's use of Active X. One of these is Windows Updates.

Zllio

Hi Zllio,
When I click on Device Manager a yellow sign does come up saying: Failed to create empty document. Do you know what that means ? I have tried the update installation of windows and it went through a bunch of scanning everthing, but it didn't seem to change anything.

Also, I'm lost when your talking about versions IE6 OR IE7, IC8.
Thank you, Craig

Hi Craig,

My first thought when I read your post was that you hadn't downloaded all your drivers after you reformatted. So, yes, that could be a problem. You can check your device manager to see if there are any warning shields, although I doubt it. Richt-click on My Computer, select Properties and then the tab Hardware, then click on Device Manager. In the window that opens up, expand all the + signs and see if there are any yellow warning signs.

Which Internet Explorer are you using? Depending on which version of XP your computer came with (whatever the installation disks are - not what was originally installed by Dell - these can be different), IE6 may be the default browser at the moment of installation and there is a specific version of IE6 which Microsoft offers in connection with XPSP3. If you are installing XPSP2 or lower when you reinstall your software, then a service pack is put on for IE6 when you update Windows after the reinstallation of Windows which causes IE6 to keep up with the changes in XP. Most people don't do this, they go straight to IE7 or IE8.

Did you try the repair installation for Internet Explorer? In the long run, you need Internet Explorer to work, because there are a few things which won't run on Firefox due to Internet Explorer's use of Active X. One of these is Windows Updates.

Zllio

Hi Zllio,
When I click on Device Manager a yellow sign does come up saying: Failed to create empty document. Do you know what that means ? I have tried the update installation of windows and it went through a bunch of scanning everthing, but it didn't seem to change anything.

Also, I'm lost when your talking about versions IE6 OR IE7, IC8.
Thank you, Craig Is there somewhere I can go to see what version I am using ?

Hi Craig,

IE6, IE7 and IE8 are the main versions of Internet Explorer in XP these days. If you open Internet Explorer and click on the ? up in the top bar next to Tools, it will give you a dropdown menu where you can see the word Info. Click on Info and a window will open up with a bunch of information on it which tells exactly what version of Internet Explorer you're using. Make a note of that.

After you look for that information, it would be a good idea to create a restore point on your computer, so you have a known position to come back to. The reason for this is because I just noticed that you're using XP-SP1a. That's one thing we should look at to see why you can't get your updates. In some instances updates don't work correctly, and it's easier to go back a restore point than it is to go looking for which update was a problem.

To Create a New Restore Point, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Programs > System Restore. In the window that opens up, check the box next to Create a New Restore Point and click on next. Give it some name like Before Updates. Then click on okay and when you get the confirmation window, click on Exit or Close.

Now let's look at two things with your Internet Explorer. Please open Internet Explorer and click on Tools and Internet Options and then click on the Security Tab. Towards the bottom there are two buttons, one of them will be something like Custom Settings and the other something like Standard Settings. Click on the one with Standard. Then click on Ok. Then close your Internet Explorer.

Then go to Start > Control Panel > Security Center and open that. You will see a list of options on the left side, and I think the second one will say something like Check for Windows Updates.

Microsoft has been updating their own updating system for a long time, so if you haven't gotten your updates since the reformat, you'll be missing a piece of software that has to be installed on your computer in order to get the updates. When you click on Check for Windows Updates, your Internet Explorer should open up and take you to the Microsoft update site which will first scan your computer to see if your computer is able to get the updates. This site is sometimes slow to load, so be patient. After it completes that scan, it should offer the option to download the software you need in order to be able to get the updates. Allow that.

If that piece of software installs correctly, then the updates procedure should continue by offering you the option for a quick search for updates or a custom search. At this point, I would like for you to close your browser, and go back into your Security Center (Start / Control Panel / Security Center) and click on the Windows Update icon at the bottom of that window (a world with the windows logo on it). In the Window that opens up, click Automatic Updates (recommended) and then click on okay.

The reason I've asked you to do things in this way is to try and find out first if something is preventing Microsoft's updating service from getting the current updating software onto your computer. Sometimes that is blocked by a setting in your browser, so by having you set your security settings in the browswer to the standard values, this will hopefully allow the mechanism to work correctly. After that, I asked you to allow the updates to install automatically, so that they will be installed in the correct order.

Try the above first, before we talk about the "Failed to Create Empty Document" error message you are getting.

Let me know how this goes?
Thanks.
Zllio

Hi Craig,

I wanted to add one note to my previous post. There are a number of reasons why updates don't work or complete. If the instructions I gave you don't work, then I would suggest that we look at some of these other reasons, because I believe the lack of updates could be behind your symptoms. The updates, when they are being run on a clean machine that hasn't been updated, can take quite awhile. If the updates don't appear to be loading, please note how long you allow them to run.

Thanks.
Zllio

Hi Craig,

I wanted to add one note to my previous post. There are a number of reasons why updates don't work or complete. If the instructions I gave you don't work, then I would suggest that we look at some of these other reasons, because I believe the lack of updates could be behind your symptoms. The updates, when they are being run on a clean machine that hasn't been updated, can take quite awhile. If the updates don't appear to be loading, please note how long you allow them to run.

Thanks.
Zllio

Hi Zllio,
I've tried a bunch of numerous things and I got my web pages to the point that the text is all readible and videos are working. The only thing is I notice that headings of pictures and colors are missing. I've also been doing research on updated drivers for Windows XP-Home edition. All the sites I go to have that Driver-Detective scan thing and they all say my drivers are outdated. I'm not going to pay to have updated current drivers put on. I have a disc. for all the 2400 drives for Dell computer and if they are already outdated, so be it. I'll go back to Windows 95 or 98 download again. The thing is, the computer I'm using right now while I'm typing this is one that's in my son's room and it works fine and he loaded Windows XP on it from my disc and everything works the way it's supposed to. The only thing I see different is on his computer one of his drivers is an ATI Technologies 3D Rage Pro AGP 2X showing in the display properties settings. Mine is an Intel (R ) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV/Graphics. Do you think this could make all this difference when going into Internet Explorer ?

I really appreciate all the time and help you have given to me.
Craig

Hi Craig,

You're in an area where I think there are people here more qualified to help you than I am and I will ask someone to look at this for you, but one thing important is that the chipset driver be loaded before the graphics card driver is loaded.

I had a problem myself where the drivers that came with my computer were too old, so when I installed them, they prevented a newer driver from being installed. Downloading a new driver from the internet on another computer and installing helped. However, the odd thing is, when I reformatted and reinstalled my operating system a few weeks later, that problem did not re-occur, even though I used my original drivers cd again, so I wonder it it might have been the effect of having loaded the drivers in the wrong order. Let me get someone else to take a look at this thread.

Zllio

What is the model number/service tag number of the Dell?

What is the model number/service tag number of the Dell?

Hi garmamma,

The service tag number of my Dell computer is B692541.

Thanks. Craig

What is the model number/service tag number of the Dell?

Hi garmamma,

The service tag number of my Dell computer is B692541. I'm not sure where the Model# is, but it's a Dell 2400.

Thanks. Craig