Internet explorer won't explore!!

[eastern wiseguy]

Hi folks .I have a laptop running windows xp and aol9.0. It was used primarily for the storage of music and photographic files.I tried to go online with it today and got as far as the AOL homepage where it permitted me to check emails BUT any atempt to go further results in a window with "unable to display yada yadda yadda......" I spoke to the normally helpful AOL bod's and they said it had a Winsock error.....and this requires a visit to the PC fixer on the High St.....Does anyone know anything about Winsock errors? Can anyone shed some light for me?

Thanks

EW

[Gertrude the Wombat]

It is generally the case that people who write error messages are at least trying to be helpful (at least, I am when I write error messages). Occasionally they succeed, against the considerable odds, and the error message actually contains information that is actually useful in actually diagnosing the problem. So telling us:"unable to display yada yadda yadda......" may be rather less helpful than giving the real description of exactly what happened, including the exact text of the message, preferrable cut-and-pasted rather than retyped-with-a-few-errors.

(I once put some software out to some beta testers. This software put enough information in its error messages to pinpoint the problem to the exact line of code that was broken. So what did this ****** of a beta tester report to us? "Oh, there was some message about "internal error" and then some numbers ... no, sorry, I didn't bother to take any note of the numbers". Can't win, can you.)

[Engineer]

When you explore with AOL you get the error message What happens when you use IE?

If the problem is with AOL have you tried to un/reinstall AOL :eek:

[eastern wiseguy]

Gertrude ..point taken .The message tells me that the page cannot be displayed. Do you know anything about Winsock fixes as your reply didn't make it clear?

Engineer I have tried on both browsers.I have re installed AOL 9.0 and I get the same response

I get a page which tells me The page I am looking for cannot be displayed .This goes for ANY web address I have typed in.The only address I have access to is my AOL homepage . Thanks again

EW (better at controlling aircraft than operating computers:ok: :uhoh: )

[Tonic Please]

You can see if its a winsock error by:

Click Start >run >cmd {enter}
Type netdiag /test:winsock /v {enter}

To Reset the Winsock Registry Entries

Click Start >Run >regedit {enter} Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock and delete it; just below that, see
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock 2 and delete it

Exit Regedit and reboot
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then do this carefully:

Look for multiple instances of the Winsock files. Rename any file that is not in the appropriate folder unless it is in an AOL folder, C:\Windows\Sysbckup, or C:\Windows\Ws2bakup. The following folders are correct for the Winsock files:
Winsock.dll in C:\Windows
Wsock32.dll, Wsock.vxd, Wsock2.vxd, Ws2_32.dll in C:\Windows\System
The dates and versions of these files should match the version of Windows and the system date for that version.

To rename and replace the Winsock files, follow these steps:

a. Click Start point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.

b. In the Named box, type the correct file name (for example, type wsock32.dll, winsock.dll, or wsock.vxd), click your hard disk in the Look in box, and then click Find Now.

c. To rename extra copies of the files, right-click the file, click Rename, and change the file name extension to .old. For example, rename the Wsock32.dll to Wsock32.old.

Note If you receive an error message that a file by that name already exists, type a different file name extension (for example, .zzz). If you receive an error message that the file cannot be renamed because it is in use, restart the computer to a DOS prompt, and then rename the file from DOS.

Good luck,
Dan:)