cookie problem - I think!

[aiglon]

Hope someone can help me with this strange problem. I have recently signed on to a web forum (for BMW motorcycles :D ) but I cannot stay logged in. I open the site, and either I am already logged in or I manually log in. This takes me to the index page but when I try to navigate to any other page, I am automatically logged out :} :} :}

I have tried deleting my cookies and starting again but this does not seem to make any difference. I assumed it was a problem with their server but when I access the site from my office PC - no problems! I have emailed the site support (no response yet) but I am now thinking it must be something to do with my PC.

Privacy settings on IE are set to "Accept all cookies"; I have ZoneAlarm Pro running and Session, Persistent and Third Party cookies are allowed for this site.

Any ideas, anyone?

Aiglon

[SilentlyScreaming]

I have a simialir problem with my work PC on some forums.
If there is a little red 'no-entry' sign in bottom right corner of I/Explorer window, its worth double clicking it, highlighting the url of your forum, clicking summary, and selecting Always allow this .... Once done, re-open site, log in - if you have an option to stay logged in, and stay invisible (not be in active users list), worth turning them off/on and seeing if any difference in browser behaviour happens...

[Check 6]

I am having a similar problem with another forum. That forum's cookie will not store on my computer.

I have that forum listed as a "trusted site," and there isn't a "no entry" sign when I access the site. My security level is medium.

I can sign into the forum, and stay signed in until I close IE and access the site again, then I have to enter my password again. I click on "remember me" each time.

Is there some other setting that restricts a specific site from storing a cookie? My "restricted site" list is empty.

Thanks in advance.

[SilentlyScreaming]

Pretty much a shot in the dark here, but what software firewall do you have installed, and if you use a router to access the net, whats the make and model? I've seen some with over active security settings...

[tallsandwich]

Try at your work PC to disable all cookies and then try and use the site. Often your session information can be stored in the URL instead and not as a cookie. When you first access the site your http request will inform the web engine that your browser does not accept cookies and if it can, it will try to store your session info in the URL.

If this works ok at your work PC, then go home and do the same. At least at this point you know for sure that something on your PC is interfering with your cookies.

Alternatively download an http trace tool and post the output you get on this thread.

Kill your firewall and try. Maybe you have an http proxy running on your PC and it has an exclude list that you never knew about.

Or you could try buying a decent motorbike, give up on those BMWs (riding a BMW is like sitting in an armchair which is balanced on a pogo stick in a bowl of custard). I'm sure you would not get the same problems on a Triumph site.

[Check 6]

Thank you both for the help. After trying many things, yesterday I ended up reinstalling everything on my HDD. This was actually easy because HP provides the utility to do this on a different partition that comes with the computer (HP Pavilian).

I suspect something was not right in my registry as there were many other subtle symptoms.

I didn't have any files stored on this notebook so the reinstall was fairly painless and took only 30 minutes.

Thanks again.