Help wanted!!

[Chris T]

Hi! I have joined this forum in the hope that someone may be able to help me with a problem! I have been a member of another forum for around a year, and in the last couple of weeks, when I try to access it, (powered by Invision) I get a message saying "the menu has been disabled". This is only on my own computer - a year old HP running Vista. Hubbys laptop and my work computer still allow me access. The owners of the site can't help with any ideas other than what I have done. So far I have deleted cookies, cleared histories, re-installed browser, re-set the whole computer to a time previous to the error appearing, reset profiles etc, and still no joy! If I try to log in to the forum eith a friends details on my machine, it happens too. So, PLEASE does anyone have ANY ideas?? HP and Microsoft don't want to know and I really want to get back to my forum!! Any ideas would be greatly appeciated!! Thanks
Chris

 

[[t..o..m]]

To save time, you could just do a reformat and reinstall of windows. That should fix any problems up. It should be done once a year anyway just to keep your computer up to speed and clear all the junk away

 

[AngeloR]

I'm really confused over the problem. Which menu has been disabled? The navigation on the site? The one in your browser? The start menu? If you can, just grab a screenshot of the problem.

 

[Trotter]

A screenie would definitely be of help.

It sounds like your hosts file may be the culprit.

 

[Chris T]

Hi Guys - thanks for your replies. Unfortunately I am not allowed to post attachments, or I would !! As it is, I go in to my fan club site, click in to "interactive", which then comes up with various menus - I then click in to "forum", the cursor whizzes round, and then the Invision page comes up (the site is powered by Invision) and along the top this then says "this menu has been disabled". There is also a log in section on this page, but if I try to log in on that it whizzes round, says it is logging me in, then goes back to the ""this menu has been disabled".
A few hours before this happened, (I've been able to get on to it successfully for over a year now) my son was buying something or me on Ebay, using his Paypal account, and logging in to look at his Paypal account. Seems strange that it was the same evening, when I came back to my computer it didn't work! Could he have inadvertantly done something? He is very computer literate, so I doubt he did,but it makes me wonder.
All other sites I use, I can get in to, it's just this favourite one!! The site administrators have never heard of it before, so can't offer any help.
As I said, it can't be my log-in or account details, as I can log in from hubbys laptop - which starts WW3! -but I used a friends log in on my computer, and that won't work, either.
Any help would be appreciated - thank you!!

 

[Trotter]

Upload the screen shot to imageshack.us and post the link to it.

 

[Chris T]

http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll168/mbfan_photos/th_forum.jpg

Will this work??

Chris

 

[AngeloR]

Alright, I think that and your description at least helps clear up what the issue is, not just to figure out why. To be honest, I'm not too sure what it could be, but I highly doubt that it was your son that did anything. From what I'm reading, it seems to be that your account may have been inadvertently banned, which is why you can't seem to access it, however, it was an IP-based ban.

This explains why you can access it from other computers, but not your own.

There are ways around it, but they involve a few extra steps, which I'm not sure you would be willing to take. At any rate, shoot off an email to the forum admin and ask for an explanation as to why you may have been banned.

My Apologies, I seem to have completely glazed over the section where you mentioned that you could access it from your Husbands laptop. If you are on the same network, then more than likely it is your hosts file.

You can try replacing it with an example hosts file (Using a Hosts File To Make The Internet Not Suck (as much)) and see if that works. Just make sure that you disconnect from your network first and backup your current host file (just rename it to hostsOLD or something). This particular file includes some ad blocking features as well. I would probably eliminate the first few ones that are noted to have problems (just delete them).

 

[Trotter]

^ but she can access from her husband's lappy which I am guessing is on the same network and thus the same IP.

More and more I am thinking this is a HOSTS file issue.

 

[Chris T]

OK,so who can I get to help with this?? The fan club?? I can't get on to any Invision site, as I'm no a client, so don't know where to go next!!
Thanks Guys.