Problem: "Internet Explorer has Stopped Working"

[threegee]

I keep getting these annoying pop-ups saying that MS IE 8 has stopped working on my new tablet. It's complaining about problems on the page - even the BBC homepage. Sometimes IE restarts the tab OK, other times it complains it can`t. Before I installed all the o/s and IE8 upgrades IE7 was closing completely. Now it's just highly annoying and very frequent.

I'd have installed Firefox but on this machine (with all the Vista bloat) SSD drive space is at a premium. Vista takes up about 16GB before any apps are installed. Sold as having a 32GB SSD, there's in fact less than 10GB apps plus user space left!

[Mr Darn]

Normally problems such as this one are due to add-ons, but i'm sensing this is a clean installation?

If not, try running IE in No Add-ons mode, and see if the problem persists.

For those who dont know how, you click start orb then select programs, accessories, system tools, Internet Explorer (no add-ons):

I would add a screen shot, but apparently i cant use img tags on this board !?

You should be able to identify the Add-on by disabling each in turn, if the above seemed to solve the problem.

The next suggestion would be an IE reset, but lets see how this works out first.

Let us know how you get on

[Andy Millne]

I would add a screen shot, but apparently i cant use img tags on this board !?

You should be able to use images.

here if the file is hosted elsewhere and you know the address...

And here if it's on your computer...

[Monsta®]

Normally problems such as this one are due to add-ons, but i'm sensing this is a clean installation?

If not, try running IE in No Add-ons mode, and see if the problem persists.

For those who dont know how, you click start orb then select programs, accessories, system tools, Internet Explorer (no add-ons):

I would add a screen shot, but apparently i cant use img tags on this board !?

You should be able to identify the Add-on by disabling each in turn, if the above seemed to solve the problem.

The next suggestion would be an IE reset, but lets see how this works out first.

Let us know how you get on

Darn i wished I had thought of that!

[threegee]

Normally problems such as this one are due to add-ons, but i'm sensing this is a clean installation?

If not, try running IE in No Add-ons mode, and see if the problem persists.

For those who dont know how, you click start orb then select programs, accessories, system tools, Internet Explorer (no add-ons):

I would add a screen shot, but apparently i cant use img tags on this board !?

You should be able to identify the Add-on by disabling each in turn, if the above seemed to solve the problem.

The next suggestion would be an IE reset, but lets see how this works out first.

Let us know how you get on

Thanks for that John. Im beginning to suspect that the wireless module is faulty and that this is the dumb way MS handle the corrupted data. I was with a few feet of the WAP earlier and the signal strength was registering low. Not be the first time this has happened on a new Asus. An eee box last year had a dodgy module - noisy receiver I think - sometimes it was passable other times not working at all. Im sure that the shop had bounced it from another customer as the box was open when I got it. Anyway they never questioned me when I returned it and simply checked the box contents, probably to see that everything was there for the next lucky person they sold it to!

Anyway will check out your suggestion and tell you how things come on. Unfortunately it has to go a long way back by post, and a return could take a while.

[Mr Darn]

Hi Fourgee, Perhaps its a problem to do with my post count?

I have tried manually adding the img tag, and using the "insert image" button on the console, both to receive the error.

it seems i can now add images to posts:

[threegee]

That's a .png I think that you might possibly still be right as far as .jpg goes. Jpeg used to be an OK extension, but it may have got lost in the upgrade. .gif needs testing too - not as popular as it once was but still a heavily used format.

Back to the original prob: I'm now sure it's a dodgy WiFi module. Machine is going back for repair/replacement. It likely got past testing because it's generally OK to passably good for the first few minutes.

[threegee]

Back to the original prob.

Yes, the new machine's WiFi module is faulty. Goes noisy and quits after an hour or so. Currently using it with a USB WiFi dongle. But that wasn't why MSIE was quitting. Upgraded Flash to latest version and the prob simply went away.

So anyone reading this - go upgrade Adobe Flash. There's some incompatibility between newer MSIEs and less recent versions of the Flash player.

This hapened on an out-of-the-box machine, so it's probably a version alignment problem which doesn't show up in the normal course of things.

-- Case closed with thanks to everyone --

[Mr Darn]

But that wasn't why MSIE was quitting. Upgraded Flash to latest version and the prob simply went away.

And of course, Adobe Flash isn't an add-on, so my suggestion wouldn't have pinpointed this as the problem, suggesting an update/reinstall...

...Oh, hang on,It IS!

Pleased you got it working again threegee.

[threegee]

OK, I conceed I should have followed up on your suggestion. Would have except events overtook this and the problem sort of fixed itself. Consider me suitably reprimanded!

Lot of dumb things on this machine out of the box. Would you believe a hidden 5GB system restore partition on a very expensive 32GB fast SSD? A 1GB unecessary system file, and a mirror of the drivers CD too. That's in addition to all the freebie dross like Norton AV, and the bloat of Vista Biz. Doesn't half hibernate fast though.

[Mr Darn]

Thats ok threegee, i was only kidding!

I've seen me spend over 6 hours uninstalling, cleaning up and setting up an "out of the box - ready to go" laptop!

At least it subsidises the cost of the thing so we get them cheaper. I'd gladly spend those 6 hours rather than another £100+ for a blank hard drive and a copy of XP.