Suddenly Can't See Avatars/Embedded pics

[davemartin88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R You can start by doing this: (1) click on "User CP" on the horizontal bar above. (2) click on "Edit Options" on the left hand side (3) Scroll about half way down to the "Thread Display Options" section. (4) There, the "show avatars" and "show images" boxes should be checked. If they are not, then click on the boxes so that they have a check mark in them. (5) Scroll way down to the bottom and click on the "Save Changes" button.

I had already double checked this and all were checked. I even tried to uncheck them and then check them all again, problem is still the same for me. On my Ipad, the formatting is fine, but the issue shows on 2 different pc's that I used. I've cleared the cache, history files, etc. and problem is still ongoing. Not having issues with any other forums that I visit. I have also noticed that when I first try to visit the site, it takes much longer than normal to load. Maybe my ISP is having an issue with their DNS or routing for this site?

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemartin88 I had already double checked this and all were checked. I even tried to uncheck them and then check them all again, problem is still the same for me. On my Ipad, the formatting is fine, but the issue shows on 2 different pc's that I used. I've cleared the cache, history files, etc. and problem is still ongoing. Not having issues with any other forums that I visit. I have also noticed that when I first try to visit the site, it takes much longer than normal to load. Maybe my ISP is having an issue with their DNS or routing for this site?

I don't know of any ongoing problems with the site. Since everything is checked as it should be in the "edit options", I would suspect perhaps a slow connection somewhere between you and us as Janet suggested below? She is usually pretty good with these things. In any event my guess is that it may resolve soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet H You may not have done anything wrong. Instead this might be a slow connection somewhere between our server and your screen. Images are the last thing to load (we do this to keep the site as fast as possible) and sometimes they hang if there's lots of traffic.

[davemartin88]

Still no better today on both pc's I have using the same network/routing. My Ipad works using Safari and the site Ipad application although this site runs much slower than others that I access regularly. I downloaded a program this morning on my pc and saw that my download speed seemed higher than usual for my DSL connection. Was hoping maybe something had happened at the ISP to help but just checked and still no avatars or buttons, I see the text that is behind the buttons. I opened internet explorer on my pc and pages are taking 20-30 seconds to load if they load at all. Tried turning off all the security settings for explorer by resetting it to the defaults, no change, still slow or no connection at all to this site. I get several error messages being reported by explorer saying that "objects are expected", etc. but this may just be a result of the slowness. After about 2 minutes, I did get the forum page but can see that a number of the buttons and images are not working in explorer either. Will try a few more things in Explorer but all the indications are there that the problem is with the site. FYI, when I got to Amazon or Yahoo or other sites with Explorer, it works fine, no slow downs at all, only Early Retirement pages are not working so far. On the bottom of my page where the posting rules are located, it says that HTML code is off, I think that is normal but wanted to check. The other options are ON (BBcode/smilies, etc.) I saw the other thread in this forum about unusual access issues for the site but they were working fine for a pc and not from an Ipad, the opposite of my issue. Not going to mess with any more options in my browsers as other sites are working fiine, I'm convinced the problem is beyond my location but hope the details are helpful.

[davemartin88]

BTW, here's a link to a screen capture of what my browser is showing with the missing avatars/buttons, etc. http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...88/erimage.jpg I couldn't insert the image because the buttons in the advanced editing screen didn't work. Another oddity, this post and my last one had paragraphs and the like but when posting, all the text runs together. Thanks.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemartin88 BTW, here's a link to a screen capture of what my browser is showing with the missing avatars/buttons, etc. http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...88/erimage.jpg I couldn't insert the image because the buttons in the advanced editing screen didn't work. Another oddity, this post and my last one had paragraphs and the like but when posting, all the text runs together. Thanks.

I've seen things like that when my cache was corrupted, clearing cache fixed it.

Have you followed this thread:

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ays-59237.html

-ERD50

[Andy R]

All the avatars, buttons, attachments, etc are served through a content delivery network (CDN) which uses cdn.early-retirement.org in the URL to call those files. The fact the other devices connected (ipad) can still see them tells me it's something isolated to the machine that is having the issues. You might be using an ad blocker which is blocking that domain and thus you are not seeing those files?

If it's not an ad blocker please run a "ping test" and a "tracert" on cdn.early-retirement.org and paste the output here so we can see the results and maybe find some clues to help get your issues resolved.

[davemartin88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy R All the avatars, buttons, attachments, etc are served through a content delivery network (CDN) which uses cdn.early-retirement.org in the URL to call those files. The fact the other devices connected (ipad) can still see them tells me it's something isolated to the machine that is having the issues. You might be using an ad blocker which is blocking that domain and thus you are not seeing those files? If it's not an ad blocker please run a "ping test" and a "tracert" on cdn.early-retirement.org and paste the output here so we can see the results and maybe find some clues to help get your issues resolved.

don't know how to insert an image with the results without the buttons that you use to insert an image working, sorry. I tried a ping and a trace route to cdn.early-retirement.org from a dos command window- ping said they couldn't find that host and traceroute said they were unable to resolve target system name cdn.early-retirement.org. This happens on two different pc's in the house. Not sure I did the test correctly but when I ping yahoo.com or frontier.com (my ISP), i get results as you would expect, 43msec for frontier and 73 for yahoo (DSL connection). Will try to call my ISP to see if they haven any idea what is going on. Edited to add: BTW, as I understand it, the way a CDN works with an IOS based device and a Windows device is different so not sure I would say that it is the local device with the issue- it may be, just not conclusive? I have my ISP working now, they can resolve the cdn.early-retirement.org address where I can't from my location. I am able to ping the early-retirement.org address which makes sense since the content is working fine- it does timeout once in a while but not sure if that is related to the cdn issue at this point. Maybe the ISP will figure it out.

[davemartin88]

ISP found the problem, or at least a problem. The only DNS server they could find that was resolving the cdn.early-retirement.org address was one in Elk Grove, IL- I changed from using automatic DNS to point at that DNS server and I'm getting the CDN content now.

They are opening a "network" ticket to see why it's not working at other DNS servers including the ones that are local to me. Hopefully it will stay working. This might also be causing some of the intermittent slowdowns that others are reporting if their systems are not always getting the cdn data as quickly as expected?

[davemartin88]

Andy R. Thanks again for letting me know you were using a CDN server, should have noticed it in all the error messages I was receiving. I was using pings and trace routes to the early-retirement.org website trying to spot a problem with a route or location but wasn't pinging the content server. Once I knew that was in use, it was relatively straightforward to fix once I educated my local ISP support guys. Had to talk them in to trying to reach that server from more than one location as it worked the first time they tried it, when they tried from Rochester, NY, it didn't work.

May be worth a follow up with the ISP that supports the site to make sure the network ticket to fix the resolution for the CDN server in all DNS servers is completed. I saw from another thread that a DNS change fixed their issues as well.

Only downside to fixing it this way is that now I'm pointed at one DNS server and if it has trouble, no real back up. I'll check in a few days to see if some of the others are working by switching back to an automatic selection for DNS servers. I have addresses for about 4 other DNS servers that were not working that I can pass along in a pm if you'd like to have them. From my experience in my former life, it usually takes a week or two at least for an address change to get fully propagated across the backbone and usually longer.

Thanks again for the CDN info, should have thought of it myself!

[target2019]

If possible, add 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 to the DNS list in your router. That was one workaround from the other thread.

[davemartin88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by target2019 If possible, add 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 to the DNS list in your router. That was one workaround from the other thread.

Yesterday, I was able to go back to using the automatic setting for using DNS so don't have to keep the work around in place! Will keep the alternates in case it happens again in the future, thanks.

[target2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemartin88 Yesterday, I was able to go back to using the automatic setting for using DNS so don't have to keep the work around in place! Will keep the alternates in case it happens again in the future, thanks.

If possible, add the additional IPs, and you will not ever have a DNS problem, unless the whole shebang goes down.

[Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by target2019 If possible, add 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 to the DNS list in your router. That was one workaround from the other thread.

I was having the same problem that DaveMartin88 was having and was hoping that his call to Frontier in WV (the same as I have) would fix it. My family left today, so I had time to reread this. I did not understand what half of this stuff was saying, but decided to try adding the above numbers to my DNS list in my router. My SIL helped me to get our wireless internet going a couple of weeks ago and I had made some notes, so I knew where to go. Lo and behold, I was able to add these numbers and it now works!!!! Thank you so much.