Comments

fldave wrote on 11/25/2005, 8:50 AM
Something obviously is corrupted. You might check support on Microsoft.com and search for your type of sound card and see what issues may already be documented.

You can also uninstall the soundcard software and see if that fixes IE.
johnmeyer wrote on 11/25/2005, 8:58 AM
Quick search of Knowledgebase turns up this page:

Internet Explorer Window Closes When You Click a Download Link

Not 100% identical to what you describe, but it might get you started in the right direction.

[Edit]
You may also have problems with corrupt ActiveX or another plugin module that got loaded when you installed the sound card. Uninstall all ActiveX controls to start. Also, the Flash player or other similar stuff from Macromedia might be corrupted. Again, easy to uninstall, and they'll automatically re-install the next time you go to a page that requires them.
Jay Gladwell wrote on 11/25/2005, 9:22 AM

Dave and John, thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try and let you know how it turns out.


Jay Gladwell wrote on 11/25/2005, 9:42 AM

John, I opened the broswer and under "Tools" I went to "Manage Add-ons" and disabled the "Java Console." That disabled the console and the "Java Plug-in 1.5.0._04 for Netscape Navigator (DLL Helper)." Now the IE broswer works fine.

Now, the question is how will this affect the things that require Java?


fldave wrote on 11/25/2005, 9:57 AM
Go to http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

and download the latest java runtime. Uninstall all previous versions of the java runtime in Add/Remove programs. Then install the new java.

Mine got messed several months ago, did the above, and have had no problems since. I wondered about the older versions being needed by some program, but have not encountered any.
Jay Gladwell wrote on 11/26/2005, 4:41 AM

Dave, that seems to have worked. Thank you!


fldave wrote on 11/26/2005, 7:21 AM
Glad to hear it worked!
RichMacDonald wrote on 11/26/2005, 7:53 AM
>Dave, that seems to have worked. Thank you!

In that case, ignore the following advice :-)

Java by itself and/or in the browser is notoriously badly administered. Microsoft did no favors by installing an old and buggy version by default, but Sun also screwed the pooch by butchering the install procedure. This has going on forever. If you have ever installed more than one Java VM (the different versions of Java), e.g., an upgrade from an older version to a newer version or uninstalled an older version, you probably have outdated (a polite term for "screwed up") registry settings. This is usually harmless but can cause problems.

To check the settings, startup regedit (Select Run, then type in "regedit"), then scroll to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/JavaSoft. You'll see folders such as "Java Development Kit", "Java Plug-in", "Java Runtime Environment", "Java Update", and "Java Web Start". Don't worry if some of these are missing. Inside each folder are additional folders such as 1.5, 1.5.0, etc. One folder for each version of java (1.5.0 in my example), and duplicated folders for each "truncated version name" (1.5 in my example). What you need to check is the settings on each "top" folder ("Java Runtime Environment" in my example). Click on "Java Runtime Environment" (and the other folders) and look at the variable named "CurrentVersion". It should have a Data value corresponding to a truncated version number (1.5). Now click on the corresponding subfolder (1.5) and look at the paths for "JavaHome" and "RuntimeLib". Make sure these paths point to real files/folders on your hard drive. If it does, then you're ok.

To summarize, (1) check the "CurrentVersion", (2) go to the corresponding subfolder, and (3) check those paths.

You may have older subfolders named 1.0.1, 1.2, 1.2.0_01, etc. If their paths are correct, you can leave them alone. If not, go ahead and delete the subfolder completely (select it, then hit Delete or select Delete from the right-click drop-down menu). (You're just cleaning up old versions that Sun neglected to do.)

The big Sun screwup that is very common is not always updating the "CurrentVersion" to the latest version. IOW, you may have a 1.5 subfolder but the "CurrentVersion" data value is 1.2. If so, then just change the "CurrentVersion" to the latest value (double-click it, then type in a new value).

Changing your registry settings can completely screw up your computer, but all the above alterations are harmless...you can screw up your java apps and some browser pages, but you won't break your computer. If you do screw something up, just go ahead and delete all your java apps from the Control Panel, check the install folders (usually inside Program Files) and delete those two, delete everything inside "JavaSoft", then reinstall java again.

Hopefully my description was not too confusing. Its actually quite logical. It is a PITA but its also par for the course :-)