Avatars not displaying in IE 9

_J_

I did not see another thread about this.

For a while now most avatars have, occasionally, not displayed properly in IE 9. In their place, white boxes with x's appear. Sometimes when I do a hard refresh, or clear my cache, the images will reappear but then shortly they return to the white boxes.

I noticed that this problem only affects avatars hosted on the forum. Persons with photobucket avatar images display fine.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Edit: Also, users with the http://forums.penny-arcade.com/themes/pennyarcade/design/images/profile_user.png profile display properly.

Buttcleft

I use IE9 and I've never had this problem, Just saying this to help with diagnostics.

_J_

I looked through my IE settings and couldn't find anything resembling a "Don't show avatar images on the PA forums" checkbox. I tried clearing the temp files a few times and sometimes that fixes it, while other times the images continue to not appear.

Anyone have an idea as to what might cause this? Some quirky security setting, or something like that?

Edit: When I try to load the url for a particular individual's avatar image it takes me to the forum's "Page Not Found" page. It's as if the image link is broken...sometimes. For example, the url for my avatar is supposedly http://cdn.forums.penny-arcade.com/pennyarcade.vanillaforums.com/userpics/280/pN8S60I4WRBQL.jpg going to that url brings up a "Page Not Found". But when I go to the url for someone who hosts their avatar on photobucket it works just fine.

Edit Edit: And now it's displaying all the images, but the url for my avatar seems to have changed. Now it says the url is http://cdn.forums.penny-arcade.com/pennyarcade.vanillaforums.com/userpics/280/nN8S60I4WRBQL.jpg and that displays properly.

So,

http://cdn.forums.penny-arcade.com/pennyarcade.vanillaforums.com/userpics/280/pN8S60I4WRBQL.jpg fucks up
http://cdn.forums.penny-arcade.com/pennyarcade.vanillaforums.com/userpics/280/nN8S60I4WRBQL.jpg works fine

Why the shit would the url for my avatar randomly change?

agilemania

Both links work for me (though I'm on Chrome, not IE9) but they are not the exact same image. The "n" one is 80x80px and is what is shown in threads next to your posts. The "p" one is natively 175x175px and is what is shown on your profile page (though on the profile page it is stretched to 200x200px). My guess is that the "p" one is the original image you uploaded while the "n" one is an automatically-generated scaled-down version that the PA forum software created (for speed reasons).

_J_

Avatars worked fine all day, and now when I loaded the forums most avatars are back to the white boxes with an x inside.

Grr.

Noxy

I'm on chrome and having this exact same problem.

Aldo

I'm on Firefox and suffer from the similar. If it helps, I think I started noticing the problem around the time when I started browsing the forums on my smart phone.

_J_

This continues to happen. Avatars displayed correctly all day, and just now they started to be replaced with little x boxes. I haven't changed anything, or really done anything. I just refreshed the forums after finishing a game of LoL and the avatars disappeared.

_J_

Once I solved the problem by increasing the size of my temporary internet folder. It was set to 200 MB, avatars didn't load. Increased it to 250, avatars loaded.

So, to test it, I played around with the folder size and tried to repeat the situation. It did not work a second time.

So, the problem does not seem to be related to the size of the temporary internet folder.

_J_

Today instead of a little red x, avatars now display a "403 Forbidden" image.

I'm not sure if this is progress or not.

IcyLiquid

You're saying they work in other browsers for you?

_J_

IcyLiquid wrote: »

You're saying they work in other browsers for you?

I only use IE9. I don't know if another browser would function.

Fonjo said the same problem happens in chrome, back in December.
Aldo said the same problem happens in Firefox, back in January.

_J_

I installed Google Chrome out of curiosity.

Avatars do not display correctly in Google Chrome, either.

IcyLiquid

_J_ wrote: »

I installed Google Chrome out of curiosity.

Avatars do not display correctly in Google Chrome, either.

But you have to admit that you feel a little more smug while using Chrome, right?!

_J_

IcyLiquid wrote: »

_J_ wrote: »

I installed Google Chrome out of curiosity.

Avatars do not display correctly in Google Chrome, either.

But you have to admit that you feel a little more smug while using Chrome, right?!

Oh, undoubtedly!

So, the problem doesn't seem to result from:
- Browser (occurs in both IE / Chrome)
- Temporary Internet File Disk Space (I've changed the settings numerous times.)
- Temporary Internet File clutter (It happens / doesn't happen when the folder is empty and full)
- Temp file clutter (It happens / doesn't happen after disk cleanup, and without disk cleanup)
- Running other programs (It happens /doesn't happen when it's just the browser, when other programs are running, when I alt-tab from other programs to browser, etc.)

I'm out of ideas for things to check. If you think of anything, I'd be happy to try it.

IcyLiquid

Is this an at work problem, or work and home, or just home?

_J_

IcyLiquid wrote: »

Is this an at work problem, or work and home, or just home?

Just home.

Edit: For Chrome, I just installed Chrome and loaded the forums. I didn't change any of the default settings.

IcyLiquid

If you feel like delving into this a little, install Charles Web Debugging Proxy http://www.charlesproxy.com
When the avatars aren't loading, run Charles and re-load the page. Then inspect the GETs for the images in Charles and see why they're failing.

_J_

Thanks! I shall do that the next time avatars do not display, and post the info. Avatars seem to be working now.

Will the charles thing work with either browser?

IcyLiquid

Should do. You might need to go into it and set it up to auto hijack your system's connection though.

apparatchik

I have this exact problem on my desk top using chrome. I have not yet experienced it on my laptop, which is also running chrome.

I'll install that Charles thing on my desktop and report back some time in the future.

_J_

Avatars seem to not display on my phone, either.