warc1

The site will intermittently not fully render in all three subject browsers. All three browsers are at current versions. The issue is that pages will partially load on occasion and then stop. When this happens, the main problem is that the vertical scroll bar will not load so it is not possible to navigate the page. Reloading the page will not fix it. I generally have to close down the browser and re-enter the site.

I think I know what the problem is - Adobe Flash. It's in the news today that FF and Chrome are blocking Flash content, and I assume IE is doing the same.

Removing Flash extensions from all browsers would is my next option. However, I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this and whether they've confirmed that removing the extensions works?

J T

No, Flash is not required. It's possible you have a connectivity issue.

warc1

Thanks for the reply.

It doesn't appear to be a connectivity issue. When the problem occurs, the page starts to load with the posts, the vertical scroll bar and then the ads. As the ads start to load, the vertical scroll bar disappears and loading stops. At that point, I can no longer navigate on the page.

I can then hit reload and the exact same behavior occurs. It is again drawing down the page content meaning connectivity remains. The page clears, begins to reload and then stops when the ads reload and the scroll bar disappears. This behavior is frequent, across all three browsers and only occurs on this site.

Are none of the ads Flash based? I have definitely had popup messages on this site in FF today saying Flash content is being blocked. However that message does not show up every time I have a rendering issue.

It should be noted that the problem only occurs on thread displays within a forum. These thread pages have interspersed animated ads that I thought could be Flash. It never occurs on the forum index pages that have no such ads. The intermittent nature of the problem makes me think that there are a limited number of Flash based adds served within thread displays that, only when encountered, causes the problem.

J T

What I was saying is that Flash is not required in the sense that it's not going to stop the site from loading as it is doing for you. Additionally, as you've said in the quote below, you're getting the browser indication that the Flash plugin is disabled but the page rendering issue is not occurring in all of those cases which confirms the aforementioned that Flash can be disabled while being able to load the page.

I suppose it's possible that a particular ad is causing some issue but I haven't seen or heard such.

warc1

Thanks for the elaboration. I've now uninstalled Flash from my PC. This appears to have fixed the problem in FF and Chrome. IE is still problematic, but in a different way and I think unrelated to Flash. I'll post more on that later after some further experimentation.

At any rate there does seem to be a Flash connection as it was only today that FF and Chrome began blocking Flash and only today that the rendering problem occurred on these browsers. With Flash now gone, the problems appear to be gone as well, though I'll need more time to be absolutely sure.

Car Fan

I'm having a similar issue which just started. It seems to only affect Chrome. I have uninstalled Flash and still have the issue.

It's not doing it on any other message boards I go to, including other IB owned sites. Not sure what to check next.

8VETTE7

I'm also having some wild issues in Chrome. HUGE pictures, inability to click on "my recent topics" and get the drop down box, huge font, mumbo jumbo for the icons in the smilies and more. Just started this afternoon when I logged in. I logged out and then back in and NO CHANGE. I also restarted my PC and also NO CHANGE. I'm not having problems on other sites that I frequent so I'm not thinking Chrome is the problem. I'm seeing advertisements in the middle of things like I was NOT logged in> What's changed???

warc1

To provide closure on my issue, it has now been 24 hrs since removing Flash, and I have not encountered rendering issues on any of the three browsers. Yesterday, I thought I may still be having issues with IE, but I was misled. It has been as stable as the other browsers on this site. To elaborate, I removed Flash entirely from my PC using Control Panel/ Programs as opposed to disabling Flash within each browser.

Car Fan

Oddly enough, almost immedietely after I posted yesterday it started acting normally for me. No reboots, didn't even restart Chrome. Not sure what happened.