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Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 5:29 AM · Permalink · Report

About half of the time, MobyGames doesn't look right to me. Huge letters over white backgrounds, the proportions all wrong - it looks a bit like it did back in 2000. It seems to happen randomly.

Another problem that I began to have at exactly the same time is that I suddenly can't access my hard drive D by double-clicking on it. It just shows me a list of programs I can open it with. If I select Internet Explorer, it opens. It annoys the hell out of me. All other hard drives work normally...

I know it's probably unrelated and stupid, but I don't understand in those things, so I'm wondering what's going on...

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Foxhack (32100) on 4/16/2008 6:37 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--]About half of the time, MobyGames doesn't look right to me. Huge letters over white backgrounds, the proportions all wrong - it looks a bit like it did back in 2000. It seems to happen randomly.

Another problem that I began to have at exactly the same time is that I suddenly can't access my hard drive D by double-clicking on it. It just shows me a list of programs I can open it with. If I select Internet Explorer, it opens. It annoys the hell out of me. All other hard drives work normally...

I know it's probably unrelated and stupid, but I don't understand in those things, so I'm wondering what's going on... [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--]Sounds to me like your hard drive is dying.

I'd replace it immediately if I were you.

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Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 9:25 AM · Permalink · Report

Sounds to me like your hard drive is dying.

Hard to believe; I just bought the computer 2 months ago.

Also, I solved the problem with the D partition. However, MobyGames still looks terrible. It's actually worse than before, now it appears in that ridiculous way nearly every time.

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NatsFan (68) on 4/16/2008 10:16 AM · Permalink · Report

What browser do you use? I haven't noticed any problems with the site except occasional long load times because of advertisements.

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GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 4/16/2008 3:37 PM · Permalink · Report

I've turned off the ads to avoid long page loads. But on another note, hard drives can die ? This makes me question building a legacy pc.

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xroox (3895) on 4/16/2008 6:42 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start DANIEL HAWKS ! wrote--]I've turned off the ads to avoid long page loads. But on another note, hard drives can die ? This makes me question building a legacy pc. [/Q --end DANIEL HAWKS ! wrote--] Like any other mechanical device, hard-drives can definitely die. That's why you should regularly backup all your data ;)

I fingers crossed have been pretty lucky with my hard-drives but a friend has had several die on him over the years, and my brother recently lost half a year's worth of photos due to a total hard-drive death.

But don't worry too much. Just backup your stuff. There are usually warning signs anyway - read/write errors or loud, ugly CLUNKS coming from inside your PC case.

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GAMEBOY COLOR! (1990) on 4/16/2008 7:31 PM · Permalink · Report

I have almost two hundred photos I need to back up again come to think of it.

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Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 4:30 PM · Permalink · Report

What browser do you use?

Internet Explorer.

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Servo (57070) on 4/16/2008 6:18 PM · Permalink · Report

You mean you aren't seeing the css styles when viewing the site kind of like this?

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Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 6:22 PM · Permalink · Report

That's it, that's the way the site looks to me 9 times out of 10. How can I solve this problem?..

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Sciere (930488) on 4/16/2008 6:26 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

Sorry, it's a US government-approved directive to limit export to China.

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Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 6:27 PM · Permalink · Report

Sorry, it's a US government-approved direction to limit export to China.

But you are Belgian, and you're an admin, can't you do something? ;)

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Sciere (930488) on 4/16/2008 6:47 PM · Permalink · Report

Belgium officially disapproves of lots of things, only to be ignored by the rest of the world =)

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Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/16/2008 8:07 PM · Permalink · Report

Seriously, any idea how to prevent this from happening? Restoring IE defaults and enabling all kind of things didn't help...

I wonder how did Servo get that picture?..

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Servo (57070) on 4/16/2008 8:31 PM · Permalink · Report

The picture was created in Firefox, you can easily disable css from the menu (view -> page style -> none). I think IE has a similar option but it's hidden somewhere in advanced settings or something odd. I don't know what's causing the problem for you though, I haven't had any issues myself. What version of IE? Does clearing the cache/deleting all offline content do anything? Does the problem still exist if you use a browser other than IE? Are you able to view the style sheet?

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SGruber (3812) on 4/17/2008 1:02 PM · Permalink · Report

Wouldn't it be the easiest option to simply switch to Firefox for Mobygames (or even entirely)? Of course you would loose all your old bookmarks, but isn't a fresh start something healthy ;) ?

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DreinIX (10446) on 4/17/2008 1:11 PM · Permalink · Report

If I remember correctly when I changed from Internet Explorer to Firefox the bookmarks weren't lost. Although they were entered alphabetically and I had trouble finding the sites.

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DJP Mom (11333) on 4/17/2008 5:55 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

[Q --start DreinIX wrote--]If I remember correctly when I changed from Internet Explorer to Firefox the bookmarks weren't lost. Although they were entered alphabetically and I had trouble finding the sites. [/Q --end DreinIX wrote--] Correct. But using IE is probably not the source of this problem, anyway.

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DreinIX (10446) on 4/17/2008 7:49 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

It's easier to think that this is the solution rather than changing one's country to have access to MobyGames. (I think I would change it :))

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Black_Rose (33) on 4/18/2008 3:32 PM · Permalink · Report

I've seen that before.

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Foxhack (32100) on 4/21/2008 2:52 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--]That's it, that's the way the site looks to me 9 times out of 10. How can I solve this problem?.. [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--]Every time I get that it's some sort of connection timeout issue. Hard reloading (Shift + reload) usually fixes things - but you should try to clear the cache. Maybe that's the problem.

Or try it out in another browser, see if the problem still happens.

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Abi79 (298) on 4/18/2008 7:45 PM · Permalink · Report

Keep down shift and press reload. That works for me in Firefox, might also work in other browsers.

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Daniel Saner (3503) on 4/19/2008 4:23 PM · Permalink · Report

Yes, this should help. I occasionally get this when my Internet connection is in really bad shape. It loads the main page but times out when trying to fetch the CSS file.

If it really happens 9 out of 10 times, and if it happens on other sites too, you really need to complain about and/or change your ISP.

If it only happens on MobyGames, you've got yourself a software problem. I don't think any version of IE could cause it, but you mentioned that you use an Ad blocker. It's possible that it feels the stylesheet is advertisement, and blocks it. Although then it would be a really stupid ad blocker. Anything else that can interfere with the way websites are loaded could too cause similar problems (Internet privacy tools, content filters, maybe a proxy you're using, a firewall...)

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Indra was here (20755) on 4/20/2008 5:28 PM · Permalink · Report

People still use internet explorer? (ie. the slowest browser on earth).
Opera rules!

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beetle120 (2415) on 4/21/2008 8:34 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Indra Depari of the Clan Depari wrote--]People still use internet explorer? (ie. the slowest browser on earth).
Opera rules! [/Q --end Indra Depari of the Clan Depari wrote--] It would rule if it didn't crash so much.

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chirinea (47495) on 4/21/2008 8:43 AM · Permalink · Report

When was the last time you used it? I'm using it for quite a while and I have to tell you, I saw it crashing less often than IE gave me problems.

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beetle120 (2415) on 4/21/2008 8:55 AM · Permalink · Report

I have the latest version (as of 2 day ago) and it seems to crash mostly when I go to email like Gmail and Hotmail. Good thing it saves the last visited page and it is quick to boot up but it still gets annoying.

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Unicorn Lynx (181775) on 4/20/2008 6:18 PM · Permalink · Report

If it really happens 9 out of 10 times, and if it happens on other sites too, you really need to complain about and/or change your ISP.

No, now it seems to happen only 1 time out of 10 :) But I still hate it.

Your avatar rules :-))

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DJP Mom (11333) on 4/20/2008 8:29 PM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--] Your avatar rules :-)) [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--] I do agree!

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Foxhack (32100) on 4/21/2008 2:53 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start JazzOleg wrote--]If it really happens 9 out of 10 times, and if it happens on other sites too, you really need to complain about and/or change your ISP.

No, now it seems to happen only 1 time out of 10 :) But I still hate it.

Your avatar rules :-)) [/Q --end JazzOleg wrote--]One time out of ten? I get this same error at several websites about once a month. Mobygames, Kotaku, Livejournal, RHDN... it's just a weird fluke.