IE7 and Firefox take 5 minutes+ to load?

Got my new x61s 2 days ago with Vista, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD. It worked fine yesterday, but today neither IE7 nor Firefox will load properly. Firefox won't load at all, even after being reinstalled, and IE7 sometimes works perfectly--no delays--and sometimes takes 5 minutes+ to load a page.

I've disabled all the add-ons as suggested; it didn't help.

Lenovo recommended uninstalling Thinkvantage Access, which I did. This is the only Lenovo program I've uninstalled. Still no better. Seems like a lottery--sometimes it works fine, sometimes it doesn't. After 3 restarts I might get lucky, but only with IE7.

Is this happening to anyone else? Any suggestions? Could this have something to do with Password Manager or CSS? Should I get rid of these? Will that affect the fingerprint scanner?

 

By the way, the connection is fine--Windows Network Diagnostics find no problems, and my other laptop works.

 

any virus spyware malware?

 

Open up a blank IE page. Then click on the upper right gear icon (tools) and manage add-ons > disable or enable add-ons.

Disable all the unnecessary ones. It's been awhile since I did this but the culprit for slow IE startup is a ThinkPad add-on. Google each and every thirdparty add-on to find out what it does and if you need it or not.

IE should run much faster after this.

Edit: Disable this, CPwmIEBrowserHelper Object, Lenovo (United States) Inc.

It's the Lenovo Password manager browser add-on. I think it's part of the ThinkVantage Client Security Solution.

I still recommend you go through each third-party add-on and disable the ones you don't need. If it says it's from Microsoft, you should leave it alone. But the ones from Lenovo, messengers, and other programs, you should google them and decide whether to keep it or not.

 

Thanks--

Yes, I disabled that add-on some time ago, but it didn't solve the problem.

Re: viruses/spyware/malware, scans with Adaware and Avast turn up clean.

 

do a hard drive scan to make sure no install files were installed on corrupted sectors.

close unecessary programs and then try it out. (Also when you close the browser and open the other - swap between IE and Mozilla - make sure the first browser closes all the way. it might still be running, use task manager to kill it)

Does it lag on certain pages only? might have something to do with your flash install, try redoing that too.

A clean install might be what you need.

 

thanks arkite3t and batman--

i'm cautiously optimistic that i may have solved the problem. I think it's an issue with Password Manager. For part of this process I was using a public wireless network that required a login. It worked fine yesterday because I manually entered my username and password. I realized today, when I visited that network, that I hadn't been asked to log in--I had allowed Password Manager to remember my information. After I reinstalled Firefox during one of the "good" periods when IE was working, I restarted, and even after 3 restarts I couldn't get either browser to work. I deleted the login site from Password Manager and both Mozilla and IE7 opened immediately and without any trouble. (Oddly, I wasn't asked to log in again.)

I don't want to proclaim this a victory, since I've had stretches when IE has worked before, only to get sluggish later, but this is the first time Firefox has worked. Fingers crossed.

Password Manager, by the way, continues to automatically fill in my information for other sites with no ill effects, so I'm not sure it's necessary to eliminate the CSS altogether.

Anyway, thanks again. I'll post back tomorrow.

 

well, so much for my theory. i'm at home using a security-enabled network, password manager-free, and it just did it again. not only that, but the wireless connection suddenly collapsed from functional to "limited connectivity," then disconnected altogether. the wireless card claimed there were no networks in the area (there are 6).

after restarting twice, IE7 is working now, but not mozilla.

doing a hard drive scan now. (sob).

 

Open a Run window (Windows key + R) then type the following and hit Enter (assuming your hard drive is C: -- if another letter, change the 'c' to match):

chkdsk c: /f /r

It may require it to reboot & run on bootup. and when it does run, just so you know, the scan may take a long time.