Troubleshooting

Sorry you're having trouble with the site; let's take a look at what the problem could be. The following advice is based on an automatic analysis of your system, and the items listed below are by far the most common causes of the problems that people have when using our site.

We suggest that you try all the solutions we have identified below; one or more of them will most likely get you past the problem you're having.

• In Windows NT/2000/XP, you must have Administrator privileges in order to install the ActiveX control. If you do not, the tests will initiate but immediately take you back to the starting page because the ActiveX utility is not present.

• We recommend that you use Internet Explorer 6. Although our site usually works with versions as old as IE4 SP2, we are not able to test on this configuration regularly. Most of the AutoFixes we offer require IE5.5 or higher and cannot be run on IE4.

• You have per-session cookies disabled in Internet Explorer. This will prevent our tests (and most of the rest of our site) from working. Most commonly this will result in "No session in progress" messages and you will not be able to compete the tests. Please enable cookies per these instructions. If your IE cookie settings are correct, make sure you are not using a utility that disables cookies.

• You have permanent cookies disabled in Internet Explorer. You will not be able to automatically log into the site if you disable them. Most commonly this will cause you to return to the pitstop.asp ("Entering the pit") page instead of starting the tests. See these instructions. If your IE cookie settings are correct, make sure you are not using a utility that disables cookies.

• The time on your PC's clock is significantly different than the time at our server:
   Your PC:
   PC Pitstop:
  Misadjusted time can cause many unusual problems, particularly in relation to cookies. To adjust the time, double-click on the clock in the system tray.

• You have not yet loaded the PC Pitstop utility. If you have already tried testing but received an error message about the utility not being loaded, follow the instructions here. Note that we are no longer able to support Windows 95, 98, or ME. You may also want to check our ActiveX test page to see if your ActiveX support is functioning properly.

• Although you have loaded the PC Pitstop utility, it is not the current version. Normally the new version will be loaded when you try to test. If that is not happening, the most likely cause is a proxy server that has cached an old copy of the utility. You may also want to try the instructions here to manually remove it.

• It appears you're using America Online. Be sure that you are accessing the PC Pitstop site through Internet Explorer, not the AOL builtin browser. You start IE using the icon on your system tray or desktop. Also, we suggest that you upgrade to AOL 6.0 if you are using an older version.

• JavaScript is disabled. The PC Pitstop testing process requires that you have JavaScript turned on. Check your ActiveX support for more information and instructions.

• Internet Explorer scripting support installed on this system is not the latest version. This may cause scripting errors on the site or AutoFixes you may run. You can update your scripting support by going to Microsoft scripting support and dowloading the latest non-beta version. (Note that the download links are at the bottom of the Microsoft pages.)
  
  Note: If you just received an Install on Demand dialog box for scripting and clicked the Cancel button, you should close all Internet Explorer windows. Then, open a new window and return to this page. When it prompts to install scripting support, click OK.

• Your WMI installation is not functioning properly. Our tests use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to gather some of the information from your system. On your system, WMI is reporting an error. This could cause certain information to be reported as blanks or zeroes. See our instructions for fixing WMI here.

• Currently you have Internet Explorer configured to use the older HTTP 1.0 protocol for accessing the Internet. Most web sites, including ours, work better if you use the HTTP 1.1 protocol. This is easy to change. Start Internet Explorer and select Tools | Internet Options | Advanced. In the dialog of options, scroll to the section labeled HTTP 1.1 Settings and check the box labeled "Use HTTP 1.1".

• Internet Explorer is configured to use a local proxy server to access the Internet. This usually indicates you are using ad-blocking or security software that filters the incoming HTML and script. These programs can corrupt our web pages and prevent them from working properly, so we recommend that you disable them while you run your tests. Some of these utilities have their own ways of being temporarily turned off or disabled, you'll need to check their documentation.

• You are using a proxy server to access the Internet, but it is not needed. We have found that the proxy often causes unreliable operation and reduced performance, so we recommend that you disable it. See below.

• You are using a proxy server to access the Internet, and we have found that many proxy servers cause unreliable operation of our site. We recommend that you try to disable the proxy settings and see if that helps. In some cases your ISP or network administrator may require the use of a proxy server, and you will have to enable it again.

• How to turn off proxy settings: From Internet Explorer's menu, select Tools | Internet Options | Connections. If you are on a LAN click "LAN settings", if you are on a dial-up, highlight the dial-up connection you are using, then click "Settings". Clear all three check boxes in this dialog: Automatically detect settings, Use automatic configuration script, and Use a proxy server. Click OK. It is also a good idea to close any open browser windows and open a new one before testing again.

• If you cannot disable your proxy server, you might try allowing the use of the newer HTTP 1.1 protocol with the proxy. Start Internet Explorer and select Tools | Internet Options | Advanced. In the dialog of options, scroll to the section labeled HTTP 1.1 Settings and check the box labeled "Use HTTP 1.1 through proxy connections".

• You are running applications that are known to cause problems for our testing:

  Please uninstall or temporarily disable these applications.

• Disable any background applications, firewall programs, or browser utilities including web accelerators, ad blockers, ZoneAlarm, or Norton Internet Security. These may corrupt the scripts and files used by PC Pitstop, causing them to malfunction.

• If you get a pop-up that says an ActiveX control on this page is unsafe, then your IE security is set too high. The PC Pitstop tests require the Medium security zone settings to function properly.

• If you are using IE6 or IE7 and are continuing to experience a loop when trying to load the PC Pitstop utility, go to: Tools | Manage Add-ons | Add-ons currently loaded in Internet Explorer and also | Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer and verify that all Active X add-ons from PC Pitstop are enabled.

• If your system crashes during the video test in part 2 (RunTests2.asp), your video driver is at fault. To work around the problem you can turn off acceleration. To do this, click Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Performance. Click the Graphics button and move the slider for acceleration all the way to the left. You will need to restart your system for the change to take effect.

• Make sure your system has all the latest patches and fixes from Microsoft by visiting the Windows Update site. If Windows Update does not work properly on your system, it is very likely PC Pitstop will not work either. To fix the problems, try the procedures in the Microsoft Windows Update FAQ.

• Using our debugging page, you can get more information about where the tests are failing and skip some of the tests if they are causing trouble. Go to our debugging page and follow the instructions there.

If you're still having trouble, you might be able to test successfully by going directly to one of our web servers, Server1.

And, if that doesn't work, try posting a message on our support forums and explain the problem you're seeing in detail. Be sure to mention that you have already tried the suggestions on this Troubleshooting page.

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