Fix for the Dreaded Red X

Back in June, there was a discussion of the problem of a red-x placeholder on web pages instead of a graphic. At the time, I was having that problem constantly and hadn't found a fix. I do believe I have finally found it. Well, it cured it on this computer, anyway. (Running XP Home, IE6)

It required deleting two keys in the registry. I did this about a week ago and waited this long to make sure no dire events resulted. None have and I haven't experienced the red x on any web pages since.

Open the Registry Editor and navigate to:
1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PROTOCOLS\Name-Space Handler
2. Go to File>Export and backup the two keys: http and ftp
3. Then delete both http and ftp
4. Close the Registry Editor

 

Since the x is usually only shown when a graphic won't display for some reason, what do you see now?

 

All the graphics are loading on the first try. I could always get them to load by right clicking on the placeholder and using "Show picture" or by refreshing the page but on most pages, I'd have to do that for at least one graphic.

 

Miz--Name_Space Handler or just Handler?
How on earth did you figure that fix out?
P.S. I think your PC (or ISP server) is just sluggish and needs some milk of magnesia.

 

Yes, "Name_Space Handler. "

The Red X/missing graphics is a problem that's been discussed before on this board...and on every other one I frequent. I found this old thread (along with 23 others on the same subject) about it.

Rather than resurrect any old threads, I decided to start a new one with the fix I found on another help forum in case anybody else wants to try it. I'd give credit to whoever came up with it but unfortunately, I forgot to bookmark the site.

My husband's computer, running Windows 98 with half the processor speed and half the video card power of mine, shares the same DSL account through a router but never has the red x problem. That's why I ruled out an ISP problem.

 

Hi Miz

This is one of those issues that many of us have at one time or another dug our heels into, sometimes finding one of the many past suggestions work, and other times never finding anything that worked. Glad you posted this fix to add to my notes with the many other options.

I would like to state however, that I too sometimes (rarely) have the dreaded RedX haunt me, and I don't have either one of those subkeys in my registry. Guess I'll have to contribute mine to sluggish comp/server when it happens.

 

Miz--I should have explained that I have http and ftp under Handler, but not under Name-Space Handler. Interesting.

 

It's not on all XP systems, apparently. It must be a registry entry due to something or other I installed. I am, after all, a freeware junkie and am always downloading, installing, trying out and then dumping various little utilities and programs just to see what they'll do.

I read in a Microsoft Knowledge Base article months and months ago the red x problem is due to making something other than IE the default viewer for jpgs and gifs. I did do that with Irfanview so maybe that was the culprit. Naturally, I can't find that article again.

 

Now that's interesting, and highly possibly too. Alot of software programs do that without the user even aware it's happening. I think I might have even let some Kodak software do that on this machine. Seem to remember having to change the default viewer for some reason.

 

Hmmm....I did have the MSKB article bookmarked but when I tried it, I got a "this article no longer available." So I did a search of the Knowledge Base and came up with this little jewel:

Not all Web site content loads when you use Internet Explorer 6

SYMPTOMS
When you visit a Web page in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, some content that is on the Web page may not load. For example, some images, such as GIF images, that are on the Web page may not load. Instead, a red "x" appears.

CAUSE
This problem may occur if the Web site or an intermediate device, such as a load balancing switch, responds to the Internet Explorer 6 GET request with an HTTP 302 (redirect) server response packet and the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) FIN (that is, finished) bit is set, but the TCP RESET bit is not.

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem in Internet Explorer 6, click View, and then click Refresh.

STATUS
Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available.
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

 

Very interesting - I do not have the red x problem on my main computer now (I turned off Avant's ad blocker) although I have a fresh install now but still do not use the ad-blocker with Avant.

I also have a fresh install on my laptop which was going well with IE6 without any red x gremlins. I decided to try the new Maxthon (formerly MYIE2) on my laptop yesterday and within minutes of installing the red x's were back in full force! I did not keep the browser too long after that and went back to the 'tab-less' IE (I do like a tabbed browser ) but as soon as I did the red x's all went away for me - the mystery deepens!

Thanks for the regedit (just in case)