red x in box instead of image (in email)

I know this topic has come up a number of times in the past, but none of the previously suggested solutions has worked for me.
From time to time I receive emails with embedded images. Sometimes the images show up, sometimes I just get a little red x in the upper left corner of a blank box where the image should be. Sometimes I am able to view the images IF I'm online at the time, sometimes not...
The interesting thing to me was that this morning I realized I had two copies in my inbox of the same email with embedded images in it. In the original, which was sent to me from someone else, the images show up fine (without having to be online or anything - they simply appear when I click on the email). I forwarded the piece to some friends, including myself in the To: list. In MY email, the images are all blank boxes with red x's.
I don't understand why/how the images would show up in one version of the email and not the other.
Any ideas?
[WinME, OE 5.50, IE5 (because my computer crashes every time I've tried to upgrade to IE6)]

 

rebecca--Since we do not know what you have tried, it is hard to come up with something new.
The most common causes are
1) The person sending the image does not know how to do it correctly
2) Either or both you and the sender have
a) unchecked the box in OE Tools|Options|Send tab|HTML Settings "Send pictures with messages "
b) checked the box in OE Tools|Options|Security tab "Block images... "

 

For the one you sent to yourself, make sure the option to include pictures when sending is enabled. In OE, click tools>options>send. Where it says mail sending format, click the html settings button.

For those that are sent from various websites, you have to be online to see the pictures. They're located on the server so it would be normal to not be able to see the pictures if you were offline.

I would tend to agree with Jim. If some of the emails that you receive from your friends show the pictures and others don't, more than likely the person that sent it did something wrong.

 

And that setting in Send tab also affects the ability to see images in received mail.

 

You're right, Welshjim, I should've jotted down the things I tried, but I was experimenting with them as I was reading about them in the various threads, and didn't think to put the steps on paper.
What seemed so strange to me about it today was that I had those two versions of the exact same email that showed up differently in my inbox. The one that had been sent to me by someone else was fine, the one I forwarded to myself had just the red x's (yet the pictures showed up in it on the copy in my "sent" folder).
Today I sent out an email with some embedded animated .gif's -- again, including myself in the recipient list. The animation worked fine for me, as well as for most of my recipients, but not for a woman who often sends ME that kind of email (and they "usually" work for me when they come from her).
It's the inconsistency of the issue that perplexes me.
Same thing happens when I use Thunderbird instead of OE...