Genealogy Chat

I have been helping an elderly friend of mine put his family tree together. He doesn't have a PC, and he says, at his age, he's got no aspirations to become computer literate. As he only does his research when I am around, I've got all his details, tree etc on my PC. an arrangement we can both live with. Using my PC, we have uploaded his GED file onto GR, and until recently could access both accounts. However for the last few weeks, we have not been able to access his account at all (he is not a full paid member, and does not intend to be without concrete proof that he has 'contacts'). Each time we try to log in, we get a completely white screen. I have tried deleting all cookies and temp. internet files, but no success. I can access my account without any problems. I have written to GR a couple of times on this matter, but have had absolutely no response. Has anybody any suggestions?

Hi Dafydd This may sound barking mad, and it is a long shot, but have you tried scrolling down the screen when this happens? It has happened to me a couple of times on GR and it happens to me on Ancestry a lot and eventually I found the page lurking at the bottom of the screen with a huge expanse of white space above it. Alternatively, trying hitting the refresh button a few times. Bev x

I think the problem is more likely to be on your computer than with GC. If you can lay your hands on another computer try logging into his account from that.

Hi, thanks for the quick response. When I get the white screen, that's all there is. No scroll bar. Refreshing doesn't work either. I just get a new white screen. I've also tried with another PC - mine at work, where I am now. Still no joy. Still no answer from GR either. D

In that case the problem is almost certainly with GR.

In that case. message them again and when you click on 'send' be sure to proof read the message that appears , scroll down and then press send again ( when you send a message to GR you have to kind of double send) ...and then you get a comfirmtion of having sent it to them. a lot of peope dont seem to realise that you have to do that - if you are not one of them , then excuse me Jess

If proper solutions don't work, you could try accessing your friend's account at a local library (remembering to uncheck the 'remember me' box) Then change the email address to a spoof one. I have a non-member freebie tree on site, with a different email address, to avoid confusion with my main tree. I noticed a change in the way it behaved a couple of weeks back (and wierdly, the layout is slightly different) but now I can keep windows for both on my taskbar, so I can check for messages. (When things changed, I found that refreshing a window might change an identity.)

Sounds from the above that this might not be the cause of your problem anyway, but one way around the problem of having 2 users on 1 pc is to set up a second user account in Windows (I'm assuming that you're running XP?). To do this, select Start - Control Panel - User Accounts - Create a new Account. When you have 2 accounts set up, the cookies etc that are created on each account are stored separately on your PC, so they won't overwrite each other. Then you use one (Windows) account when you want to access your GR tree, and use the other for your friend's tree. To switch between the 2 Windows accounts, select Start - Log Off - Switch User (you don't need to close the programs on one account in order to switch to the other). Richard

Thanks Jess, I didn't know, so I'll give that a try. I've sorted out an email address for my friend, using a completely different provider, name etc to mine. There is no chance of confusion. I'll mail GR again and give them gip! Ta again., Dafydd

Try changing the following.....even if this doesn't fix the problem, it is a change that should be made anyway to allow your PC to reach all sites (After making the change to the settings empty cookes and temporary internet files again and then try accessing the GR site): Fixing “Website Can’t Be Found” and other Site Error Messages More than likely you have trouble with accessing quite a few sites.....particularly getting the message 'website can't be found' among a few other error messages. Try the following and it should solve your problem. 1. Go to START. 2. Click on CONTROL PANEL. 3. Click on INTERNET OPTIONS. 4. Change NUMBER OF DAYS TO KEEP IN HISTORY to “0” and click APPLY 5. A box appears with tabs labeled across the top. Click on ADVANCED. 6. Scroll down to the sub-heading SECURITY. 7. Make sure the following has check marks next to it: Use USE SSL 2.0, USE SSL 3.0 and USE TLS 1.0. 8. Also make sure you check off EMPTY TEMPORARY INTERNET FILE WHEN BROWSER IS CLOSED. More than likely USE TLS 1.0 is not checked of and it should be. This will give you the error messages, as well as a few others, that will prevent you from viewing web sites and the error you are getting. Make sure you empty your cookies cache as well as temporary internet files once in a while, too, as this slows down your computer and these folders tend to 'remember' the errors and may continue to bring them up until the folders are emptied.

Thanks Judy, I'd already sorted out the settings you suggested, but it was worth me checking them again anyway. Actually the only site I have problems accessing is GR - the second account, except ones with Java and script, which I have manually blocked with my firewall. However - Progress: I've had a reply from GR, so we'll see how it goes. Watch this space.