Can't type anything in reply to thread text boxes?

I seem to be having a strange problem with Firefox and possibly Internet Explorer 8.

In Firefox, if I go to either the Quick Reply at the bottom of a thread or go to the Full Reply option it seems as if the text area where you write the message is blanked out.

It appears for a second with a cursor in it and then just turns grey and I can't click on it. Like there is no text box there.

It seems to be that it loads OK to begin with and then when the grey background for the text box comes in it stops working.

It doesn't always happen and sometimes refreshing the page cures it and it all works properly.

I seem to have had the problem ever since I installed Internet Explorer 8 for testing websites etc. But the thing is that Internet Explorer 8 works absolutely fine for CJ.....

It may also be somethign to do with Firefox Beta 3 that I installed and then got rid of again. But I have tried reinstallign it to no avail.

It is most annoying and is why I haven't been posting much... I just haven't got round to asking if anyone else has this problem or if Dave knows anything.

I am completely stuck on it and hate not being able to use Firefox. I may just go and wipe my disk and load a backup from a few weeks ago when it was working.

Is it possible to try another machine?

Just to rule out your PC.

I haven't had any other reports and my machines are fine.

Let me know.

Try clearing your cache - worked on similar problems for me once.

Have you ran any cleaners that would have cleared your Java cache recently? Try rebooting - sounds like you already have if it has been happening for a while so maybe make sure Java is updated, maybe even reinstall it.

Oh and SG, naming your system in your profile so it shows in posts would be doing the forum a huge SEO benefit, it ads more text (keywords) to threads thus increasing Google search traffic.

Obviously it is a matter of taste and preference so I understand if you wish not to, just letting you know mate.

No, it seems to just be this PC but....

I have just made the same thing happen again in a VM. Basically installed IE8 whilst Firefox 2 was installed already. Then updated FF to 3 Beta version and then uninstalled the Beta to go back to FF2.

The problem appeared again.

I have managed to fix it on this computer now I have actually put some effort into it. I just uninstalled Firefox completely then uninstalled IE8. Then reinstalled Firefox 2 and then IE8. No more problems

I am guessing that it is some sort of bug in Firefox 3 and am going to do some more testing. I think it is somehow conflicting with IE8 when it is installed in a funny sequence....

Evil:
I just reinstalled JRE now. It needed updating anyhow Not sure if it was anything to do with it though.

I tried clearing the cache before but it didn't help

Dave:
I chose not to put my system specs in my signature because I find it a bit annoying to have to scroll through all the extra stuff in a thread just to read the messages. But I have a cunning idea I am devising that will hide the system specs for me, but everyone else will still be able to see them Now to read some Firefox Developers documentation.

I like blaming stuff on Java

Is that anything to do with Show Signatures?

The internet would probably be safer without Java


The bad news is that my problem has come back partly...

Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

I really CBA to try and figure it out now, I need to sleep. But I am pretty sure it is something to do with IE8 and not Firefox now. Bloody Windows.

Spot, its just an idea I had to filter out certain parts of the CJ threads with a little script in Firefox, kinda like how the Add Blockers work. I need to dissect Daves HTML first to find an easy way to locate the system specs and then hide it from the page

Is IE8 Still on beta?

Ok SG, np.

Right, this is really starting to annoy me now. I just can't get these forums to work properly now for me, on any of our computers

I can only think it is something to do with out broadband line...

It is only in Firefox.

The problem I have is that when I click on a reply or quote button, I get the normal reply page open, but the Title and Message text areas are blanked out in a grey colour. They load for a second correctly then the background color comes in and they become unusable. I just can't type anything in there.

I have this problem about 4 in 5 times of opening a reply page. If I refresh the page it will work eventually.

I have Firebug installed and it gives me an error message when I get the problem. I think this might have something to do with it.

I have no idea what his message means as I can't understand what it relates to.

Dave, do you have any ideas???

Heres the error:

Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005

Googling that brought up plenty of hits. Don't know what to make of it though.

Yeh, that JavaScript goes way over my head

Your problem goes away if you disable Firebug error-checking?

Told you I like blaming stuff on Java This time it looks to be true!!!