Geek Trouble

Last night, we scanned in some pictures of our tattoos and loaded them up on the Meet the Writers page… and all was good. However, me being the geek that I am… I decided that it would be much nicer if we added some Javascript controls on the picture page. So, I went through and loaded up some code and checked it on my system at the office. It worked. Yay. So, I go to load it to the server. I test it.. it fails. Damn damn damn damn damn.

So, the first step is to go and view the code after it was loaded by the browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01&#41… it's corrupted. Ok, simple answer, send a fresh copy of the code over to the server. So I loaded it up and then checked again. It still didn't work. Damn.

So, I telnet in using Microsoft Telnet and check the code with PICO (a text editor&#41. The code is still corrupted. Hmm… so I manually type in the correct code on the server and save it. Just for shits and grins, I go back into PICO to make sure that the code is OK. The code is corrupted again. Again, Damn.

Ok, this means that it has to be a server problem, I call the ISP and have them check the server… it's fine. I have a senior technician log in and look at my code. He says everything is fine. Shut door, scream DAMN loudly, then open door again.

Restart my computer, and check with Netscape… the page works perfectly. Ok, this is encouraging… I check it with Microsoft Internet Explorer and it fails. I go and telnet in… the code is corrupted. Shut door, pound desk, scream God Damnit a few more times.

Next step: email a friend who is professional Javascript programmer and see if she had ever seen something like this before. I essentially got the following response: Boy, that's pretty fucked up. I decide that I need to get some caffeine before I explode. On the way out, I load the page up on the receptionist's computer. It works. Perfectly. The programmer was right… this is pretty fucked up.

I decide that Caffeine isn't the best choice in my current mindset… so I get a bottle of water. When I return, I sit down and stare at the monitor, when suddenly it hits me. The problem isn't the code… it isn't the server… and it doesn't affect Netscape. However, it did go screwy every time I looked at it in Internet Explorer or Telnet. What do these two programs have in common? Microsoft.

So, I check the machine, re-load the TCP/IP protocol and Winsock.dll (and reload Internet Explorer as well, just for good measure&#41 and visit the site. It loads. Perfectly.

What an aggravating way to spend the morning.