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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: J.A.M. on Thursday 18 December 08 14:21 GMT (UK)
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Hi all,
Has anyone else been unable to access the GenesReunited site? I end up with a frozen screen whenever I try to access their main page. This seems to have happened only since they changed their format.
GenesReunited has a postal address but only for subscription payment. If I can't access the site & can't contact them have I paid for services I'll never receive?
J.A.M.
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Must be you... :(
I've just got straight in
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No problem here either, sorry!
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Hi J.A.M.
I had exactly the same problem - the site just froze.
I solved the problem by deleting all my temporary internet files.
Barbara
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me too, I've had problems with freezing over the past few days :(
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I've got in OK. But I got a shock as I had no idea it had altered !! I have a love-hate relationship with GR so it is a while since I was in there - its going to take a bit of getting used to.
Maggie
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Hi, check your status with G.R. for two months they had me as an ordinary member needing to buy credits so they would not let me access anything despite the fact that I had paid upfront as a Gold member with unlimited access. I did eventually sort it out and demanded they start my membership from when it was in order. I have not experienced a frozen screen lately but did some time ago before the changes however I find they have no records of people I found with no trouble on Ancestry.co, people I know existed-my grandparents for example. Better luck. Viktoria
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Make sure your version of Adobe Flash is up to date. The "new" GR site is plastered with Flash graphics. I used the word "new" advisedly, because it's not new at all - the basic site layout is still the same - all they've done is tarted it up.
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I don't like the new tree format at all. It take a lot longer to load and the pop ups stay popped up telling me how many matches there are. It's very confusing.
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Don't like the "new" version much.
The dreaded Hot Matches are even more annoying now that the facility to filter out new matches seems to have disappeared and you have to scroll through all the pages, picking out the new ones.
I did manage by trial & error to rearrange my contacts in alphabetical order by clicking on the "Name" heading at the top of the column, but there used to be a menu that gave you several options of arranging.
Still finding my way around. Don't like the huge picture frame for photos on the Tree. It takes up too much room and most of the trees I've seen don't use that facility anyway.
Haven't had any difficulty in accessing it, though.
Yours grumpily :(
Gillg
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Hi,I have been having 'frozen screen' for about a week now ,before that I had trouble when i couldn't get to the
bottom thingy where you add parents etc,they did reply
to say they were still working on site then.
Going to try again now. Cheers :)
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I've just been and tested by adding some details to my tree and it does seem to be working, though I still don't like the new layout of the tree page. I daresay we'll all get used to it in time. ::)
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Working ok now for me but having trouble finding the trees
I'm allowed to view..... but that could be me,getting late here. ;D
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hi
am having same problem...page starts to download then screen freezes up.
get the green download bars at the bottom of the screen and what appears to be a full page then nothing.
have to resort to task manager to escape from the page...have updated the adobe flash player , as previously suggetsted but still the same.
again this all seems to have stemmed from the site being " modernised "
anyone any suggestions :(
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I've had no trouble with it until today - and it's driving me nuts!!! But I thought it was just me, as we've had no internet for the last 2 days in this region due to the seabed cable being severed off the coast, by Alexandria.
Ah well, let's see how it behaves tomorrow!
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>:(
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I tried to access the Genes Reunited site using links I have receieved thro e-mails.
Using a link for " hot matches " I was able to access the site with seemingly no problem, but when I tried to access the site using a link via contact reply it again failed.
I have sent a message to their support team explaining the problem , and await a reply >:(
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Let's hope someone from GR is reading this. ::)
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I e-mailed GR the other day about the prolems I was having with their site, this was their reply
'Thank you for taking the time to write to us and express your opinion.
Our team have worked very hard redesigning the site so I am sorry to hear that you're not too keen on it. However, I would like to assure you that your comments have been recorded and I will pass them on to our development team to take into account as we continually develop the Genes Reunited website.
As a result of the interest generated by the redesign, there has been exceptionally high levels of traffic on Genes Reunited over the past few days and this has unfortunately, detrimentally affected the performance of the site.
Please bear with us while we work to accomodate this.
Best regards,'
Hopefully it will get sorted soon
Fiona
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As a result of the interest generated by the redesign, there has been exceptionally high levels of traffic on Genes Reunited over the past few days and this has unfortunately, detrimentally affected the performance of the site.
I think this can be re-translated as.....
"As the result of adding so much un-necessary Flash content to try to make our site look as good as the competition, our (already overloaded) servers are now creaking under the strain of the extra traffic this has created"
No doubt executive decisions are being made as we speak, to decide whether to invest £2000 on another server, or to keep the money and abandon the graphics ! :)
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One thing I do like (which is unsual for me with GenesReunited) is how if you look at your sent messages, it now shows whether they've been read or not...which I find useful, as at least now I know whether people have just not logged in for a while or have for whatever reason not replied. I find that immensely useful for keeping track of all my contacts and correspondence, as after being on there for years I've got more messages and contacts than I can really handle...and get so many new messages each week, that I sometimes wonder what this unsual thing called "a life" is and where I can buy one. ;) ;D
Otherwise, this whole "new" design is frustrating. It's an answer to a question that no-one asked, and I can't help but be annoyed that the priority is cosmetics rather than providing a better service to their customers.
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this whole "new" design is frustrating. It's an answer to a question that no-one asked, and I can't help but be annoyed that the priority is cosmetics rather than providing a better service to their customers.
Thats GR for you..... ::) when have they ever listened to the fee paying members...........
The tree and record matches are driving me mad, you only have to hover near a name on a tree and they appear - one of my common names appears I am told 1,020 times in records...golly I must rush off and check them all !!!!
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Since I started this post I've updated my Adobe Flash to Adobe 10 as suggested. It hasn't helped.
I got an e-mail today from GenesReunited extolling the wonders of the great new site but when I try to log in it STILL freezes.
If I ever get onto that site they are really going to hear about it. With this freeze problem they'd better extend my membership or refund my fee in full. Maybe that's what we, with the problem, should demand. Nothing scares a business more than having to give money back to a customer.
If anyone in the London area has the time & inclination could they please telephone GR & vent for us or obtain a postal address for GR.
Now that I've vented I hope everyone has a very
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
J.A.M.
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Up until now, three people have supposedly given me access to their trees. I have been unable to find them.
There is a considerable amount of displeasure on the Community group at GR.
jingles
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I received the following reply from the G.R support team....
I am sorry to hear of your problems. I can see you are using Internet Explorer 6. We suspect your problems are browser related. Are you able to upgrade to Internet explorer 7, as this should solve the problems.
If not, then this is something our technical team are working on and we do hope to have this fixed soon. I am sorry for the inconvenience.
One can only wait and see if there is any improvement !
:-\
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Well, you should upgrade to IE7 anyway, because IE6 isn't supported any more, and it contains all the security problems which were patched last week in IE7.
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If anyone in the London area has the time & inclination could they please telephone GR & vent for us or obtain a postal address for GR.
J.A.M.
This is the information that comes up on a WHO IS domain search for GenesReunited:
Administrative Contact:
Friends Reunited Limited
Friends Reunited Limited
2 Oxted Chambers
185-187 Station Road East
Oxted, Surrey RH8 0QE
GB
admin[at]friendsreunited.com
+44.01883722660 Fax: +44.01883724178
Might be worth a try?
Heather
Moderator Comment: e-mail edited, to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please replace [-- at --] with @
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I finally got on to the site & had no problems. I sent them a customer service e-mail requesting an extension of my membership for the month I was unable to access their site. We'll see.
J.A.M.
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If anyone in the London area has the time & inclination could they please telephone GR & vent for us or obtain a postal address for GR.
J.A.M.
This is the information that comes up on a WHO IS domain search for GenesReunited:
Administrative Contact:
Friends Reunited Limited
Friends Reunited Limited
2 Oxted Chambers
185-187 Station Road East
Oxted, Surrey RH8 0QE
GB
admin[at]friendsreunited.com
+44.01883722660 Fax: +44.01883724178
Might be worth a try?
Heather
Moderator Comment: e-mail edited, to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please replace [-- at --] with @
Friends Reunited (and all the other xxxxxxx Reunited sites) are owned by ITV plc*. Since ITV televison (part owned by ITV plc) has just seen some disastrous advertising revenues over Christmas, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the GR group sold off to the highest bidder in 2009. I must stress that this is a personal opinion and not an alleged fact.
*for the benefit of our friends abroad, ITV plc is a company which was formed by the merging of two of the UK's largest commecial TV stations (Granada TV and Carlton) in 2004, which is headed by Michael Grade.
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I just wish they'd stop "ïmproving" the site. i use it infrequently and things seem to be different every time I go there.
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I'm still having problems enter sthe main page ended up screen froze every time, same to my other 3 computers. One of the member said "deleted temp internet files" wouldn't makes any different which I did use CCleaner clean out the old files, but still the same problems. My pc runs on both IE6 and Firefox... IE6 tends to froze everytime I entered the main page, FireFox doesn't have any problems and run quicker on very slow machine! I'm still using Firefox to enter this site and other sites in case IE unable to access other sites.
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You shouldn't be using IE6 any more, because it has severe issues with computer security which will never be patched, because IE6 is no longer supported by Microsoft - you should download IE7 ASAP. Firefox seemed to have issues with embedded Flash (which both GR and Ancestry is awash with) when I tried it, which is why I stick to IE7 (well, actually I'm now using IE8, but that's still in final beta test).
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Has anyones try to enter other GR sites other than UK in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and International? I've tried all 4 outside UK sites working well without any problems.
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:) Hello, Sorry this doesn't answer the last question, but I just wanted to say I had a month's subscription on Genes but wasn't able to access any of the larger trees. I think I downloaded Flashplayer 10 but I don't seem to have an icon on my computer. I get a message saying theres a script in the movie which is causing it to run slow. I'm worried that if I keep adding names to my tree eventually it will happen to mine. Deoxy
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:) Hello, Sorry this doesn't answer the last question, but I just wanted to say I had a month's subscription on Genes but wasn't able to access any of the larger trees. I think I downloaded Flashplayer 10 but I don't seem to have an icon on my computer. I get a message saying theres a script in the movie which is causing it to run slow. I'm worried that if I keep adding names to my tree eventually it will happen to mine. Deoxy
Yes, it will happen, but what you can do is to type in the name of someone in the tree, and GR will produce the immediate family around that person. I've used that little dodge several times to look at people of interest in other people's trees that run into 3000 or more people :)
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Hello Nick, I tried it and it works. Very useful. Thanks very much. Deoxy ;)
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Apologies if someone else has mentioned this or given an answer/solution but I can't get past the first/main page on GR either.
As soon as it signs me in (automatically) the whole screen freezes - and that's all folks. :(
I don't use it very often but it annoys me that I pay good money and get nothing in return. >:(
I have no other problems with any other sites.
Anyone have any answers or is a case of just put up with paying for nothing ::)
Thanks
Di
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I've just been onto my GR page, and it's all loading OK. I don't pay to use it any more, but the site has let me amend some details.
I use XP & Avant Browser/IE7.
Are you using Vista?
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I still have the same problem Di although I can enter the site if I use a link from one of GR's emails to the FAQ page!
I will email them later and ask for an explanation.
Barbara
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Apologies if someone else has mentioned this or given an answer/solution but I can't get past the first/main page on GR either.
As soon as it signs me in (automatically) the whole screen freezes - and that's all folks. :(
I don't use it very often but it annoys me that I pay good money and get nothing in return. >:(
I have no other problems with any other sites.
Anyone have any answers or is a case of just put up with paying for nothing ::)
Thanks
Di
Which browser are you using (IE (version?), Firefox, Opera, etc) ? Do you have Flash installed ? Do your security settings allow scripts to run ?
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I've just been onto my GR page, and it's all loading OK. I don't pay to use it any more, but the site has let me amend some details.
I use XP & Avant Browser/IE7.
Are you using Vista?
Hi BM - I don't use Vista as I've been warned that it is not an "ugrade" on Windows XP. I haven't changed a thing on my system so it does appear to be changes made on their site.
It only freezes when it signs in - so I guess the best thing to try and do it use it without signing in (and therefore may as well not pay ::) )
I still have the same problem Di although I can enter the site if I use a link from one of GR's emails to the FAQ page!
I will email them later and ask for an explanation.
Barbara
I'm sorry that you still have the same problem Barbara but at least we aren't alone with this little "challenge" ::)
Good luck with your email. I'd like to hear what their explanation is and when it will be rectified.
Di
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Which browser are you using (IE (version?), Firefox, Opera, etc) ? Do you have Flash installed ? Do your security settings allow scripts to run ?
Oh Nick - I don't understand any of the technical things - total dummy at all this ::)
I know I have Windows XP, I "think" I have IE6 - the rest of it is a foreign language - sorry I can't be any help/use :-[ ::)
It use to work and now it don't - after that I don't know :(
Thanks anyway
Di
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Di
Email sent and I will post the response.
Barbara
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Di
I have been having another "play" with this and have found that if I use this address
http://www.GenesReunited.co.uk/home/
I can access the site.
I still can't access using just
www.GenesReunited.co.uk/
Barbara
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Hope you receive an answer from GR Barbara.
It'll be interesting to hear what, if anything, they have to say on the matter.
I also have had a little play and as someone on here suggested, I tried the Aust GR site and had no problems - as long as I didn't log in.
The same applies to the link that you have just supplied. All works fine - until I sign in.
I'm sure there's an easy answer somewhere somehow for us.
Di
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That is so odd, :D I have tried both Links and have been able to sign in to GR both times.
I use XP and IE7
Ambers
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Di
I have been having another "play" with this and have found that if I use this address
http://www.GenesReunited.co.uk/home/
I can access the site.
I still can't access using just
www.GenesReunited.co.uk/
Barbara
The two pages are virtually identical. I think you need to clear your internet cache - it could be corrupted.
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I cleared everything in site, on site and those outasite as well. :D
Tried again today and it's no different
Oh well - who needs GR anyway ;)
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Two things to look at.....
Go to Start >> Settings >> Control Panel >> System
A box will appear on the screen...... under the "System:" part, there are four lines, which (on my system) say.....
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 3
What does yours say ?
Then, in Internet Explorer, click on Help, then About Internet Explorer .........
What version does it report ?
Nick.
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Hi Nick,
System Details:
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer Version 6.0.2900.......
I'm also running on "dial-up" (at a very slow speed) so was wondering if this is causing a problem and I just need to wait more than 15minutes for the GR screen to load although I have no problems with anything else. :-\
Di
My apologies - I seem to have made this thread into a "Technical help" for me - sorry folks, didn't mean to do that :(
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Unfortunately you have the worst of both worlds there ! Internet Explorer 6 was never the world's best browser, but many of its problems were patched in Windows XP Service Pack 3 (which unfortunately you also don't have) :-[
As a very minimum, you need to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, and at some stage you should also get Service Pack 3 installed, because it contains some vital security fixes. Unfortunately neither of these is all that small in size, which I understand will be a problem on dial-up. Maybe you have a friend with broadband locally, and you can take your computer round to their house ? Or alternatively, sign up for broadband - it's about the same price as dial-up now, anyway :)
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Thanks for the bad news and the not so bad news Nick
I guess I now have an excuse for upgrading something - whether it be hardware & software or just software alone :-\
I shall investigate further
Thanks for your help and time
Much appreciated
Di