IE Won't Refresh in Pulldown Menus

[BruceBanner]

MY wife's accessing emails through mediaportal webpage. There is a pull down menu, it simply allows you to show coverage at various time increments, such as last 5mins, last 2 days etc. Once you select the option (highlighted) and click it or hit enter it should refresh the entire webpage and reflect these changes. IE10 on the Surface 2 is not doing this, nor the Metro version of IE10, nor the Desktop version. You highlight the change you want to make, click or hit enter and nothing happens... no thinking, no refreshing, its like it doesn't work, or that there it's waiting for you to hit an 'ok' button somewhere (but there isn't, the 'ok' button is left clicking the highlighted option).

On my desktop pc this works fine, both in IE10 and FF.

I was led to believe that the Surface 2 was running a full version of IE10, what's going on?

FYI once i select the option to display 'last 2 days' for example, then hit f5 to refresh page that doesn't work cuz its default is to show last 5mins coverage..

 

[Talontsi90]

You get that many emails that you need to hide ones older than 5 mins ago? Why not just use Outlook? Have you tried using a mouse instead of your finger?

 

[BruceBanner]

You get that many emails that you need to hide ones older than 5 mins ago? Why not just use Outlook? Have you tried using a mouse instead of your finger?

It's a work thing, she may well do. I'm not sure Outlook would work in this particular situation as I think it's Citrix based, and all email stuff has to be done via browser. I appreciate the workaround but for now if we can focus on why it's not working on a Surface 2 yet does on a PC I think that's best.
I thought about the finger vs mouse, made no difference.




You see the pull down menu highlighted in blue. Once u select and click it should apply changes, it doesn't. I just does nothing. On a pc it does (using either IE or FF). Tried Desktop IE10 and Metro IE on the Surface 2, both behaved the same.
Apologies for perhaps going overkill with the white boxes covering up sensitive info (emails, url etc, cuz it's a work thing I just wanted to be sure).

I'm stumped, what possible reason would there be for using a pulldown menu in a webbrowser on Surface 2 result in non compliance. When i get a sec I might see if I can try a generic shopping website, see if i can find a pulldown menu and try there also, see if similar behaviour occurs.

 

[BruceBanner]

I think I have stumbled upon a possible cause. I just tried accessing Ikea.com from the Surface 2, it's default load is the mobile version of the webpage, not the full version. IE is stuck in mobile app mode :S
This thread might shed some light Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1 RT always goes to mobile sites - Microsoft Community

Now i'm not sure if that's connected to my particular problem, but it's something perhaps worth considering..

 

[Talontsi90]

It is possible its a site programming issue? Maybe it thinks its a mobile device and not a desktop? Also not to be a bummer, but these things have a full size USB port, why arent more people using a mouse or trackball for certain things? The Logitech Unifying receiver works great with no add'l drivers other than what Win8 loads, even on the RT. But, if its a programming issue using a mouse wont help.

 

[Talontsi90]

I think I have stumbled upon a possible cause. I just tried accessing Ikea.com from the Surface 2, it's default load is the mobile version of the webpage, not the full version. IE is stuck in mobile app mode :S
This thread might shed some light Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1 RT always goes to mobile sites - Microsoft Community

Now i'm not sure if that's connected to my particular problem, but it's something perhaps worth considering..

I dont think so, im not getting any of this on my RT with 8.1. Using either Desktop or Metro versions.

I mean i dont think its happening all the time.

 

[BruceBanner]

Im using a logitech unifier receiver with a K400 (trackpad), works well. Not sure why yer mentioning this tho, of course I'm aware of the full size usb ports, one of the reasons I got one. How's that related to my problem tho?

What happens when you try to access IKEA | Affordable Swedish Home Furniture - IKEA ? On my pc i get IKEA | Affordable Swedish Home Furniture - IKEA (ie full working website), on the Surface 2 I get Home - IKEA which is the mobile version of the website. Somewhere along the way IE on the Surface is doing everything mobile where possible.

Again, I'm not sure this explains the original issue I'm having, I may try some of the suggestions in that thread link I supplied above, see first if I can get my IE browser on the surface 2 to behave properly, then try mediaportal again afterwards.

 

[oion]

Im using a logitech unifier receiver with a K400 (trackpad), works well. Not sure why yer mentioning this tho, of course I'm aware of the full size usb ports, one of the reasons I got one. How's that related to my problem tho?

What happens when you try to access IKEA | Affordable Swedish Home Furniture - IKEA ? On my pc i get IKEA | Affordable Swedish Home Furniture - IKEA (ie full working website), on the Surface 2 I get Home - IKEA which is the mobile version of the website. Somewhere along the way IE on the Surface is doing everything mobile where possible.

Again, I'm not sure this explains the original issue I'm having, I may try some of the suggestions in that thread link I supplied above, see first if I can get my IE browser on the surface 2 to behave properly, then try mediaportal again afterwards.

I don't know anything about Citrix, but yes, the IKEA website is shunted to the mobile version. Fortunately, at the very bottom is a "full site" link (all major websites should have that).

 

[BruceBanner]

Interesting, this definitely needs addressed, we should not be forced to mobile versions of websites on the surface rt/2!

Does anybody rekon this is related to the original problem I'm having? I rekon they are connected...

 

[oion]

Interesting, this definitely needs addressed, we should not be forced to mobile versions of websites on the surface rt/2!

Does anybody rekon this is related to the original problem I'm having? I rekon they are connected...

You might try adding the website in question to IE's compatibility list.

As far as I know, the reason why there's a higher incidence of forced mobile sites on IE11 is because Microsoft changed the user agent string to include "touch." Certain website developers use a sniffer script to spot something like touch-enabled in the string to assumes the user is using a neutered mobile web browser like those found on iOS/Android, thus serving the mobile version. The last time I checked, no one has found a way to hack the IE11 user agent string to remove that touch token. While both sides are "at fault," technically the web developers need to catch up to the idea that touch-enabled browsers like IE11 aren't mobile browsers, and pragmatically the easiest fix lies in Microsoft's hands.

By the way, Surface 2 is Windows 8.1 RT, which includes IE11 by default. The only way to get IE10 (on a WinRT device) is to use a factory-condition Surface RT that hasn't been upgraded to 8.1.

It's a pain.

 

[BruceBanner]

I definitely recall that Ikea website loading in Full version when I first got the Surface 2 (first week it was released). It was 8.1 then, I believe an update along the way has caused this behavior.

If I go Pc Settings> Update & Recovery>Recovery>Remove everything and reinstall windows, it says it will return to Factory default settings, do you think this might be a way to work around? A kinda hardcore rollback... Then turn updates off till I know this has been addressed.

Right now the tablet is behaving like a bad ipad, no full browser and a poor app market. They just killed the Surface :/

 

[oion]

I definitely recall that Ikea website loading in Full version when I first got the Surface 2 (first week it was released). It was 8.1 then, I believe an update along the way has caused this behavior.

If I go Pc Settings> Update & Recovery>Recovery>Remove everything and reinstall windows, it says it will return to Factory default settings, do you think this might be a way to work around? A kinda hardcore rollback... Then turn updates off till I know this has been addressed.

Right now the tablet is behaving like a bad ipad, no full browser and a poor app market. They just killed the Surface :/

You could do a factory reset. But you can't be sure if the difference between the IKEA example will translate to the Mediaportal thing, since it could be scripting or some other programmatic thing on their end that just happened to have broken in IE11. You only said that the IKEA website supposedly worked out of the box, but not the mediaportal site. If your desktop is actually running IE10 and not IE11 (since 8.1 on Surface 2 is definitely IE11), then that could be the difference, as IE10 and IE11 do have different user strings and some behaviors. Factory resets aren't a big deal on the Surface RT line, though, because apps and settings are synced through your MS account (if you allow it).

It doesn't sound like you tried other things--compatibility mode, changing security/privacy settings. You could go onto the official MS boards to see if anyone has a known workaround. You could ask the website portal vendor's tech support.

False hyperbole aside, IE is still a full browser albeit without addons. It just happens that the one website your wife needs doesn't work with it. Microsoft didn't kill the product line because of that, as frustrating as it is. Every single browser I've used has had some kind of incompatibility somewhere, which is why I have 3 browsers on my desktop (all the login websites I need work in IE11 RT). Obviously, the downside is that you can't try a different browser on RT. I don't suppose that vendor is app-capable? As a last resort, she'll have to get a different device for that specific use if there's no workaround. Maybe a cheap Surface RT on 8.0 with IE10 (if IE10 really works) or a Dell Venue Pro 8 or something where you can use a different browser. You can sell the Surface 2 if it's beyond the return period.