The authentication screen asks for your Name and ID number, but when you enter your information, the screen refreshes with blank boxes.

1) You are not being recognized as a valid Suffolk user. Only current faculty and current completely-registered students are eligible to use our databases. If you are not a current faculty/student, we are sorry but license agreements with database vendors preclude our offering you access. If you ARE a current faculty/student, you will need to be added or updated in the library server to be able to access the databases.

Bring your valid Suffolk ID to the Circulation Desk in the Sawyer Library. We will check your record to make sure that you can be authenticated by the proxy server. Questions? Call Circulation at 617-573-8535. If the issue relates to incomplete registration or an unpaid University bill, you must resolve any issue with the Registrar before you will be able to use our databases.

 2) Your workstation may have been hijacked by a "trojan," "spybot," "worm," or other invasive computer program.

Update or install both virus software and anti-spyware software and run them on your workstation. The problem program must be removed for you to be able to access the databases

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Keep getting a security alert box when clicking the "Submit" button on the off-campus patron verification (proxy authenitication) page

This problem is related to our use of a SSL (Secure Socket) Certificate for our off-campus access. It most often happens when using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the browser. It is nothing to be alarmed about and does not constitute a threat to your machine.

Simply click the "Yes" button to continue.

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Keep getting a security alert box when clicking the URL for a database when off-campus.

This problem is related to our use of a SSL (Secure Socket) Certificate for our off-campus access. It most often happens when using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the browser. It is nothing to be alarmed about and does not constitute a threat to your machine.

There are two fixes:

Each session: Simply click the "Yes" button to continue.

Permanent Fix:

1. at the top of the browser window, click on "Tools" and then "Internet Options..."

2. click on tab labeled "Security"

3. click on the button labeled "Custom Level..."

4. find the heading "Miscellaneous"

5. at the subheading for "Display mixed content" click the radio button to turn on "Enable" (image)

6. click the button labeled "OK"

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I logon successfully, but get a 502 Bad Gateway Error when I try to complete a search.

This is a problem with the proxy server itself. Please report the problem with information about the database you were accessing and the search you were doing to sawlib@suffolk.edu

As a temporary work-around look at the URL in the address box at the top of your screen. If the URL starts with more than one 0- remove all duplicates. (That is, if the address begins "http://0-0-..." delete one 0- so that the address reads "http://0-...")

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Internet Explorer 6

The "Service Pack 1" patch must be installed for these versions to work properly.

Internet Explorer 6, Service Pack 1

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Internet Explorer 5, 5.01, and 5.5

The "Service Pack 2" patch must be installed for these versions to work properly.

Microsoft no longer provides support for Internet Explorer 5, 5.01 and 5.5. If you are running a version of Internet Explorer 5, Microsoft recommends upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer 6.

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America On Line (AOL)

You cannot use the AOL browser to access the databases. You need a separate Web browser, either Internet Explorer or Netscape.

The Sawyer Library recommends using the latest version of Internet Explorer 6.

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CompuServe

You cannot use the CompuServe browser to access the databases. You need a separate Web browser, either Internet Explorer or Netscape.

The Sawyer Library recommends using the latest version of Internet Explorer 6.

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A workplace or home network firewall

A firewall can block certain types of inbound or outbound network traffic, usually referred to by port number. However, our proxy server connects via port 80 which is the standard port for web browsing. If you can connect to most web pages from behind your firewall, you should be able to connect to resources through our proxy server.

Make sure your firewall is open to Port 80; otherwise, the firewall will not work with the proxy server.

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Older Cable Modems May Cause a Problem

During the Fall 2007 semester, two off-campus database users reported problems of viewing full text from several of the Sawyer Library’s subscription databases.  The Reference staff conducted extensive troubleshooting; the only things in common concerning these two instances were that both occurred in communities north of Boston, and both involved broadband cable modems from Comcast.  A helpful Comcast broadband technician suggested that the at-home cable modem may be responsible for the problem as it was an older model.  The cable modem was physically replaced with a more recent (newer) model, and testing showed that the problem with the databases was resolved. 

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