Unable to specify dates in ticketing/scheduling websites

Question

Unable to specify dates in ticketing/scheduling websites

I am having date problems with my computer. Websites, such as Amtrak, do not allow me to specify a future date, remaining stuck on today's date. This change has been accompanied with an inability of Time Machine to tell me when the next backup is scheduled, although the dates within Time Machine itself are there and appear to be correct. Presumably when your cursor goes into the date area, a calendar should pop-up, which, oddly, it does when I use Expedia and some lab appointment websites. I'm not sure at all if this is connected with the Time Machine problem but I thought I should mention it.

Any help out there?

Mac-Mini, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 24, 2012 6:48 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 25, 2012 6:52 AM in response to William Martin

Which browser are you using?

Can you paste a link with a date problem?

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Answer 2

Oct 25, 2012 9:20 AM in response to Neville Hillyer

I've tried Safari, Firefox, and my old Microsoft Explorer, and I have tried in both my account and on my wife's account. I've also logged into Firefox with all of the add-ons disabled. Here's the Amtrak link; www.Amtrak.com

I've also repaired permissions, and set the date and time preference pane to manual.

Still no good.

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

238,997 points

Oct 25, 2012 10:26 AM in response to William Martin

See if JAVA is disabled...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5241?viewlocale=en_US

http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en-GB&answer=142064

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/How%20to%20turn%20off%20Java%20applets

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Answer 4

Oct 25, 2012 10:48 AM in response to BDAqua

I disabled all of the plug-ins and nothing changed.

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Answer 5

Oct 25, 2012 11:18 AM in response to William Martin

It works for me. As far as I can tell it uses JavaScript. Do you have JavaScript enabled?

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Answer 6

Oct 25, 2012 12:20 PM in response to Neville Hillyer

Yes it is enabled. I checked Java preferences and it is enabled within the browsers.

Here's what I get, using firefox, when a right click on the date bax, select "inspect element" from the options, and then, from the pull down menu, select copy outer HTML:

I'm fairly stumped.

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Answer 7

Oct 25, 2012 12:57 PM in response to William Martin

As far as I can tell it uses JavaScript and not Java.

To check that your JavaScript is working go to http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_intro.asp and click the bulb.

Your Firefox html does not tell us anything except that it uses a form tag.

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Answer 8

Oct 25, 2012 2:04 PM in response to Neville Hillyer

The bulb goes off and on. Seems like JS is working, Does not seem like Jasvascript is the source of the problem.

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Answer 9

Oct 25, 2012 3:08 PM in response to William Martin

This is strange.

Can you try another computer?

Do you have strange firewall settings?

Have you tried deleting cookies?

Have you tried restarting your computer?

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Answer 10

Oct 25, 2012 3:37 PM in response to Neville Hillyer

Bingo. It works now. It was the question about the strange firewall settings in the previous post. My Intego Virus Barrier X6 has an "information hiding" option that was creating the problem. These anti-virus programs can have unanticipated consequences.

Thanks for sticking with me on this knotty issue.

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Answer 11

Oct 26, 2012 2:28 AM in response to William Martin

You are very welcome. It is not often my 10 years as a webmaster before I retired comes in useful.

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