Upper Hudson Library System- Database Troubleshooting

Unfortunately, from time to time, people are not able to access the online databases remotely from their home or office.

There are many reasons why this might happen. Some of the possible reasons and things you can try are listed below.

Only residents of Albany and Rensselaer counties can access the databases remotely. Others are welcome to use the databases onsite in any of the 29 member libraries of Upper Hudson Library System.
Be sure you are clicking from the Electronic Databases link. Once you select a database, you will get an authentication screen. To authenticate, enter your library barcode number, without any spaces between digits.
Sometimes, hitting the Refresh button on your browser will resolve the problem or using a different browser might work. If you are using Internet Explorer, try using Netscape or vice versa.
Some databases, such as the Times Union, are only available at your public library, not from home or office.
One of the most common web page error messages is 404 Not Found. In some cases, this means that the server on the other end is down. Try again later.
If you are using a popup blocker, try turning it off when you look at the databases. Many of the database sites do not work properly if a popup blocker is on.
If you have a firewall running on your computer, disable it temporarily. If you can get into the database after you've disabled the firewall, your problem is in that software. Often times you can disable your firewall by right clicking on it's icon in the system tray (by the clock on the bottom of the screen), and selecting disable or "turn off".
For some databases, like Learnatest, you must enable cookies on your browser. Here is how to enable cookies:

For Internet Explorer v. 6.0, click on Tools, Internet Options, and, then, Privacy. Set your browser to enable cookies at the level to which you are comfortable. For other versions of IE, consult the Help files.
For Netscape v. 6.2, click on Edit and choose Preferences. Under the Privacy & Security category, choose Cookies and enable them to a comfortable level. For other versions of Netscape, consult the Help files.

Sometimes, however, previous cookies become invalid for some reason. The proxy server URL or another URL for a database may have changed. In this case, you will need to delete your old cookies related to that database or to the proxy server. Here is how to delete cookies:

For Internet Explorer v. 6.0, click on Tools and then on Internet Options. In the middle of the box, you will see Delete Cookies. For other versions of IE, consult the Help files.
For Netscape v. 6.2, go to Tasks and choose Privacy & Security, then choose Cookie Manager. Choose View Stored Cookies and delete the appropriate cookies or click Remove All Cookies. For other versions of Netscape, consult the Help files.

Some of the databases are not supported by all browsers. For example, the Gale (InfoTrac) databases cannot be searched using WebTV or the AOL browser. Gale recommends Internet Explorer 4.x or greater and Netscape 4.08 or greater. In addition, you must be able to accept cookies and Java must be enabled. See Help in your Internet web browser.
If you are trying to access the databases from work, you might check with your network security. Some places of employment have their network configured in such a way that you cannot access our databases. If you get an error message such as Alert: 2048 Connection Refused, this is probably the case.

If you’ve tried all of these things, e-mail or call Peter Kowalski, Web Specialist, or call the Reference desk at your local public library.