Some users have received an “Error: Could not get markup. The cookie or session is invalid or there is a runtime exception” message in their Dashboard channel when logging into the my.usi.edu portal.

To resolve the issue, click on another tab along the top of the portal, the Workspace tab for example, and then click back to your original tab.

The issue should now be resolved.

The new portal requires using an up to date web browser.  See our browser support page for a complete list of supported browser versions.

If you have to use Internet Explorer 6, or some other web browser that is not listed on the browser support page, you might try one of these 3 options:

• Upgrade to either Internet Explorer 7 or 8
  • Download Internet Explorer 7
  • Download Internet Explorer 8
• Install FireFox 3.0 web browser (http://getfirefox.com)
• Log into each service separately using your myUSI username and password (bypassing the myUSI portal) by using the myUSI Start page available at http://www.usi.edu/start

If none of these resolve your situation, call the myUSI Helpdesk at 812.465.1070 at once.

You should wait for the entire screen to load before you start typing your Username in the login box. Many web browsers have a status bar along the bottom that will tell you when the page is done loading. Wait for the status bar to display Done before continuing. Sometimes if you typed a few characters before the page is loaded, the system will “lose” those characters.

If you are having problems accessing myUSI try using the myUSI Start page to Sign In. The myUSI Start page is an alternative, lighter weight way to access the most used services (mail, Self Service, and Blackboard) from myUSI.

If you are still having problems, It could possibly be due to some combination of an insufficient web browser version, possible spyware infections, pop-up blockers and/or possible virus infections.

Insufficient web browser version:
To make sure you have the latest version of Internet Explorer:

1. Open your web browser and go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
2. Click the Scan for Updates button and wait for it to check your computer to see if it is up-to-date.
3. When it is finished, apply all available patches and updates.

Note: You may have to repeat these steps and reboot multiple times depending on how long it has been since your last update.

You can also check other browser versions that we supported on our updated Supported Browsers list.
Possible Spyware Infestations:
To address possible spyware infestations, download Spybot Search and Destroy and/or Ad-aware Free edition and run them on your computer. You will need to update and run this against your computer to make sure you aren’t affected by any spyware programs.

Note: The University of Southern Indiana has no relationship with the company’s or groups that maintain this software and only suggests their use as they are free and in common use by tech support communities in order to address rampant spyware issues. Use them at your own risk.

Pop-up Blockers:
Make sure any pop-up blockers like the Google search bar allow the Internet domains usi.edu and usieagles.org to have pop-ups. If they don’t, you may not be able to use some of the functionality of myUSI. If your pop-up blocker doesn’t support the ability to let some domains/sites have pop-ups, turn the pop-up blocker off while accessing myUSI and the housing information screens.

More information on disabling common po-up blockers can be found in this myUSI FAQ article.

A NOTE ABOUT MULTIPLE POP-UP BLOCKERS: It has come to our attention that many users have more than one pop-up blocker running on their computers. They may have the pop-up blocker that comes with the Windows XP Service Pack 2 update, a Google Bar pop-up blocker, a Yahoo Bar pop-up blocker and/or any combination of many other pop-up blockers available on the Internet.

Having more than one pop-up blocker can cause you serious problems in accessing myUSI. We strongly suggest that you only run one pop-up blocking program or at least disable the pop-up blocking feature in all of these products but one. Read your application’s help instructions for disabling this feature or use your Windows Control Panel’s Add Remove Software application to remove those pop-up blockers that you aren’t using.

Possible virus infections:
Finally, make sure that the virus definitions for your virus scanner are up-to-date. Many have features that allow you to load the most current virus fighting definitions. Check your product’s documentation for details on how to do this. Once you are done updating your definitions, scan your computer for viruses and make sure it is clean before attempting to access myUSI again.

Note:If you don’t have virus protection from an antivirus program, go to http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?productid=symhome&langid=ie&venid=sym and use Symantec’s free online scanner to test your system for viruses.

After following these steps, you should no longer have problems accessing the functionality of myUSI.

myUSI requires popups in order to work.

If you computer is using software to block pop-ups, you will not be able to access myUSI until you configure it to allow pop-ups for the myUSI website.

If you have any pop-up software enabled on your computer, you will get a page starting with Browser Problem: Popup windows have been suppressed when you try to go the the myUSI site (http://my.usi.edu). If you get this error, follow the steps outlined below to fix the problem.

What are popups?
Popups, or pop-ups, are small windows that open up automatically when you visit a web site or when you click on a link. Often they are used to display extra information or add functionality to a site.

Popups have received a bad name because they are often abused by websites seeking to push more advertising in front of your web browsing session. Also, many people have computers infected with worms and viruses that pop up advertising. If your computer constantly pops open windows even when you aren’t actively browsing the web, you probably need to scan your computer for viruses. A good free virus scanner that will work through the web can be found at http://housecall.trendmicro.com.

To address these problems many web browsers now include pop-up blockers to try and stem some of the annoying behavior. Also, there is a whole industry of software developers that create add-on software to aid computer users in blocking popups.

There’s only one problem.

Not all popups are bad.

As web applications move more and more towards mimicking software that exists on your computer desktop, they will increasingly mimic traits of those applications like popping up messages or opening items in a separate window. If your popup software blocks this behavior, those web applications won’t work for you. myUSI is an example of this and needs popups to be enabled for it to fully function.

How do I disable pop-ups?
Unfortunately, there are literally hundreds of popup blockers out there. Below, you will find a short list of instructions for configuring some of the most popular popup blocking tools and web browsers with popup blocking capabilities to work with myUSI:

You may have more than one of these installed and active on your computer. Please disable pop-up blocking in ALL of them before proceeding.

If you still get the Browser Problem: Popup windows have been suppressed error message after completing one or two of these sections, it probably means that you still have more pop-up blockers installed.

We have had users with up to 5 popup blockers installed and each had to be disabled before they could login successfully to myUSI.

Microsoft Internet Explorer
After Windows XP service pack 2 is installed, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer gains its own popup blocker. When it is installed it is turned on by default and set to the Medium security setting which will block most popups. Enable popups for myUSI by doing the following:

1. Launch Internet Explorer
2. Go to the Tools drop down menu
3. Select the Pop-Up Blocker
4. Then select Pop-Up Blocker Settings
5. In the new window that opens, type my.usi.edu the Address of Web site to allow field.
6. Then click the Add button
7. You Should now see my.usi.edu in the Allowed Sites section
8. Now click the Close button and shut down and restart Internet Explorer
9. Now open Internet Explorer and try logging into myUSI again.

Google Toolbar
Many people have the Google toolbar added to their Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browser. This toolbar includes its own popup blocker. Unfortunately, there is no way to add an Allowed Site to this tool, so you will have to remember to disable popup blocking when you visit myUSI and re-enable popup blocking when you leave myUSI. Or you could just uninstall the questionably useful Google Toolbar.

The Google Toolbar looks something like this:

To disable Google toolbar’s pop-up tools when logging into myUSI:

1. Open Internet Explorer with the Google Toolbar installed
2. Go to myUSI by typing my.usi.edu in the Address field
3. The myUSI “Disable pop-up blocker” warning should appear and the Google toolbar will state “some number” blocked next an icon of application windows.
4. Click on the … blocked icon
5. The pop-up blocker icon will now change to say Site Pop-ups Allowed or Pop-ups Allowed or Pop-ups OK
6. Reload the page by clicking the refresh button in Internet Explorer
7. You should now be able to access myUSI

Yahoo Toolbar
Many people have the Yahoo toolbar added to their Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox browser. The Yahoo Toolbar is often installed without users really knowing it because it is bundled with lots of free software available on the Internet, including Yahoo Instant Messenger, and the Shockwave plugin for most web browsers.

Like most Internet Explorer toolbars, the Yahoo Toolbar includes its own popup blocker. Fortunately, there is a way to add an Allowed Site to this tool, so you can configure it to disable popup blocking when you visit myUSI from now on.

Or you could just uninstall the questionably useful Yahoo Toolbar.

The Yahoo Toolbar looks something like this (the Pop-Up blocker icon has an orange box around it):

To disable pop-up blocking for myUSI in the Yahoo Toolbar, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Go to myUSI by typing my.usi.edu in the Address field
3. Click on Yahoo Toolbar’s PopUp Blocker tool (featured in orange box in the linked image above)
4. Select Always Allow Pop-Ups From…
5. Then select myUSI or my.usi.edu from the Sources of Recently Blocked Pop-Ups list and click Allow.
6. Reload the page by clicking the refresh button in Internet Explorer
7. You should now be able to access myUSI

AOL Toolbar
AOL’s client program includes a popup blocker as well.

To force AOL’s software to allow popups from myUSI do the following:

1. Startup and Login to your AOL client program.
2. Click Settings on the AOL toolbar.
3. Click Pop-Ups in the Essentials tab.
4. When the Pop-Up Control Settings window opens up, click on the Web Pop-Ups tab
5. Then, select Allow Web pop-ups from these sites from the available options.
6. Type my.usi.edu and click Add
7. Then Click Save.
8. Now, logout of AOL and then log back in.
9. Now try logging into myUSI again, by going to my.usi.edu
10. You should now be able to access myUSI

Firefox
Firefox is superior web browser that is available for free under an Open Source license. It has received numerous awards including PC World Magazine’s 100 Best Software Products of 2006 and comes in regularly updated versions on almost every desktop operating system including Microsoft Windows, Apple’s Mac OS X, and Linux. You can pick up a copy of the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser for you operating system by going to http://www.getfirefox.com

To enable popups for my.usi.edu in Firefox, do the following:

1. Launch the Firefox browser.
2. Click on the Tools drop down menu.
3. Select Options… from the Tools menu. Mac users should go to the Firefox toolbar menu and select the Preferences… option.
4. Select the Content tab.
5. Click the Allow Sites button across from the Block Pop Up Windows button.
6. Type my.usi.edu in the Address of website text box.
7. Click the Allow button.
8. Then click the Close button to exit the Options or Preferences window.
9. Now close the browser and restart it.
10. Then try logging into myUSI again, by going to my.usi.edu
11. You should now be able to access myUSI

Norton Internet Security
Norton Internet Security (NIS) is a suite of programs that works to protect your computer from a whole host of nastiness. Unfortunately, its privacy guard, popup blocker, and firewall have a tendency to be draconian in its enforcement and often catches perfectly safe applications, websites, and practices in its net all in the name of security.

MyUSI has particular problems with Norton Internet Security. In order to access myUSI with Norton Internet Security installed, you will need to make Norton Internet Security PERMIT actions from myUSI (my.usi.edu and myUSI’s mail server(mail.usi.edu):

1. Open the Norton Internet Security (NIS) control panel. You can access it by right-clicking on the NIS icon in the system tray of your computer (down on the right by your computer’s clock) and then clicking Norton Internet Security, or by double-clicking the Norton Internet Security icon on the computer’s desktop or by finding the Norton folder in your Windows Program’s menu (Start Button - All Programs - Norton ).
2. Next, click on Privacy and then click Configure
3. You want to add the following addresses to the list of sites and you will need to set all the options to Permit
   1. Add my.usi.edu, then set all options to Permit
   2. Add mail.usi.edu, then set all options to Permit
4. Click OK, then close the Norton Internet Security (NIS) control panel
5. Close all the web browsers and then try accessing myUSI

You may also have to try these options if the instructions above don’t match your version.

6. Open the Norton Internet Security (NIS) control panel. You can access it by right-clicking on the NIS icon in the system tray of your computer (down on the right by your computer’s clock) and then clicking Norton Internet Security, or by double-clicking the Norton Internet Security icon on the computer’s desktop or by finding the Norton folder in your Windows Program’s menu (Start Button - All Programs - Norton ).
7. Select Norton Antispam.
8. Select Status and Settings.
9. Select Popup Blocking.
10. Click on Configure.
11. To prevent all pop-up windows, make sure there are ticks in Turn on Ad Blocking, and Turn on Popup Window blocking.
12. Click on Advanced - to set Ad Blocking for individual sites.
13. Click on Add Site - under the left hand window.
    1. Type in my.usi.edu and click OK
       (this may be sorted, and appear under the heading usi.edu)
14. Click on Add - under the right hand window.
15. In the new window that opens
    1. Type in my.usi.edu
    2. Click on Permit - this will permit pop-up windows for this site only
16. Click on OK to save these settings.
17. Click OK, then close the Norton Internet Security (NIS) control panel
18. Close all the web browsers and then try accessing myUSI

This isn’t normal behavior. Clicking on the Blackboard link from within myUSI should automatically log you into the Blackboard website. If you are not logging into the Blackboard site automatically, there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

A Recent Name Change

If you recently submitted a name change request with the Registrar’s Office and followed the username change instructions in the email that you received shortly afterwards, your records might not be synced up with the Blackboard system yet. Contact Instructional Technology Services at online@usi.edu or 812-465-7182 for assistance in getting your myUSI and Blackboard account information properly synchronized.

Time of the Semester

Blackboard courses are not usually available until at least the first day of classes each term. If you are a new student and have registered for a class and try accessing its Blackboard counterpart before this time, you might encounter a situation where you don’t have access to the system. Try again after classes start and see if the situation improves. If not, check with your instructor to make sure that there is a Blackboard area for the specific course you’re attending.

Web Browser Configuration

With the recent increase in worm and virus activity, many people have tightened up their browser security to the point that it breaks some of the functionality of myUSI.

If you are receiving a login screen when you are trying to access Blackboard using the myUSI link, please perform the following steps in Internet Explorer:

1. Go to the Tools menu; select Internet Options,
2. Click on the Privacy tab,
3. Click on the Advanced button,
4. Check the box for Override automatic cookie handling,
5. For both First party cookies and Third party cookies, check Accept,
6. Click the Apply button and then OK button,
7. Restart the browser. If that doesn’t fix it, try temporarily turning off your anti-virus and/or firewall to see if that is causing the problem.