Endnote X2 fails to download full text/urls on my computer but works on other machines

EndNote EndNote Styles, Filters, and Connections
1

This is most likely a windows XP issue but it pertains to my problems with Endnote so hopefully someone can help me out. I have a laptop installed with all the latest updates (SP3) of windows XP. I have used Endnote for some time, having installed versions 7, 9 and X1 on this machine. I installed the Endnote X2 demo version yesterday. I am able to open my previously created libraries and I am able to perform pubmed searches within X2 without difficulties.

As soon as I select “find full text” for a reference, I receive the following error:

“Cannot connect to EndNote Web server at ‘http://www.myendnoteweb.com’.  For better Find Full Text results, please adjust your EndNote Web server preferences.”

I receive this error regardless whether I input my login info or whether I keep it blank.

After this message, X2 is unable to download any full texts nor any Urls, though, the online search with pubmed continues to function. If I attempt to find full text again, I don’t get the above error, but it still fails to find texts/urls. If I exit X2 and reopen the library and try to download a full text, the error message reappears once again.

I’ve attempted the following to rectify the situation:

  • turned off the firewall and virus checker
  • downgraded from IE8 to IE7 (I read that this in a forum).
  • uninstalled all versions of Endnote including the demo. Uninstalled Refman 11. Removed all folders belonging to endnote and refman. And then reinstalled X2 demo version.
  • created a new library with X2 with fresh searches

None of the above changes have made a difference.  I then installed the X2 demo file on the laptop (windows XP SP3) belonging to a colleague connected to the same workgroup/network as I and interestingly he is able to download full text and urls to my library file on his computer. So, I’m pretty sure this is not an IT/institution block/problem.

Does Endnote X2 use some kind of special DNS lookup or port connection that is not commonly used by other programs? I have no problems with any other software that needs to connect to the internet (eg. IM, outlook, IE7/8, program updates, etc).

Is there a registry entry I need to check or a Windows service that is supposed to have been started but may be disabled on my machine? Basically what does the Endnote X2 full text find feature depend on that the online search to pubmed doesn’t require?

Sorry for the long post. Hopefully someone can assist me here. Thanks in advance.

2

Well, I managed to resolve the issue. Turns out within Internet Explorer, the detect internet connection settings were clear. For some reason, this is an impediment for Endnote’s full text find feature but not for online searches. Nor do the IE settings affect any other functions of Windows XP that I could tell.

By turning on the automatically detect proxy settings (even though I don’t have any proxy connections), Endnote X2’s full text find now works.

This isn’t a documented requirement in the Endnote manual nor is this presented as a warning during the installation process. Perhaps the developers could add this check during setup.