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Help Play store icons not displaying

SeriousIQ

Lurker
Hi,

When I open the Google play store, none of the apps icons are being displayed, I can select the app, browse to the app, but there are no icons showing. It was not always like this by the way, just recently.

I have seen suggestions to reset the play store cache, this DOES NOT WORK! Also, if I disable WiFi and use mobile data, the icons display, as soon as I connect back to WiFi, no icons again.

So, whats up with the router? Why would the router block the icons? What or how is the data transmitted? Whats the protocol, TCP/IP, HTTP? Where should I look on the router to stop the "icon" traffic from being "blocked"? Is this a viable path for trouble shooting, to me it appears to be the router, considering there is no issue on Mobile Data.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks
Serious
 
Hi,

When I open the Google play store, none of the apps icons are being displayed, I can select the app, browse to the app, but there are no icons showing. It was not always like this by the way, just recently.

I have seen suggestions to reset the play store cache, this DOES NOT WORK! Also, if I disable WiFi and use mobile data, the icons display, as soon as I connect back to WiFi, no icons again.

So, whats up with the router? Why would the router block the icons? What or how is the data transmitted? Whats the protocol, TCP/IP, HTTP? Where should I look on the router to stop the "icon" traffic from being "blocked"? Is this a viable path for trouble shooting, to me it appears to be the router, considering there is no issue on Mobile Data.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks
Serious
You already tried most obvious corrections. There won't be anything wrong with your router unless you did something, and you would know it. I guess you could try disabling firewall rules in router to check. You could place phone IP on "dmz" on router which gives phone a unmolested connection, but don't leave it that way. Just for trouble shooting.

Honestly I would wait a few days in case it passes by itself
 
Ok more info:

I can't get the icons to display on my PC either, going to: https://play.google.com/store/apps/category/GAME?hl=en - ALSO SHOWS NO ICONS. Interestingly, the web browser (Firefox) shows a status on bottom left of the page "waiting for lh5.ggpht.com (also lh3, lh4, lh6)" - See attached screenshot.

So I checked the status of these sites on "Websitedown" (http://www.websitedown.info/lh5.ggpht.com) and this site reports all sites are down. Now does this mean all sites are down or does it mean my DNS cannot resolve the web address or does it perhaps mean my router is blocking this type of address? I dun know..yet.

I have tried disabling the firewall on my router, no difference. I have tried updating my DNS to use Google (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) but no difference... running out of ideas now.

Somewhere I read that LH5.ggpht.com had something to do with Picasa and it's configuration stopping icons from being displayed... but not sure of that relationship as yet....
 

Attachments

  • lh3.ggpht.com.jpg
    lh3.ggpht.com.jpg
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That site says down for me also, but icon works fine over WiFi either in browser or app. I'll check desktop later to see what the img url is.

Really guessing here now but maybe isp/router is caching an old reference for the img url or something else weird like that
 
BINGO! I changed the DNS servers on the router to the public DNS servers:
OpenDNS (uses 12+ different global data centers):
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

And Wham-O, refreshed the page and the icons now appear on the PC, will check phone to see if it's the same.

UPDATE: Yep, phone works now too and all other play store devices. DNS, I knew it!
 
I use Google -

8.8.8.8
8.8.8.4

Glad you got it sorted!
Yeah, I have just gone to the Google DNS now, and it works a treat... I'm guessing whatever DNS servers the ISP was handing the router (Might check at some stage) are not so reliable... *Sigh*

I think the Alternate Google DNS is 8.8.4.4 right, I know that's what you meant to type :)
 
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