Just keeping the problem simple.
As in upgrading php may not be the option just yet.

okie then, i get your drift. ie: don't go to php5 in THIS instance just yet, until the real problem is resolved.

10-4 dano

And i'm old enough to remember Hawaii Five 0 the first time around lol
Got him steve lol



Jesus -->> Clicky

lol mark, impressive

make me feel like a little kid... :x

You could try checking permissions on the images/captcha/backgrounds folder. Make sure the folder itself is readable and also the images within. It doesn't have to be writeable, just needs to have read permissions.

Sorry Been away but I still have issues with this.
I will try to answer some of the replys in some type of order

1. WSFTP- Yes I am aware of issues with the settings.
In this instance I uploaded in manual mode not auto mode. Image folder and sub folders in Binary all other folders and files in ascii. After further investigation I think the real issue with this program is it created a ".log" file on all transfers. After several attempts at turning the log feature off I found that I did not go back and double check the existing folders already uploaded. After I deleted them the image has been working fine just the background image is missing.
2. Is ImageMagick6 installed- No but my host provider is willing to install it if I provide the license and software. Don't know where to point him to?
3.checking permissions- I am on a windows 2003 box all I can say is that my control panel shows all files with the correct permissions. In fact the ubb control panel shows them all correct even though it does not check the captcha folder.

Bottom line is the captcha function appears to be working and stable now.
Should I have a concern that the two background images provided in the install do not appear?

my recommendation would be to see if you can view the images at all in your web browser, if they load fine in the browser it'd likely be a graphics processing issue.

they should be:
http://www.yoursite.com/forum/images/captcha/backgrounds/background1.jpg
http://www.yoursite.com/forum/images/captcha/backgrounds/background1.jpg

ImageMagick6 isn't license wear, it's opensource. They can install it from their webpage (here).

and yes, you should be concerned that the background images aren't loading; likely it's due to a limitation in GD, or at least on your system; hence my recommendation of IM.

Well, if the images load, then they where uploaded properly (as if they wheren't uploaded properly you'd have some nice red X's); so ImageMagick would be a good try to see if it's just GD not playing nice.

As for flavors, I don't do windows hosting, so i haven't the faintest; if it was Linux I'd send you at CentOS5 lol.

After reading this and doing what it says, my images are now always showing six letters/numbers.