sometimes that happens to me too, and no matter how many time you click the damn thing it doesn't work. what i do is clear my cache, cookies, everything, and restart my computer. on occassion i also change my IE settings back to default.
also if that doesn't work sometimes trying again later sometimes does, weird but true.
with the window with black fill, sometimes its just the preloader taking alot of time to load, some time i had to leave it for half an hour before it had loaded.
you don't have a firewall or something like that? mine used to block things from neopets until i set it to allow. or what version of IE are you running? (not like that should really affect stuff)
good luck though
dialup! i know your pain
If you see my sanity, get it to give me a call.