avatar is blank

im having trouble getting an avatar to show up. i tried both a jpeg and gif within the size requirements and no matter what, it ends up a blank space. i also tried to use a direct link as opposed to uploading the image and it still doesnt work. it seems like somethings happening because the avatar space in my profile changes to the size of my image, just nothing shows up. any help would be much appreciated.

You need to hit the "save changes" button one more time. I think you are exiting too soon

thx much for the response boneman. unfortunately, that didnt fix the problem. when i click 'save changes', the page reloads and the avatar space expands to the size of my image. but for some reason no mater which image i upload or link, it turns out blank. i also tried re-adding the link and clicking 'save changes' over and over with the same results. the strange thing is that i can upoad or link images to my 'profile picture' and it works great, its just the avatar thats giving me fits. im about to give up cuz i dont really care that much about having an avatar, it just pisses me off when i cant get a simple image to work.