I've seen this happen on one of my clients' DNN installation before (DNN 4.5.3).  The edit/delete/settings icons disappear even when you login as HOST or ADMIN.  I checked the log files and the server logs and nothing really came up that I could consider as suspicious.  I have restarted the portal by HOST --> HOST SETTINGS.  The problem doesn't go away when you restart.  It eventually returns to normal after the cache is released and refreshed.

It turns out that the problem was a bad memory stick on the server.  It could very well be symptom of a hardware failure (HD, MB, or Memory stick) on the server.

You might want to drop an email message to GoDaddy.com and have them check the box your site is hosted on for any hardware problems.

Idekay, could you check your logs by ADMIN --> LOG VIEWER?  Look for any frequent session restarts or stops.  That could be a prelude to a hardware problem.

-Eric

I have the same problem... so the solution is replace hardware? Um ok. lol!

It's one site I recently upgraded to 4.5.3 on a dedicated server with the problem. I have 10 other separate installs that have all upgraded to 4.5.3 just fine. When I login, all the modules are blank. Cannot edit or view. No menu options appear for the modules. Cannot add any new modules like the TEXT/HTML module.

I'm about to revert to a back-up and try the upgrade again I guess...

I am running into something similar where we can no longer edit a particular html/text module: The problem started when adding a new page and copying all the modules from its parent page. Now one of the parent page's html/text modules can no longer be edited. You can call up the parent page fine and click on Edit Text within the "problem" module but all you get back is a blank skin where the editor should be. So in our case the problem starts with a copied module to the newly added page (and not done as a reference). So something in the process of adding a new page and copying/referencing a parent page module has caused a html/text module on the parent page to no longer be editable. The child page seems to be fine. Other modules in the parent page (such as link) that were copied to the child page as a reference work OK and can be edited. When creating a new page we tend to copy (one) and reference about 5 to 7 total modules. Clearing cache does not help. Resetting IIS does not make a difference. Waiting does not make a difference , yet anyway. It does not appear to be a permission problem only because it does not provide a warning about "Access Denied". You just simply get a blank skin in place of the editor. No proof at the moment but I have a feeling in our case this is not an isolated hardware problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.