I resolved it by adding the popup to another page as well as HOME. That got in working on the homepage again. version 1.8.10. If I did not have another page selected it would not work on the home page at all.
http://www.aesclan.com/?page_id=449&zforum=showthread&tid=1&pid=1#pid1
turned all plugins off as well. running on windows wampserver. Everything set to default in forum.
