I had the same problem. Setting async to false blocks every script in IE. You must use beforeSend and success to solve it:
jQuery.ajax({ url: 'ajax.php', cache: false, beforeSend: function(request) { $('#changeImg').get(0).src = 'image/wait.png'; }, success: function(data, textStatus) { // handle data $('#changeImg').get(0).src = 'image/success.png'; } }