www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

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rboltuck
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Joined: February 28th, 2008, 7:30 am

www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by rboltuck »

I'm using FF 3.63. Problem first encountered yesterday: the major news website http://www.washingtonpost.com won't load, giving instead the FF "The Connection was Reset" error screen. I don't encounter with any other sites I've tried. Further info:

1. Using Windows XP (fully updated), plenty of memory etc.
2. I've tried everything, I think, on MozillaZine's "Error loading websites" help page (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Error_loading_websites)
3. http://www.washingtonpost.com works in IE, works with proxy server (Anonymouse), and can be accessed when entered as follows: http://www.washingtonpost.com/?nav=globaltop . But when clicking a direct link from a search engine, or even the Washington Post logo from another WP page, I receive the error message.
4. When I load the FF Test profile, I can load the washingtonpost.com page with no trouble. But renaming user.js and changing preferences mentioned on the "Error loading websites" page within my existing profile doesn't seem to work.
5. I tried disabling one-by-one extensions and plug-ins. No joy.
6. The web site is NOT listed in my HOSTS file.
7. I've tried emptying the cache and cookies, but it didn't correct the problem.

So I've inferred it is something in my FF profile. But I can't figure out what.

Any thoughts/suggestions/advice? Any similar problems?
Best regards, Richard
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iceccold
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Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by iceccold »

Backup bookmarks and completely uninstall Firefox.
Then install it again. (3.6.3 or 3.6.4)
"We cannot have homeland security unless we understand that the whole planet is our homeland "
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LoudNoise
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Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by LoudNoise »

Don't take the above advice. You said that it worked in FF Test profile. Are you talking about Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
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rboltuck
Posts: 25
Joined: February 28th, 2008, 7:30 am

Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by rboltuck »

I just tried Safe Mode and washingtonpost.com loads properly. What I did above to load the Test profile was run Firefox -P at the command line, then select the Test profile. I'm not sure if these are the same thing, or nearly the same thing. In any event, washingtonpost.com works in the Test profile as well. But how do I narrow down what the source of the problem really is?
Best regards, Richard
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LoudNoise
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Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by LoudNoise »

Safe mode just turns off your extensions and theme. A new profile creates an entirely new profile. Since it works in safe mode that tells us that the problem is with an extension or theme rather then a corrupt file in your profile.

First thing I would try is disabling Google Toolbar.
Post wrangler
"Choose between the Food Select Feature or other Functions. If no food or function is chosen, Toast is the default."
rboltuck
Posts: 25
Joined: February 28th, 2008, 7:30 am

Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by rboltuck »

A big correction: I re-tried, and washingtonpost.com did NOT work in safe mode (I erred because it loaded my home page, which includes WP, but I had revised the address on the home page to http://www.washingtonpost.com/?nav=globaltop , which, as I mentioned in item 3 in my initial entry above, works). But the TEST profile still works, so this does mean it is something in my profile. I was thinking it might pay to try to restore all about:config preferences to default values, unless this is likely to foul up any add ons. What do you think?

(Incidentally, as you suggested, I did try disabling the Google Toolbar for Firefox under Extensions on the Add-ons list, but it didn't fix the problem. Earlier, I had tried disabling each extension one by one (re-starting FF each time), so unless I made a mistake, I had tried that one earlier.)

What I'm wondering is what element of a Profile could even conceivably have a selective effect on the ability to load a particular web page.
Best regards, Richard
rboltuck
Posts: 25
Joined: February 28th, 2008, 7:30 am

Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by rboltuck »

Here's how I solved the problem -- not entirely a satisfactory solution because I don't understand what caused the problem, but nonetheless, better than living with the problem: I closed FF, reneamed user.js and prefs.js to user.js.bak and prefs.js.bak respectively, then re-started FF. I had to re-set my home page and my Persona, and uncheck "save passwords" (I use Roboform) -- but other than that, the program appears to be normal, and washingtonpost.com loads. I sure would like to know what was causing the problem.
Best regards, Richard
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dickvl
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Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by dickvl »

What network.http prefs are changed and show in prefs.js, indicating that they do not have the default value?
rboltuck
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Joined: February 28th, 2008, 7:30 am

Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by rboltuck »

The odd thing is that washingtonpost.com just stopped loading yesterday. Prior to that, it always loaded with no trouble. I don't recall making any changes in anything yesterday -- perhaps something updated itself, or it was triggered by some other program's update?

Here are the network.http prefs from my disabled prefs.js file:

user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.firstrequest", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.request.max-start-delay", 0);
Best regards, Richard
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dickvl
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Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by dickvl »

HTTP.Pipelining can cause problems on servers that do not support it.
See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Network.http.pipelining

The other prefs are only slightly increased apart from network.http.max-connections (30), but it is always better to leave them at the default.
Not all server like a high value of persistent-connections
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy [8]
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server [6]
rboltuck
Posts: 25
Joined: February 28th, 2008, 7:30 am

Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by rboltuck »

I found the problem. I added the Korean language as a third language (beneath en-us and en) in the Options settings (Tools --> Options --> Content tab --> Languages "Choose" button --> Select a Language to Add --> Korean [ko] --> Add --> OK --> OK . (Character encoding is set to UTF-8, and I have the East Asian languages selected in the Windows XP Regional and Language options. Once this is completed, www.washingtonpost.com won't load, but rather generates the "Connection was Reset" error screen. I replicated this problem on a similarly configured Vista computer. It is corrected by simply removing Korean [ko] from the language selections. I would be very interested in whether others can also replicate the problem. Assuming I am not uniquely jinxed, I would call this a bug. Other thoughts about that?
Best regards, Richard
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dickvl
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Joined: July 18th, 2005, 3:25 am

Re: www.washingtonpost.com won't load . . .

Post by dickvl »

I can replicate that on Linux as well that if I add ko to the pref intl.accept_languages [en-us,en,ko]
Looks like a problem with that server that blocks users with a ko language set because this error is caused by the server that disconnects and not from Firefox.
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