Vista or cookie problem?

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Michael Dengler
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2004
    • 285
    • 3.0.3

    Vista or cookie problem?

    My site is running 3.6.7. One of my users is experiencing problems.
    I logged in this morning with "Remember Me". Everything looks fine on log in, but then I can access just one thread. After that, all links which are shown as thread titles yield a "Cannot connect to server at WAT.com" message and all links to last post in each thread yield "Connection was reset". Until I clear cookies in Firefox options and log in again, I can do nothing on the site. If I log in without "remember me", I can access several threads during the session, but when I log out the cookies are still left behind.
    He is running Vista and these problems occur when using Firefox or IE7 browsers. I told him to log into this site using my login details:
    In vbulletin forum, everything seems normal when logged in under your name. When I logged out, I got the message that all cookies had cleared - but they were still in my folder. It's the same with WAT: when I log out, I get a message that cookies are cleared, but unless I delete them manually in Firefox, they are still there. There are also cookies from www.ecb.co.uk and www.guardian.co.uk which seem to be undeletable in Firefox options.
    I've suggested he uninstall Vista and install Windows XP. I'm running Windows XP and have no problems. He has also cleared his computer of spyware, viruses etc.
  • Wayne Luke
    vBulletin Technical Support Lead
    • Aug 2000
    • 73979

    #2
    "Cannot connect to server at WAT.com"
    This is a ISP and an internet routing problem at first glance. He should flush the DNS on his computer. To do that he needs to press Windows+R then type cmd and hit OK in the dialog box. In the command prompt box he needs to type ipconfig /flushdns.

    It is not a Vista problem.
    Translations provided by Google.

    Wayne Luke
    The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
    vBulletin 5 API

    Comment

    • Michael Dengler
      Senior Member
      • Feb 2004
      • 285
      • 3.0.3

      #3
      Thanks for that suggestion, Wayne. He tried it but reported no change. He followed these steps for Vista.

      Later he reported this:
      Mike - I can't explain this, but I am now in a session on the home computer and having no problem at all! When I first accessed the site, I was asked to log in, and I didn't - just clicked on "Today's posts" thinking I'd have a look at what was going on as a guest. Lo and behold, I was then routed to "Today's posts" and my log-in details were there at the top right of the page - i.e. I was logged on automatically based on the cookie. Seems therefore that I am just getting a log on request when it's not needed, and if I ignore it then everything is OK. Wish I'd tried that a few days ago!
      I replied with the way it should work:
      Steve, I just logged out and got the redirect page. I selected the Index page option and the forum home page appeared with the Message to Guest below the navbar. The login form shows a login with the words "User Name" in the username field and a blank password field. I followed the Today's Posts link and the thread list appeared and I was still logged out. I followed a thread link and I was still logged out. This is the way it should work if your system is clear of the WAT cookie. In your case, it appears your system has a WAT cookie somewhere.
      His reply:
      It's definitely not right, but I now know how I can get in. This is the only way I can do it:

      1. Open Firefox and clear all WAT cookies.
      2. Log in, ticking "Remember me". In itself, this is not enough: I cannot navigate around the site at all at this stage.
      3. Log out. Close browser and re-open it.
      4. Return to WAT site. I now get the welcome page with "user name" in the box at top right, which I ignore and click on "Today's posts".
      5. I now have the list of today's posts with my name at top right, having been automatically logged in and full functionality of the site is available.

      Now, as long as I don't log out before closing browser, I can return as often as I like with no problems. If I log out or clear cookies at all, I have to re-start at point 1. Clearly it's a mess!
      Our latest PM exchange:
      Hi Steve, was wondering whether you managed to resolve the issue or not? I recommend you use this free utility to clear your temp files and cookies from IE7 and Firefox browsers - CCleaner.
      I'm not going to be able to find my techie for several weeks as his schedule and mine just do not match at the moment. The short answer is that I am no further forward than when we last swapped e-mails - still have to go through a painful routine of clearing cookies manually, then logging in with "Remember me", then closing browser and then returning to site ignoring all requests to log in until I get to a navigable version of the home page. And I can't find any cookies or temp files other than in the place where Firefox says they are (i.e. only one copy maintained). CCLeaner has found nothing to clear. It's a complete mystery, and WAT is the only site with which I am having problems - I'll get there in the end, and I have an inelegant work-around solution which enables me to get to the site in the meantime. When I crack it, I'll let you know!
      I am mystified by this issue. I have vBSEO installed but it has not caused any problems for me using ME and IE6. The VBSEO forum members using Vista also report no compatibility issues with vBSEO and Vista.

      The only other change I've made is changing the title of index.php to cricket-forum.php. I also added a redirect so that users who linked to my forum via myforum.com/index.php would redirect to myforum.com/cricket-forum.php. I can't see how that could cause a problem,though. Nobody else has complained since that change.
      Last edited by Michael Dengler; Wed 11 Jul '07, 7:53pm.

      Comment

      • AtoZ
        Member
        • Oct 2002
        • 42

        #4
        I recently got complaints from two users who can no longer connect to the forum. They get similar errors. They coincidentally both use Vista as well. I came here to see if perhaps a problem had been identified because I am at a loss as to what to tell them. They are not very tech-savvy to begin with.

        I have vista installed on my laptop and don't have any problems connecting to the forum. I wonder if default settings in some of the installations are causing problems.

        Comment

        • Steve Machol
          Former Customer Support Manager
          • Jul 2000
          • 154488

          #5
          I use Vista and have never had any problem like this, and I access a LOT of vB forums.

          What errors are they getting?
          Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
          Change CKEditor Colors to Match Style (for 4.1.4 and above)

          Steve Machol Photography


          Mankind is the only creature smart enough to know its own history, and dumb enough to ignore it.


          Comment

          • AtoZ
            Member
            • Oct 2002
            • 42

            #6
            I also have no problems with my laptop, but we are not the type to run things according to the default settings. I wonder if the less tech-savvy folks could run into something like this. There is a definite issue for some users, and it may just be a coincidence that they are using Vista. It says that the page cannot be displayed or there was a problem connecting to the site, which would point to a connection problem or routing issue. However, the weird thing is, both started having the problem around the same time and it was not temporary problem. It's lasted 2 weeks or more at this point. The site also has not had any downtime at all. Traffic has remained steady. It would be hard to tell if there was an overall drop due to a problem with a group of users with the same type of conflict, however.

            Comment

            • richpal
              Senior Member
              • Aug 2006
              • 164
              • 3.6.x

              #7
              Not sure if this will help you but I've been having occasional problems with 'Page not displaying' (can't remember if this is the exact wording) for the past two months though a simple refresh of the page sorts the problem, I'm not running vista although I experience the same prob with the laptop with XP, I've put this down to problems with the ISP rather than the PC.

              Thinking about this, it does occur when viewing other web pages so isn't vb specific

              Comment

              • class101
                Senior Member
                • Sep 2007
                • 165
                • 3.6.x

                #8
                my suggestion is to grab its IP and check the apache logs first to see if nothing is wrong from the http requests/responses
                security community

                Comment

                widgetinstance 262 (Related Topics) skipped due to lack of content & hide_module_if_empty option.
                Working...