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Firefox Error: Can't Find Server SOLVED

Discussion in 'Firefox, Thunderbird & SeaMonkey' started by BirdieBob, 2009/02/12.

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  1. 2009/02/12
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Ramona:

    Since the upgrade to FF 3.0.6, I keep running into this error when accessing a site. The error message appears with a Google logo in the upper left, a blue bar to the right with ERROR in white, and an error message below saying "The requested URL <URL Name> can't be found on this server ".

    The error happens often but not always, on both the same and different sites. When accessing WindowsBBS for this post, initially every link on the page produced the error. After taking a call for a few minutes and leaving the page up, I came back and all of the links then worked.

    I first thought it was a firewall issue, but I've rechecked all of the settings and don't see anything that is out of line. Also, the sites load fine under IE so I keep coming back to something going on with FF.

    Prior to 3.0.6 I never encountered the error message or the problem.

    Any suggestions on how to deal with this would be appreciated. Thanks.
     
  2. 2009/02/13
    broni

    broni Moderator Malware Analyst

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    Close Firefox. Go Start>All Programs>Mozilla Firefox, click on Mozilla Firefox (safe mode). Same thing?
     

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  4. 2009/02/13
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    broni:

    When I responded to the email link to retrieve your post, I ran into the problem. I copied the link into IE and got to the board to read your post. I then went back to FF in safe mode and was able to reach the board.

    I went on under safe mode to check a lot of bookmarks without any problem until I tried one frequently used site and the error message appeared. I closed FF and reopened it under safe mode again, went to the same bookmark an got the error message again. I then manually entered the URL and then received the Firefox Start Page -- something I don't have set-up under options (i open with a blank page) -- even though the task bar showed the correct (intended) URL. I went on to try the URL under IE and once again it opened without any problem.

    The strange thing about the occurrences is that they appear to be random or at least intermittent.

    • The same URL generating the error will sometimes continue the same way during repeated tries and other times will open normally on the next try.

    • The error occurs periodically on any number of URL's, not the same URL's each time.

    • In all cases, the URL generating the error under FF opens under IE.
    The Google involvement is also puzzling. I don't use Google for anything other than having the standard search bar in the FF Navigation toolbar. When the error message appears it comes with the Google logo at the upper left. When I received the Firefox Start Page (above), it was also within a Google page (although that may be normal -- I'm not familiar with how it routinely appears).

    Any ideas about what is going on?
     
  5. 2009/02/13
    broni

    broni Moderator Malware Analyst

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    See, if same thing happens in Safe Mode with Networking?
    What AV, and firewall do you use?
     
  6. 2009/02/13
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    broni:

    Sorry, I don't know how to invoke "Safe Mode with Networking ".

    • AV is Norton AV (with email scanning off),

    • Firewall is Webroot Desktop Firewall (Windows XP Firewall is off).

    • Use Webroot Spy Sweeper for spy and malware.

    • Use Ghostsurf by Tennebril for proxy connection to the net (provides anonymous surfing and allows options of normal processing, blocking personal information or anonymous to be set for any specific website -- all of the sites where the error has occurred are configured for normal processing).
    All of that security has been in place with settings unchanged since before this issue began. Settings in each application have been re-checked and verified.

    If you can explain how to use the safe mode with networking, I'll give it a shot. Thanks,


     
  7. 2009/02/13
    broni

    broni Moderator Malware Analyst

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    To get to "Safe Mode with Networking" restart computer, and keep tapping F8 key, until a menu with "Safe Mode with Networking" appears.
    In that mode only basic services, and drivers are loaded, so it'll tell us more about FF problem.
     
  8. 2009/02/14
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    broni:

    I opened under Safe Mode For networking, but my Ghostsurf proxy application did not launch. Without it, I would have had to change my Earthlink set-up including a new profile, location, connection settings etc. I tried to do that but was unsuccessful in establishing a connection.

    So, I restored the system back to a restore point of 2 days ago and that's where I'm sitting. When I hit the email link to get back to your response on the board, I first got the Error message, closed FF, tried it again and got the Firefox Start Page. I'm now accessing the board and writing this under IE. Before completing the post here, I went back to FF to try the link again and it connected to the site and message without incident.

    The intermittent occurrence is what puzzles me. I also thought while using the safe mode that any results I got there, good or bad, wouldn't be definitive for the same reason -- do you agree?

    I did look at your site and liked the Pinned FF tip regarding memory leak and used about:config to set the browser.cache.memory.capacity preference to 60000.

    I'm all ears if you have something else you want to try. Thanks for your efforts.

    Bob
     
  9. 2009/02/14
    broni

    broni Moderator Malware Analyst

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  10. 2009/02/15
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    broni:

    Thanks for the suggestion. I uninstalled Norton AV and ran into the error on the third bookmark I tried, so I've reinstalled it.

    I then went through about 50 bookmarks before running into the error message or the FF Start Page. After the first instance, the next 20 bookmarks also produced the error. I waited a few minutes, went back to those same 20 and each loaded properly. So, again, the condition appears to be intermittent, random or both.

    If you or others have further suggestions, I'll give them a try. Thanks.
     
  11. 2009/02/18
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Bob,

    Back up your profile name directory (xxxxxxxx.profilename)
    Create a new Profile
    Copy only the places.sqlite file to the new profile name directory
    Are you still getting the error?

    The Google part of the error is extremely puzzling!
     
  12. 2009/02/18
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Ramona:

    Thanks for chiming in on this. I did as you directed:

    • Backed-up the current profile
    • Created a new profile
    • Copied in only places.sqlite from the old profile.
    Then under the new profile, I checked about 50 bookmarks quickly without running into the error. I was also able to connect witha financial site that previously I had only been able to connect with at all under IE.

    Since this has happened intermittently before, I thought it may have been just a "clean" state of affairs, so I went back to the old profile and checked bookmarks there. After about 10 I ran into the error. Also tried the site mentioned above and could not connect.

    Then went back to the new profile and was able to connect with the bookmarks that came up with the error above, as well as the financial site. Went on to check many other bookmarks without hitting the error.

    Also found FF to operate significantly faster under the new profile.

    So, do I have a corrupted profile?
     
  13. 2009/02/18
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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  14. 2009/02/18
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Ramona:

    I set-up the new profile and copied the files per the instructions from the old profile. I did not copy prefs.js or the extentions folder.

    I did some bookmark checking and all looked fine. I then selected the only extension I use, PDF Download, and hit the Restart Firefox button to complete installation.

    Next I opened TB, went to the email and link for your reply on the Forum, and clicked on the Post Reply button above your reply. Rather than the reply screen, I got the Google 404 error once again.

    I closed FF, re-opened it and went back to the Forum. Hit the Post Reply button, did not get the error, and here I am.

    Before I submitted the reply, I thought I'd check one more time. I opened a new FF window and hit the error on the second site checked. It continued to occur with each of the next 20 bookmarks checked. So I went from believing we were out of the woods back to the same situation.

    Do you think it could have something to do with the cache filling-up after accessing or using multiple sites? And as you mentioned, the Google component of the messages also remains a mystery.

    I'll continue to use the new profile from here. If you have other suggestions or if I can provide something helpful from this end, please let me know. As always. thanks for the help.
     
  15. 2009/02/18
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Bob,

    It could absolutely have to do with Cache. Clear your cache, then see what happens... Sorry I didn't mention that sooner, as I thought you were savvy about maintenance.
     
  16. 2009/02/18
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Ramona:

    Sorry if I wasn't clear. I have FF set to clear private data including the cache on shutdown. I also clear it after extended sessions or during long periods of use (and compact mail folders redularly, do disk defragmentation often and chkdsk frquently).

    What I was wondering is if there is a setting for size of the cache and if increasing it could make a difference. The random nature of the error is a question and I thought that might have something to do wth it.

    BTW, when using the email link to get to your response, I hit the error and even after closing and reopening FF, continued to get it repeatedly. I'm writing here under IE.
     
  17. 2009/02/18
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Bob,

    Rename the files you copied over from the old Profile, except the bookmarks, then add the other files from the old Profile, one by one. One of them is obviously the culprit, since you could connect to sites before adding other files from the old profile.

    No, I don't believe increasing the Cache will make any difference. Here is how that is done:
    http://www.ceveni.com/2008/05/increase-mozilla-firefox-cache-size.html
     
  18. 2009/02/18
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    FYI:

    You can also edit the Cache size in about:config: browser.cache.disk.capacity
     
  19. 2009/02/18
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Ramona:

    Thanks for the cahce size info -- I increased mine to 60MB. We'll see if it impacts anything.

    I went ahead and used this process:

    • Created a new profile.

    • Copied in the files and folders, one at a time.

      • First renaming the new profile file/folder with a preceeding "X "

      • Then copying-in the file from the old profile.

      • Then launching the new profile, verifying I could connect to the financial site FF could never reach (but IE always could), and checking a series of bookmarks to see if I ran into the error.

    • The prefs.sqlite file was not copied-in or replaced.
    Going through that mind-numbing process, I was able to connect to the financial site and did not encounter the error either on any particular step or when completed. Frustrating.

    I went back to the old profile and verified the nability to get to the financial site and getting the server error on a few bookmarked sites. I went through each of the options in the original profile in detail and noticed that under tools> options> advanced> network> connections> settings> configure proxies to access the internet, "manual proxy configuration" was selected, the correct local host and port was entered for my proxy (under Ghostsurf), and the "use this proxy server for all protocols" was checked.

    That didn't ring a bell as being correct to me, so I changed the proxy selection to auto-detect proxy settings for this network -- the setting I remembered having originally set. I then checked the financial site and was able to reach it. I checked many bookmarks and did not encounter the error. So the proxy setting seems to have been the issue all along.

    I didn't encounter the financial site connection problem or the server location error under the new profile because the default proxy setting is No Proxy, so the proxy wasn't initially in use. When I went through the options in detail to set them, I chose the Auto-detect option for the proxy and that avoided the issues as well.

    So, it looks like the proxy setting was (unintentionally) changed in the old profile and that caused both of the recurring problems! Dumb not to have checked that at the outset, but live and learn. If either issue pops-up again, I'll update the thread, but the working assumption for now is that the proxy comfiguration was the culprit.

    Thanks to you and Broni for your efforts and help.
     
    Last edited: 2009/02/19
  20. 2009/02/19
    Ramona

    Ramona Geek Member Alumni

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    Bob,

    The "Network" setting should be "No proxy ", if you don't use a proxy server to connect. Glad to hear that all is running as it should...
     
  21. 2009/02/19
    BirdieBob

    BirdieBob Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Ramona:

    I was using a proxy under the Ghostsurf application. But after finally connecting with their technical support, they explained that the setting must be for manual configuration with their application in order for the proxy to be in effect. Setting the proxy for Auto-Detect will not pick it up and therefore have the same result as No Proxy.

    That told me that all of the experimentation results yesterday were invalid -- where I thought I was "auto-Detecting" the proxy setting, I was actually running with No Proxy. So without a proxy, I could connect to the financial site and did not encounter the server error elsewhere. Therefore, the proxy was the issue and I have shut the application down. I don't believe it's necessary anymore anyway, given the advances in Earthlink protection (my ISP) and the Webroot Firewall and Spy Sweeper that I now run but didn't in years past.

    For those who may also be using Spy Sweeper, I also found in this process that Spy Sweeper automatically detects and uses the proxy settings in effect under IE. So while I was changing options and closing/opening combinations of applications under FF, Spy Sweeper was still reading the IE settings. Putting both FF and IE on No Proxy and Direct Connection settings gets me the Financial site connection and no server error on both FF and IE.

    I've also found that since shutting down the proxy, I've eliminated periodic problems that sometimes occurred in viewing video on certain sites. Those sites now display without incident using no proxy connection.

    So, I think that brings things up to-date and we can probably conclude this thread. Thanks again to you and broni for your assistance -- sorry I wasn't smart enough to cut the proxy up front and avoid all we went through......
     
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