weird rendering issues under Internet Explorer solved by FT4

RaynorWolfcastle · Feb 25, 2003

I don't know if it's a problem with my system configuration or witht the forums themselves but I thought I should bring it up anyway.

If I use the "search" button at the top of one of the categories I get the results just fine. If I click on one thread, I can read it and everything is ok. When I press "Back" in IE 6, instead of seeing the different threads that were just serched for I get the HTML code for it

I get some thing like

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>AnandTech Forums -- Search Results</title>
<style type="text/css">
.ftbody {background-color:ffffff;}
.ftheaderbar {background-color: #0B1248;}
.ftmessageheaderbar {background-color: #FFFFE8;border : thin solid #A1A1A7;}
.ftmessageheaderbartext{font-family: Verdana,Arial, Helvetica;font-size: 10px;font-weight: normal;color: black;

etc.

If I press refresh, the page gets displayed correctly. Anyone else ever have this problem? Are there any solutions for it?

Thanks

(I should mention that I am a subscriber, if that changes anything)

Aves · Feb 25, 2003

You aren't the only one.

This has never happened to me until recently, I've had it happen at work and at home and it seems to be getting more frequent.

I use XP Pro SP1/IE6 SP1 @ home and 2K SP3/IE6 @ work.

RaynorWolfcastle · Feb 25, 2003

hmmm... most people seem to have intermittent issues with it, but for me it happens every single time. The issue cropped up a few weeks ago, I never had any issues before then.

Anyways, if there's a solution for this somewhere, feel free to fill me in

*edit* I use XP Pro/IE 6, btw

Jason Clark · Feb 25, 2003

This seems to be an issue relating to proxy servers, users that don't have HTTP 1.1 enabled, and page fragmentation on download. We use bandwidth compression here and sometimes it causes issues for some clients who use proxy servers. Try without the proxy server, thats about all I can suggest as there is nothing code side that causes this, it's all caching and content delivery. It looks like you only got half the page on download therefor the page was never rendered as html just pure text.

Aves · Feb 25, 2003

I don't use a proxy server here or at work and HTTP 1.1 is enabled on both browsers.

I can't speak for the rest but it seems strange that this has started to affect multiple people on different operating systems, different ISPs, etc all around the same time. Is there anything at all that has changed on your side in the last couple of weeks?

RaynorWolfcastle · Feb 25, 2003

Well, I don't use a proxy server (connecting from home through a router). I just looked up the options in IE and I made sure that "Use HTTP 1.1" was checked and "Use HTTP 1.1 through proxy connections" was unchecked. So I don't see how this could be a proxy issue unless it's something to my ISP.

Also, I didn't copy/paste the whole HTML page, but it was all there.

hmmm... I just checked some random forums for random search strings and it seems to happen consistently for some keywords but not for others. Does Anandtech keep a cache of recently searched strings by any chance?

Maybe some one else who's had an issue could try it.

1 - Search for "3200" in For Sale/For Trade, click on a thread, then click "Back" (string likely to have been searched for by others) - I get the HTML code at this point
2 - Now try another random string like "bob" or something else that's unlikely but still has at least one result. Repeat the same process as above. - I get a properly rendered page
3 - Try (1) again - I still get the HTML code
4 - Try (2) again - I still get the properly rendered page

Is it possible that this is somehow related to server-side caching? This is just a guess since I have very little knowledge about troubleshooting this sort of thing

*edit* yeah, this definitely seems likely - I get the issue when searching FS/FT for "PC133" but not when I search for "jim"

Jason Clark · Feb 25, 2003

Nope we do not cache forum content server side, and nothing has changed code side in the forums for months. I'd love to know what the problem is but i cant replicate it, I've never seen it on numerous machines. This seems to be very isolated to only a few people so far, if we see the problem in our environment we'll investigate.

Wolfsraider · Feb 25, 2003

weird it does it on my end also

?

screen shot at the bottom of the page (to show it affects the whole page)

Aves · Feb 25, 2003

Originally posted by: Zuni
This seems to be very isolated to only a few people so far, if we see the problem in our environment we'll investigate.

Unfortunately not that many members come into FI or would even think to start a thread about it.

Perhaps we should have an OT thread to ask if any others are experiencing this.

Lord Evermore · Feb 25, 2003

Only problem I ever have with searches is "this page has expired" messages from the browser, so I have to resubmit the search entries to get the results to display again.

Jason Clark · Feb 25, 2003

aves2k that won't really help until the situation is reproducable here. It is not code related, that much is certain, so its somewhere in the delivery format, maybe the bandwidth compression as you are a subscriber. I'm on these forums all the time and I have never ever seen any of the issues reported in this thread. I'm aware of the issue that some people are having and if i can reproduce it I will look into it, but until I can reproduce it I can't do anything, sorry.

Give me some links to threads that cause this issue and we'll hit them and see what they do here. Full recreation steps would help me investigate.

Aves · Feb 25, 2003

Unfortunately it happens so infrequently it's hard to isolate. It's not even annoying really, just an odd curiousity.

If I can pinpoint anything that seems to cause it I'll post here although up to this point it has been seemingly random, at least for me.

I figured that it's something outside of FT most likely since nothing has changed there.

I have noticed lately that the subscriber server seems to drop some pings, not many, although I can't pinpoint where in the path. I have verified it from 2 different ASs.

Jason Clark · Feb 25, 2003

Yes there is a bit of packet loss once and awhile, we've attributed it to the bandwidth capping on the switch itself, even though those ports are not capped.

optoman · Feb 27, 2003

I have had that exact things happen. Always when I do a search and click on one of the threads from the results page. When I go back to the results page, I get the white page with code on it as pictured above in a post. I am a subscriber. I hope you guys figure this one out.

Also, it always doesn't happen. It is random.

RaynorWolfcastle · Mar 8, 2003

OK, I can reproduce this problem consistently. I search the string "3200" in the FS/FT on an almost daily basis (I've been hunting for PC3200 RAM) and this problem happens every single time. Is there anything I could do to troubleshoot this, it's becoming a real annoyance.

Jason Clark · Mar 8, 2003

List your recreation steps i just searched for 3200 and had no issues whatsoever?. Searching 3200 isn't enough, something like I clicked on such and such a category link entered the category typed 3200 into the search box and got a set of results back then clicked on xxx link. Those are recreation steps. List OS, Browser version, wether or not you are using a proxy. Nothing can be done until its reproducable just like any other issue.

Cheers

ProfessorFate · Mar 8, 2003

Here's what I notice with this problem as to why some get it some don't. I f you do a search for say 4600 in FS/FT, you get more than one "screens" worth of results, ie you need to scroll to see them all. If you do a search for Gateway, you only get a few hits, don't have to scroll to see all the results and clicking back always works for me. Why this is the case I don't know.

RaynorWolfcastle · Mar 8, 2003

OS: Windows XP Professional - Version 2002 - SP1
Browser: Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106.xpsp1.020828-1920 (do you need the update versions?)
Other programs running that may be relevant: Zone Alarm 3.1.395

My computer is behind an SMC Barricade SMC7004ABR

Using a cable modem connection.

Using a subscriber account.
I just go to the "For Sale/For Trade" Forum, search for "3200" in the textbox on the upper left, click on a thread, then click "Back" - I get the HTML code at this point

Jason Clark · Mar 8, 2003

Hi Raynor, that helps GREATLY. Could you try it with and without zone alarm? just to see if its something there.

RaynorWolfcastle · Mar 8, 2003

I tried both with and without Zone Alarm - Same result.

I also had Norton Auto-Protect enabled. Tested again with Norton Auto-Protect enabled and disabled - Same result.

Tested with Mozilla 1.1 - No issue in any configuration

Ly2n · Mar 8, 2003

I get the same problem when I am going back in off topic, and (I think) in hot deals. I seen to remember it happening here in FI once also. I am running 2K pro, SP3, and IE 5.5. At other times I will get a blank page of a page that is only half full (I hace 100 threads/ page and only the first 60 or so show up). Refreshing the page once or twice gets it to render properly. I am on cable, through a router, with no firewall, 1.1 is checked, I am a subscriber. Don't know if any of that will help, I just thought that I would point out that for some of us it happens other places than search. Its not a major problem, it just gets annoying.

Barnaby W. Füi · Mar 8, 2003

I have seen this happen very sporadically in mozilla. I haven't seen it in a while though. IIRC it is while searching. Cable internet access, no proxy or anything of the sort.

Paulson · Mar 9, 2003

It's all about server content delivery... sometimes bandwidth or packets get messed up and that's what you'll get...

just like sometimes when you go to load a php page and it displays half the site and the rest is nowhere to be found..

Barnaby W. Füi · Mar 9, 2003

Originally posted by: Paulson
It's all about server content delivery... sometimes bandwidth or packets get messed up and that's what you'll get...

just like sometimes when you go to load a php page and it displays half the site and the rest is nowhere to be found..

... huh?

Jason Clark · Mar 9, 2003

What paulson is trying to say is, after the webserver hands you the processed data for a page, packet loss, network latency, client side network issues can cause fragmented data. You might get half of a page of data etc.

I've been trying to recreate this issue as per raynors steps no luck yet I'm using IE 6.0.2800.1106.xpsp1.020828-1920.

Raynor one thing that might alleviate it (as all I can see it being here is some sort of caching issue), try going into tools internet options --> temporary internet files -- >settings and change the caching setting from automatic to every visit to a page. See what that does as well

weird rendering issues under Internet Explorer *solved by FT4*

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weird rendering issues under Internet Explorer solved by FT4