Bizarre networking problem

On Aug 27, 2007, at 8:47 PM, John Massengale wrote:

> Symptoms are...
>
> An online form I need to fill out doesn't work with Firefox.
>
> When I switch to Safari, Safari has no internet access. At the same
> time,
> Firefox has access.
>
> "Software Update" can't connect either. It gives the error message
> that it
> can't connect to the server and says there appears to be a network
> problem.
> But when I click on the "Network Diagnostics" in that error
> message, the
> system reports at the beginning and the end of the process that
> everything
> is working.
>
> What could this be?

Very difficult to say based on the above.

Safari has an annoying tendency to cache information it shouldn't, so
it *could* be remembering an earlier time when it didn't have
Internet access. Doesn't explain software update.

Or perhaps it's Firefox that's working in part from cache, and it
knows the IP for places it's been recently but not new places (that's
more a Safari trick).

What is your path from the machine to the world? Straight to your
cable modem? Through another router?

Do the machine's network settings look familiar?

Software update seems OK from here (Washington state) now, but that
doesn't mean it's OK from the New York area (I am unable to decode
"cdfrgn" to figure out more closely where you are--it's not "CD
Frisbee Region").

Rather than working out what the problem is, I would start with a
reboot. If that fails, I'd force the cable modem to restart, however
you do that with that modem model, and restart any routers that are
between the Mac and the cable modem.

Others may have better ideas.

   --John

John,

I would recommend that you get your System disk that you used to
install your system with (either the original Apple disk that came
with your computer or one that you bought individually), put it in
your CD/DVD drive, run the "Install" program. Now, you will be warned
if you will be installing the entire system and you definitely do not
want that. So, click on the bottom-right button until you see, on the
bottom-left button to "Customize" the installation. Click on the
customize button and be sure that only the installation of Safari is
selected. OK the installation.

[BEFORE you do this, make sure that you have made a backup of your
Safari plist from the Library/Preferences folder. Also, in your
library you will find a Safari folder, back that up as well. You can
delete the file and folder after backing them up}

Anyse

On Aug 27, 2007, at 10:47 PM, John Massengale wrote:
> An online form I need to fill out doesn't work with Firefox.
>
> When I switch to Safari, Safari has no internet access. At the same
> time,
> Firefox has access.
>

My son recently had the exact same issue on his PowerBook. Then my
nephew had it on his Mac Mini. Both were using 10.4.10 and Safari 2.
I've been using Safari 3 betas for awhile, so maybe I didn't have the
same glitch, but in both cases, 'resetting' Safari in the Safari menu
did the trick. We had already tried rebooting, using different
'locations' to connect, etc. But resetting Safari fixed the problem.

Jeffrey

I wonder if this isn't incorrect proxy settings. Firefox ignores your
system-defined proxies, where Safari respects them.

Check your Network system prefs and see if you have a proxy server
setup. Heck, do the same with Firefox. Make sure your network prefs
match Firefox.

--Nik

>> When I switch to Safari, Safari has no internet access. At the same
>> time,
>> Firefox has access.
>>
>
>My son recently had the exact same issue on his PowerBook. Then my
>nephew had it on his Mac Mini. Both were using 10.4.10 and Safari 2.
>I've been using Safari 3 betas for awhile, so maybe I didn't have the
>same glitch, but in both cases, 'resetting' Safari in the Safari menu
>did the trick. We had already tried rebooting, using different
>'locations' to connect, etc. But resetting Safari fixed the problem.

Unlike your son, I have Safari 3.0.3. And restarting did work for me.

John

I tried running the Safari for Windows beta for a few weeks and encountered exactly the same problem: all internet apps worked like champs except Safari.

Although I normally am happy to fiddle and twiddle under the hood to discover the sources of even the most arcane of problems, for this particular issue I simply invoked the Natural Selection feature (a.k.a. "Delete") and marched merrily on with other tools.

James