The most frustrating computer problem I have ever had
February 19, 2007
I don’t even know where to start with this one. For the past few days, I’ve been having this problem. For the most part, everything’s working fine. But, say, one out of every ten sites I go to won’t load in Safari. Sites that have always worked before. It’s not a coding issue—Safari simply won’t load the page, then times out saying that the network connection has been lost.
What’s really infuritating about this is that the sites will still load in any other browser. Firefox, Camino, Opera—they all work. Traceroutes to the hosting server work.
Sometimes individual pages on a server will load, and others won’t. For instance—certain Google searches will load, but some will not.
I’ve tried disabling all my Safari plug-ins. I’ve tried turning off my relay AirPort base stations. I’ve tried stepping down my network from 802.11n to 802.11b/g. I’ve tried visiting the sites on my laptop, instead of my desktop. Some sites work on the laptop. Some work on the desktop. Sometimes a page won’t load, but then it will load a day later. I’ve tried doing away with the wireless network altogether, and simply connecting the computer directly to the cable modem. No change in behavior.
The iTunes Store won’t load on my Mac Pro, but it will load on my MacBook.
The most pound-my-head-on-my-desk part of the problem is that I have no idea who to complain to, or what to say. Do I tell Mediacom? They’ll hear ”...but the sites work in Firefox,” and claim the issue is with my computer. If I called Apple, what would I tell them? “Some sites are randomly not loading in Safari, but sometimes they do, but sometimes only on certain computers, or at certain times of day?” I feel like a support request like that would be met with a deafening silence, then a 10-step tutorial to resetting my PRAM and then re-installing OS X.
In a last-ditch desperate effort, I’ve actually signed up for DSL service. Once it’s turned on, I’ll see if my problem is resolved. If so, I can blame Mediacom and cancel the cable modem—but I’ll also be throwing away a much faster internet connection. But then, what’s a fast pipe worth if I can’t rely on it?
I guess what I really want to know is… why the hell would a web site only fail to load in certain software? This is driving me mad.
Don’t even bother with swapping out your internet. If the traceroute is working and it’s loading in firefox, that’s a definite pointer right to Safari.
Has Apple released any upgrades recently? Do you use a proxy server? Have you checked your proxy settings in Safari? These are the issues worth checking.
Ahh, yes. I forgot to mention—no proxies.
It’s both Safari and iTunes. I think iTunes uses the same rendering engine as Safari, though.
I’ve installed a few software updates, but it’s also happening on my mom’s Mac mini, which hasn’t been updated at all recently.
I’ve been having the same problem with Safari. My remedy is to empty Safari’s cache and try again, which has been somewhat successful thus far. I haven’t had the issue with iTunes yet, although it seems like my day will come…
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[...] other day, I talked about an extremely annoying problem I was having with my internet connection. Sites randomly wouldn’t load in Safari, but would [...]
I have been having the same problem. I think I have narrowed the problem down to Parallels. If I load up Parallels and try to get on the internet wirelessly through windows then it works. I cannot get on using the regular mac OS. It works fine when I am connected to the internet through a hard wire. Not really sure what to do but I am going to the Apple Store tomorrow and will post if they let me know what is wrong
I have narrowed down the issue to the router. Now I just need to figure out the setting that is causing the issue.
I was having the exact same problem and was scheduled to have my 2nd Genius Bar appointment tomorrow. But I got to thinking reading the comment from DS … since he/she narrowed it down to the router what was the setting most likely to be causing the issue … (drum roll) ... DHCP.
As soon as I disabled LAN DHCP in the router all the sites I had been blocked from accessing were visible in all browsers – Safari, Firefox and most important (for me) Parallels Firefox.
Originally, my DHCP setting was “Enable” with 1 week DHCP lease; though I’m sure now that I could enable with the “forever” setting. But as there is only one Macbook Pro on my network … no reason to re-enable LAN DHCP.
Hope this helps … Ron
I have the same problem but I’m on dial up and not going through a router. Pages and images load in firefox but it takes a while, but safari won’t let it take a while, after it decides that it’s taken too long it just dumps the partial pics that it has loaded. I was hoping there was some setting i could change to not let it time out. Dial-up sucks but it is the only option where I am, and this is definitely a safari problem since other browsers seem to work fine.
I too have been having problems… I don’t have an internet connection at home yet so rely on ‘free wi-fi cafes’ and wireless connection at my university. All was working well until a few days ago and now cannot use safari at all (it says ‘server stoped responding’), itunes store will not load(timed out)and also software updates is now redundant. Have tried a few things but to no avail. It’s been two months since last post so has any one had any joy?
ahhhhhh… i had proxies set for safari (uni network) and then uncheked them an now all is fine. bizzare as had used safari since appling proxies and it had worked… go figure!
Try this info. It worked for me. Not sure if it fixes everything, but…
http://chroniclesofwynn.wordpress.com/2007/11/08/safari-internet-connection-problems-in-leopard/