The Ideas Genie Community Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: ideasguy on December 29, 2010, 11:12:46 AM
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Ive experienced problems with the forum quite frequently lately.
Heres a screenshot of what is displayed:
http://www.ideasforgardens.com/forumpics/UnabletoConnect.gif
After a few minutes, the forum cames back on line again.
Ive reported the problem to my Host.
When they test, the site is working, so thay cant replicate the problem
They told me to clear cache. I did and it still appears.
In any case, when I click reload, it should ignore what is in cache, and in the "down" period the poblem persists.
Has anyone else seen this (as in the link to screenshot)?
In an email this morning, Trevor appears to have experienced something similar with our forum
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Me too. Thought it was me, but the Firefox add on I have which tests connections and says if it is me or them (so to speak) says that the site is down for everyone when it happens.
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I also have had some problems using ie8 here.
Did a long answer to a thread, when I hit post, lost the lot, didn't bother to redo the posting. :o
At 1.38pm today tried to access this forum, no joy after 2 attempts, tried a third time got through. Have had thad for several weeks now at different times.
http://www.ideasgenie.com/ works fine in all cases when I can't connect, which I think is on another server.
Malcolm
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George:
I've had that same problem at least for the last two weeks, of not being able to connect to the Forum.
On and off, not steady.
I thought maybe you had been working on it, so didn't report it.
Quite cold this morning in the Pacific Northwest, US, a little bit of snow, but I have nothing to do out of doors,
so I will just stay indoors. No since busting any bones sliding on the ice.
Happy New Year from the US of A, everybody!
Toby
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Not able to comment on the connection problem to the Forum some of our members have been experiencing recently, as we've been offline for a while.
Just this evening we got our telephone line activated at our new home in Hampshire (more on that later though.)
Let's hope the problem gets sorted out, whatever is causing it.
I logged in without any problem this evening.
Laurie.
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Thanks all - for your feedback. It confirms my belief that there is a definite fault - intermittently.
http://www.ideasgenie.com points to http://www.ideasgenie.co.uk and is indeed on a different server, Malcolm (as is http://www.ideasforgardens.co.uk)
also http://www.ideasgenie.net (free web space for users - now on a bigger server so no space problems any more)
As for IE8, Ive switched to Firefox for the same reason you reported, Malcolm. I'm sorry you lost your posting, and I was afraid other would also lose messages at point of posting with this Unable to connect problem.
The solution is to copy the text to clipboard (or to notepad to be very sure) before posting folks. Thats a good idea on any forum, of course.
I saw on the news that the eastern side of the USA had a heavy fall of snow, Toby. Glad it isn't as bad on Pacific NW. Be sure to take care until conditions improve!
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Just happened again, but the Firefox add on which redials for us got through after a few tries.
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Thanks Eric. I'll report this information to Easily (who host my website)
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I can confirm it is probably less than a minute when the site is down.
Malcolm
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Ditto here too Malcolm.
Happened once late yesterday evening but site came back after a few page refreshes.
Again this morning, but has just happened now as I tried to post this message (fortunately I'd copied text to clipboard before posting so didn't lose it all). Off less than a minute each time though. >:(
Laurie.
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Not had any problems as such as in georges screenshot, not been around much since christmas day and had some not so good news on boxing day so cant really be bothered with much at the moment :(, but i went to post a message before xmas and lost the lot just got the usual webpage cannot be displayed, info vista IE8 Sorry cant help any more tahn that,
Right click copy posting before hitting the post button ;)
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I refreshed my problem request to Easily today (it had a Ticket number) and pointed them to this thread on our forum.
They replied, asking for a screenshot (the one which starts off this topic)
I did so this evening. Lets see what happens next.
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This is what I got.
(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/sitedown.jpg)
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Perfect reporting! What time (approx) did this happen Eric?
Easily have come back with this message:
The website has been tested for several hours, the website is Live on the internet. This was a thorough testing using multiple servers and external test machines.
Please try using a different machine to connect to the website http://www.flowergenie.co.uk
This forum is as good a test as we can get, and with multiple machines at different locations.
I would be very grateful if members would please continue to report any "Unable to Connect" errors experienced
It might also be a good idea to report the Browser you are using, and the Windows operating system of your computer.
Thanks all!
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Yep, I've had the same problems George. Just a minute or so ago I had just posted a reply and clicked onto another subject to read when the connection failed. I tried again from scratch and as you can see, it's worked. I run on XPpro using Firefox v.3.6.13.
Trevor
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Thanks Trevor. Good information to follow up on
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Me too. Thought it was me, but the Firefox add on I have which tests connections and says if it is me or them (so to speak) says that the site is down for everyone when it happens.
Which add on is this Eric? I too use Firefox - for several years now - the add on you mention sounds useful.
Trevor
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Heaven knows what time it was G. Took me ages to send the Screen shot to PB and then to you.
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went to www.flowergenie.co.uk, this is the link in your hosting company reply and got your homepage as normal IE8 Vista, have just tried it on mozilla firefox and got same home page hope that helps
Phil
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The Add on is called TryAgain.
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I have experienced the same thing several times recently. I just get a message "URL not recognised". It happened again just now when I tried to post a reply to Laurie's posting. I typed my reply in "Word" and by the time I had finished it connected again so I copied and pasted it.
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Thanks Eric.
Your message is a little different from the ones in the screenshots so far.
What Browser are you using?
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Firefox, George
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The Add on is called TryAgain.
Thanks Eric - will check it out.
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Unable to connect again today at 16.07
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Thanks Eric
I can add:
11:55 Sat 1/1/11
10:57 Mon 3/1/11
It happened immediately after I posted a message (I had it saved to clipboard so was able to paste a new message when it came back online)
Anyone else obserevd that?
Be sure to copy your messages to clipboard or Notepad before posting, folk.
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I just tried to post a reply to the effect that I hadn't experienced the problem since 30 December, but just as I tried to post the message I got the 'page can't be displayed' message in IE8.
The problem doesn't appear to be browser specific as I tried to view the page in Firefox 3.6.13 immediately afterwards and got the same problem.
Laurie.
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Just happened again whilst refreshing the 'Who's Online' page.
Only seems to last less than a minute then page comes in.
Laurie.
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16.29 today and the TryAgain add on tried 10 times without success.
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Thanks Laurie and Eric
I'll do a summary report for Easily later today.
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I reported our updates to this problem this afternoon. Awaiting response.
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Still happening George, I'm afraid. I got "Invalid URL. Unable to connect" again this morning. After a wait of about 10 minutes all was OK.
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Thanks Eric.
Ive had a reply from Easily, but I'm still in communication as I would like more info from them.
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'Unable to connect' page just appeared here again.
I was unable to connect for about 30 seconds, but several refreshes later the page displayed again.
Laurie.
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Thanks Laurie.
No definitive answer yet as to the cause of the problem, but I do want to keep monitoring it to see if it keeps occurring.
Thanks for your report.
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George:
I haven't had any problem with it whatsoever, since the first time I checked in with you.
I usually check my emails and the forum first thing in the morning, if that makes any difference to you.
Otherwise, seems to behave as usual. Sharp and clear, loads quickly!
Toby
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just had a unable to connect blank page 4 pm when i clicked the preview button, took 3 refreshes to get forum back luckily i copied my text
phil
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Thanks Toby and Phil
I had a repeat of the problem thsi evening Phil, so its certainly not fixed.
I have a number of other issues with email accounts today also hosted by Easily, now resolved. I rang their support line and I was impressed by the lady who fixed the problem. I need to draw breath and go again over this ongoing problem.
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Had 2 more failed connection attempts this morning - between 9am and 9.50am.
Cleared again each time after several browser 'Refreshes' within about 30 seconds.
Laurie.
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Just happened to me twice too!
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And me yesterday, but I didn't report it.
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Thanks Eric and Eric :D
Its quite worrying. Ive been advised to upgrade to one of their newer servers.
I already have this one hosted on one of their newer servers:
http://www.bankgenie.net
I discovered and reported a similar problem on that server a few days ago!
If I move this (FG) domain, I will have to upload the forum database onto the new server.
I dont have time for that hassle at present.
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Bet you don't either.
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And again at 11.35 today
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Switched on my PC at 9am this morning and tried logging into the Forum. Didn't even get the failed to connect page this time - instead, a blank page with the green page-loading progress bar hardly moving.
I tried other web sites to check my Internet connection and everything else was working correctly.
I tried for about half-an-hour to get into the Forum but got the same thing, then gave up and went out to do our grocery shopping.
Just got back and it connected first time - most odd, and very frustrating ??? >:(
Laurie.
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Thanks again Eric!
Ditto here, Laurie. I left it with the blank screen. Eventually it came up.
Perhaps they have twiddled things to increase the time before it times out.
Please keep monitoring and reporting folk. I will send another update email to my provider tomorrow.
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Access to the forum was not possible at 4.15 pm this afternoon, again for about 1 min.
Noticed our websie was down ( not same webspace company as the forum) yesterday for about 1/2 hour.
Malcolm
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Thanks Malcolm. I'm not the only one having issues!
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I've just re-installed Google Chrome after not having used it for a good while and tried accessing the forum as my first port of call. Interestingly, I got the 'can't access' message that members have been experiencing. Then I noticed that on the message were two options - one to retry (this didn't work) and 'try cached.....'. Immediate connection!
Worth a try folks if you don't have Google Chrome maybe it's worth installing?
Trevor
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Don't use the Try cached option Trevor.
It loads up web pages stored on your own computer, not the ones on the website.
In other words, It goes off and digs up an old copy of the web page on your computer saved last time you were visiting that website.
Needless to say, cached pages will be out of date, since it could be a page you viewed months ago!
More to the point, your computer is clogged up with loads of cached pages, taking up disc space.
Use the Retry option.
Thanks for reporting this, Trevor.
Caching is a real pain for web developers.
They (me!) go updating their website, and users cant see the changes, for the web browser decides, hey, don't go to the trouble downloading from the website, use this old one you viewed ages ago instead!!
Quicker yes, but who wants to read yesterdays newspaper?
If in doubt if a page is out of date, click the Refresh or Reload button. That forces the lazy browser to go off and do what it should do in the first place - fetch the latest version from the website.
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OK - copy George. As it happened, I'd been on the forum earlier using Firefox so I got an up to date page. Ah well - a solution too good to be true. The mystery continues.
Best regards,
Trevor
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Not so much of a mystery, Trevor - The problem is with my host.
I havent a clue why it has gone like this recently, but they should be able to offer a reason and better still, a fix.
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...and it happened again just as I posted a message :'(
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And again tonight at 10.05pm after typing a complicated query about IGpro.
Guess what I didn't copy it before posting it ::) ::) ::) ::)
Will have another go over the weekend, and hopefully remember to copy it first,or write it in Word then post on the forum.
Malcolm
Ps this one was ok >:( >:( and I had copied it just in case.
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Down again for about 2 minutes at 7.10pm tonight.
Do you still want these reports George.
Malcolm
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Yes please.
I emailed my feelings last night, mentioning the testing which goes on here. No reply as yet.
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Could not gain access at 9.10pm, internet connection working ok as could access other sites.
Managed to do a Ping test to www.flowergenie.co.uk from here http://www.selfseo.com/ping_test.php (http://www.selfseo.com/ping_test.php) and www.flowergenie was reported to be ONLINE ::) Quickly tried to connect to the forum from favourites bar and couldn't get access for about 10 seconds then the forum came up.
Doesn't really make sense does it?
Will try again next time
Malcolm
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I know very little about web servers, but if you Ping www.flowergenie.co.uk and get an online result, I presume that just means the server is there and connected, it doesn't test the servers ability to connect to your pages which are in the software in the server.
Have you any thoughts George.
Malcolm
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Eric Hardy reported on the 11th Jan "Still happening George, I'm afraid. I got "Invalid URL. Unable to connect" again this morning"
Again could this mean the connection to www.flowergenie.co.uk was ok, but not to the full url of the forum.
Has anyone reported problems with other pages on the www.flowergenie.co.uk server ?
Malcolm
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Thanks for your suggestion, Malcolm.
Unfortunately, when the Unable to connect error occurs, the home page:
http:\\www.flowergenie.co.uk
gives the same error :'(
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Received this email from my provider today:
Please be advised that the issue with your domain has been resolved. Your domain flowergenie.co.uk appears to be displaying correctly
If anyone finds the problem still occuring, please reply to let me know.
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I haven't noticed any problems since 23 January.
Did they offer you any explanation as to what the problem was George? They must have detected one to say it's been fixed ???
Laurie.
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No explanation Laurie, and thanks for that info. I havent had any problems myself recently.
A close watch by our members would be much appreciated.
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I havent noticed any problems since my last posting. Anyone else?
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Fine to date, George - fingers crossed. I have it as a tab on my Mozilla Firefox so I connect to the forum every time I open Firefox. This means I would notice any time it failed to connect.
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Had no trouble either.
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Thanks Eric and Eric :)
They do indeed seem to have fixed it.
A nice email to Easily is in order to show my appreciation!
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its been good so far my end aswell
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Had the same old trouble all yesterday.
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A different problem - I ran out of bandwidth. I should have taken action to a warning issued by Easily by email in midweek ::)
When that happens, your website goes offline.
Had to make a payment and in a few hours normal services were resumed.
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Tut tut! Watch out for your TV Licence reminder then.
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It would have taken longer for me to notice if the TV was "off-line" :D
The main user would have something to say though :)
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If you need more Bandwidth am I ok to do another set of show plants? It has taken me a long time to sort them out this time, old age, weariness and gardening keep getting in the way.
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Since mid last year, I have a large disc space on ideasforgardens.net hosting, where you up load your photos.
You and all others can upload as many WPG projects as they wish, the more the better.
I pay a fixed annual fee for that.
Band width is used up by visitors to a site or forum. On Flower Genie website (which went off line last week) most of the bandwdth is used up by those who download the Flower Genie software for evaluation. If the allocated bandwidth approaches the limit then I have to purchase more.
Again don't worry about uploading your WPG projects. They are very small in comparison to a Flower Genie download.
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I'll bet. Ta. As you can see I did one. Only one more for this year as far as Shows are concerned, next Saturday in Southport, hopefully. All the rest of the shows are too far away for us to go to.
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Yes, I had a look at about quarter of the latest plants list. Very impressive Eric!
I'm sure the majority of casual visitors take it all for granted, but I'd like to tell you once again that I appreciate the time and effort you have dedicated to each project - many many thanks 8).