New Glitches

[BigMoneyJim]

Arrete relayed an issue from a member who is having trouble with the new site and getting "no input file specified".

"no input file specified" is the "404 Not Found" page from the old server. If readers see this it means theyre still getting the old server address. They can try a couple of the remedies below, but they may just have to wait it out. It is beyond Dory36's control and beyond my influence. These server moves sometimes take a while for the word to make it out to the entire web.

There is now a more informative message at the old site explaining the problem instead of "no input file specified".

From what I can tell, this member is using a combination of domain names including "www.capnbill.com", "www.early-retirement.com" and "early-retirement.com. I'm guessing this may be part of the problem.

I'll look into this some more, but for now try logging in and reading via http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php.

EDIT: Updated after cause found. Updated again for new message on old server.

 

[intercst]

Arrete relayed an issue from a member who is having trouble with the new site and getting "no input file specified". From what I can tell, this member is using a combination of domain names including "www.capnbill.com", "www.early-retirement.com" and "early-retirement.com. I'm guessing this may be part of the problem.

I'll look into this some more, but for now try logging in and reading via http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php.

Someone just e-mailed me with the same "no input file specified" problem, except he was getting it from the new link http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php

intercst

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Hmmm. Dory36 said he was getting this a little and running "ipconfig /flushdns" helped him. (Windows XP or Windows 2000, and maybe WinNT)

I'm a little stumped for now because many people seem to be getting it fine. My current guess is that it's remnants of the server name cutover, but I'll look into it some more this evening. My job is rudely taking up my time this workday.

As for my domain name idea, that was probably wrong since clicking on the login link changes the URL to early-retirement.org .

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

There was some hoo-hah about some DNS servers taking days to update. Possibly some folks are getting old slow updating DNS servers either consistently or at random.

Tell those 'job' people that you have more important things to attend to. Have them call me up if necessary, I still have some words left over from Laurences spa fiaso.

 

[laurence]

Yeah, BigMoneyJim, you did us a favor and set up the new website, we own you for free technical support forever!!!

Funny, I guess until we start mailing you a paycheck, we'll just have to wait our turn.

 

[dory36]

If you can read this, you are OK.

For those you talk to...

if they go to http://early-retirement.org and see "(You have reached the new server, where we have moved effective 4/30/05.)" as the last line, then they should be ok too.

If that line is missing, then they are on the old server. All of the ISPs should have updated by late Saturday, so the problem is probably in a cache on their pc.

I figured this out by trying it on my laptop, using the same connection as my desktop. It worked fine on the laptop, so obviously the problem was in my desktop pc.

It worked for me to go to a command window (start-run-cmd) and type "ipconfig/flushdns". TH suggested also typing, afterwards, "ipconfig/registerdns".

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Free? You haven't seen the bill yet.

I can't find find that error message in the board files. I asked Dory36 to request a bad file on the old server to see if "no input file specified" is the 404 not found page. If so, then it's definitely a DNS problem that will work itself out sooner or later. If not then it's back to the drawing board, however obviously the board is working great for a large number of posters.

 

[dory36]

Yes, that is exactly the error you get if you try the new link but your dns is sending you to the old server.

 

[MJ]

Free? You haven't seen the bill yet.

I guess it's time to pass the hat around.

MJ

 

[Billy]

Hi all,
My text is now running off the page. Any suggestions? Never happened before you made the changes.

Thanks,
Billy
website www.geocities.com/ba264

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Put a bucket under the monitor.

 

[Billy]

...Ok, I'll add water and call it alphabet soup.

Makes it difficult to read the posts.

Billy
website www.geocities.com/ba264

 

[BigMoneyJim]

My text is now running off the page. Any suggestions? Never happened before you made the changes.

I haven't seen that yet. What browser & OS are you using? ( IE6 and WinXP? ) Is it on all the posts, all the posts plus the page headers and footers or just some messages? If it's some messages, are there pictures in the messages that are "stretching" the boundaries off the screen?

 

[Billy]

Hi BMJ,
It's on the "50 most recent posts" page. Yes, I am using IE6 and XP. When I clicked on reply, I can see the entire message.

Need more info...just ask

Billy
Website www.geocities.com/ba264

 

[Billy]

Wow,...BMJ,
I ask and you provide. The messages look fine now. You are quick!

Thanks,

Billy,
Website www.geocities.com/ba264

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

(Psst...Jim...a little marketing assistance...whether you did anything or not, act like you did, and it was a huge deal...)

 

[BigMoneyJim]

(Psst...Jim...a little marketing assistance...whether you did anything or not, act like you did, and it was a huge deal...) 

The downside of that is all the complaints I'd get next time it happens.

Nope, this is the first time I've been here since I posted that message. From the info I'm guessing the photos in a couple of the posts were causing the screen to be wider than the monitor resulting in text spilling.

I hate marketing, but...wait, I mean I headed a team of 40 scientists, engineers and programmers to quickly and efficiently isolating the problem thereby saving our stockholders $40,000 in 30 minutes and increasing cashflow by $3million / year going forward.

 

[smooch]

I'm in! I am the one who asked Arrette to deliver my message when I couldn't get in yesterday. Thanks, Arrette and BMJ. I don't remember what I was doing with my time before I started reading this board a few months ago - I was missing it yesterday!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

One odd thing seems to happen to me about one in five times. When I open firefox the tab that this page is on says "waiting for early-retirement.org"...and then goes to 'done' and I have a blank page. Reloading it brings the page up.

Was wondering if this is similar to the 'blank page' problem some others reported?

 

[BigMoneyJim]

One odd thing seems to happen to me about one in five times. When I open firefox the tab that this page is on says "waiting for early-retirement.org"...and then goes to 'done' and I have a blank page. Reloading it brings the page up.

Was wondering if this is similar to the 'blank page' problem some others reported?

I haven't heard of "blank page" problems except the "no input file specified" page which was mostly blank. I also use Firefox and have seen what you describe a few times, but I thought it was because I keep signing in and out. I don't think I've experienced that problem on IE.

Is anyone else still getting glitches on the new board?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah, its the only page/tab I have that does that when there isnt a problem; the old board didnt ever do it, by my lousy recollection...

 

[BigMoneyJim]

th, I haven't noticed this problem in the last day or two, even on Firefox. You stil getting it?

A random tech note / lesson learned for future moves: the temporary "we're moving" pages should probably be sent with an expiration of 5 - 30 minutes in the http headers. Based on my experiences with my home setup I think proxy servers held on to the temporary page too long, and many users go through invisible proxy servers of their ISPs. I noticed my home proxy would get the request, see that it had it cached and check with the cached old IP to see if the page--the temporary page--was unchanged; it was, so it dutifully sent the stored page even though the server/domain moved.

Setting the temporary pages with an http expiration may reduce or eliminate the issue of some readers lagging behind for a day or two. However I'm not sure this is the case. We'll find out next move.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Havent gotten it yet today but I got it late yesterday.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Just did it again.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Just did it again.

Was it about 30 seconds before you posted? You have a request of index.php with success code 200 but a length of " - ". I saw at least one or two others getting " 200 - " around the same time. I'm guessing that means PHP returned nothing. I'll try to find out what that's about.