Use of back button in IE gives "cannot find server or DNS error" after form submisson to secure site

Hi Asta - many thanks for the pointer, although I couldn't quite find anything there that got to the root of the problem.

As you say, it would be great if this question sparked the interest of a few experts who must have come across this before, but it seems that you are the only person interested in addressing my issues (wherever they appear)! I'm beginning to feel kinda dependent on your personal support!!

Maybe it's something personal. I've checked my deodorant this morning and all seems fine. Are my questions simply more boring than other people's?

I'm reminded of Pink Floyd and The Wall. Hello, hello, hello - is there anybody out there?

Glummy

Hi Asta - many thanks for the pointer, although I couldn't quite find anything there that got to the root of the problem.

As you say, it would be great if this question sparked the interest of a few experts who must have come across this before, but it seems that you are the only person interested in addressing my issues (wherever they appear)! I'm beginning to feel kinda dependent on your personal support!!

Maybe it's something personal. I've checked my deodorant this morning and all seems fine. Are my questions simply more boring than other people's?

I'm reminded of Pink Floyd and The Wall. Hello, hello, hello - is there anybody out there?

Glummy

ROFL, Glummy .... that's a GREAT parallel -> "I'm reminded of Pink Floyd and The Wall. Hello, hello, hello - is there anybody out there?"  Pink Floyd is one of my old favorites!

I really don't think that your questions are anything less than 'tough', and a far cry from boring.  I've been totally swamped and very little time here at experts-exchange the past couple of months, but would be thrilled to help you with this, but alas, just stabbing at straws, but worth a try....

Those who experience the problems, curious if they tell you which versions they're running and/or any error messages they may have seen.  Sadly, I admit that I don't recall the environment in use, such as .net, but assuming it is, this synopsis and link "may" be of some help, until other step in with just what you need:

The SelectedIndex property is not set explicitly on the MultiPage control; therefore, when the page loads, the content of the first PageView is rendered. Two ASP.NET button controls are used to control the paging through the steps of the wizard, and these buttons invoke the BackClick and NextClick methods.
Source for more:  http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/webcontrols/overview/multipage.asp

Building Secure ASP.NET Pages and Controls (.NET Framework Security)
This chapter shows you a variety of implementation techniques to improve the security of your ASP.NET Web pages and controls.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnnetsec/html/THCMCh10.asp

Testing Process (Enterprise Development (General) Technical Articles)
Learn about the need for testing an e-commerce Web site on the Internet, including security testing, software and hardware reliability, and compatibility between all the elements of the system. (20 printed pages)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnentdevgen/html/testproc.asp

Some possibilities when searching this site...
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Web_Languages/ASP/Q_20979058.html?query=ie+shopping+cart+back+button&clearTAFilter=true

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Languages/Dot_Net/ASP_DOT_NET/Q_21239972.html?query=ie+shopping+cart+back+button&clearTAFilter=true

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Web_Languages/ASP/Q_20838270.html?query=ie+shopping+cart+back+button&clearTAFilter=true

Question Title: Use of back button in IE gives "cannot find server or DNS error" after form submisson to secure site
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Browser_Issues/Q_21440353.html?query=ie+shopping+cart+back+button&clearTAFilter=true

Back to work, will check back when I can.

":0) Asta

Thanks Asta - methinks my monthly subscription to EE should be redirected to your personal account. Paying EE each month at the moment is beginning to feel a bit like knowing that your gratuity after a meal at a restaurant goes into the staff "pot" in spite of the fact that all the waiters but one have spent the evening sitting on their butts reading newspapers to pass the time!

I'm actually not using an ASP or .NET environment at all. So none of the ASP references above really add much to the debate. The last link you quoted is very relevant though, because it brings me back to this thread!

The website in question is PHP/MySql but - whatever the configuration of the site itself - the really puzzling thing is that the back button behaviour seems fine on some computers and not others. I've done a bit more ferreting around here, and discovered that our primary computers running XP Pro/IE6 exhibit the strange behaviour, whereas one of our testing machines running 2000Pro/IE6 works as expected.

But a colleague at another location cannot reproduce the problem using XP Pro/IE6. Kinda points to some sort of local configuration problem on our main PCs, but can't think what could cause this. Tried disabling all the firewall and AV stuff, and the same thing still happens.

In some ways it would be a relief to discover that we have some quirky setup on the main PCs here - at least that would reassure me that not too many potential customers would be seeing the same frustrating back-button behaviour. Is there some sort of diagnostic I can run on the PC configuration that would shed any light on quirky browser behaviour like this??

Thanks for hanging in there Asta. You must get kinda lonely holding this particular fort on your own.

Regards

G

Thanks, G.  

I'll be sending this link to some other Experts in the hopes they'll pop in here to help soon.

Those running XP and IE are running Service Pack 2, where this back button intermittent behavior is noted, just to confirm?

Was doing more research, and posting, in case there is "any" relevance here.
Properties Dialog Box for an Encrypted Web Page Indicates That the Connection Is Not Encrypted
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329351

The "Back" button is unavailable after you click a hyperlink in a Word document that you open in Internet Explorer 6.0 on a Windows XP-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;888406

Thought about security settings within IE versions and so on, but still unclear, sorry to admit.

Thought perhaps some sort of MDAC issue, but again, unclear.
Release manifest for MDAC 2.8 Service Pack 1 (2.81.1117.6)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;899456

*** Enough stabbing in the dark by me, though I'd sure love to be able to help you.  Will now send this link off to some other Experts in the hopes they can help us out here.

Your words are kind, and appreciated, although it would be so great if we could find the right resource team to help you here.  Trying now.

":0) Asta

I have not seen this particular manifestation but I believe the problem relates once again to the broken cache manager in IE2.  It probably is happening off the secure pages because of some ofthe new bugs related to mishandled security fixes in SP2.  While not being able to find the server or DNS error does not sound reasonable, it actually makes some sense with a little twisted logic.  Because the cache is messed up and the security model does not work, the browser thinks it is going to an http server whenit should be going to https, or vice-versa.  So it make perfect sense that it would report the oddball error.  

Unfortunately it is like the rest of the problems with the defective cache manager and the bugs in SP2; Microsoft has to fix them, and does ot seem at all inclined to do so, as they have turned their attention to IE7 and trying to stem the rising tide of Firefox.

Question: Is the page they have the error on accessible using both http and https?

Cd&

Thanks Asta and Cd& for the further input.

To answer the questions -

Yes, the PCs running XP and IE are running SP2 and are up to date with Windows security updates etc.

The page that the back button attempts to access is NOT accessible via https. Sounds like you might be on to something?

Thanks

G

Curious if problem access PCs can try this.
IE - tools - internet options - security tab - trusted zone - sites - add the https link there, and ensure the https element is checked, close IE and retest.
>>> ???  

Thanks for coming here, Cd&, I so appreciate it.

Asta

You and grummy are good company.  I like it here.:^)

Cd&

":0)))))))))))))))))))))  Me 2.  Asta

hey guys....

Asta pointed me here as well...been a while since i've been on EE.

My thought was an SP2 problem as well...will listen in to see if I have anything to add.


bruno

Hi Guys,

The sad news is Asta's suggestion hasn't made any difference. Exact same behaviour as before.

Here's a bit more info though. I had initially thought that the quirky behavior was only when trying to use the back button after a hop off the site to the Secure Payment server, but we've discovered similar behaviour on a couple of other pages on the site after POST data has been submitted and written to the DB.  Of course Firefox treats this very nicely with a warning popup that says something like "the page contains POST data that my be resumitted - OK or Cancel" whereas IE just gives this unhelpful "cannot find server or DNS error" that would be very frustrating for our users. It seems to me that this is the IE equivalent of falling into a heap on the floor bursting into tears, whereas Firefox just seems so much more adult about this navigation to and fro.

I know this is a frustrating problem to track down, but I can't help thinking the clues are here for someone way smarter than I am...

Thanks to all

G

Yesterday one of our .NET developers showed me an older page on MSDN that loaded very slowly inFirefox but rendered correctly.  It worked great for IE 5; but when he tried to load it with IE6 It threw errors and most of the menu did not render.  If M$ cannot even get IE6 to render their own pages correctly, how can developers be expected to produce pages that don't get broken by it.

The one thing I can recommend that I normally do not like. but sometime you have to be pragmatic, is not to use a conventional link to get to the submission page.


A assume a link is being use like: <a href="yoursubmitpage.asp"> so the page youar coming from is the first back in history.  Youcan keep it out of the history if instead you do the link as:

<a href="#" onclick="location.replace('yoursubmitpage.asp'); return false;">

No guarantee, but it might get rid of the error pr give a more appropriate and descriptive error.

Cd&

Thank you all for being here!  I'm up to my earlobes in issues, but will stay tuned.

The "post" issue sounds so sadly familiar with IE.... more when I can, but most hopeful that the information above may help.

Until...

":0)  Again, thanks so much guys for responding, that makes me feel sooooooooooooo good!

Asta

I tried this page - it helped when I disabled third party browser extensions.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;870700&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

/Jan

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the further food for thought.

Cd& - that's a useful little technique that I'm sure will come in useful now that I can add it to my armoury, but I don't think that it provides a good workaround for this particular issue. Thing is, we'd like the potential customer to be able to return to the Shopping Cart page with items still in the cart. If she misses out the cart altogether, and returns to the purchase page (where she selects items for the cart) instead, then there's no difference between that and simply hitting the back button twice. And, our research shows, hitting the back button twice is the normal behaviour when this problem is encountered. The first time you get the "cannot find blah di blah" and the second you get the purchase page (as if the shopping cart didn't exist).

Jan - that was a mighty interesting page, but sadly the most promising idea (the browser extensions) didn't do the trick.

Sigh! Still, it's good to know you guys are still coming up with the odd thoughts for me to try out. Makes my days more interesting, and I'm sure out of ideas myself!

Regards

Grummy

Sadly, I can't find anything more on this issue.  There are so many out there with somewhat related issues, here's just one more sampling, though not a solution here, since much of this has already been tried to no avail.

Problem: When I go to checkout, I receive an error message saying that my shopping basket is empty.
Solution: On past experiences with people having similar difficulties, we might suggest you make sure your web browser has cookies enabled. Cookies must be enabled for the shopping cart to store the items you order. If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows, there are known issues with that browser that may prevent 3rd party cookies (that many online stores use to create shopping baskets) from working with anything but the default settings. If there are any security settings that you have modified, you might try adjusting those, and restore them to the default settings. If you are still having problems, we highly suggest you use a different web browser, such as Mozilla.
http://www.sundazed.com/store/help.html

And this sampling on cookies, 3rd party settings and firewalls from the Yahoo store.
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/store/troubleshooting/troubleshooting-21.html

Sure wish we could nail this down for you.

Alas, back to work.
":0) Asta

Thanks Asta - I quite take your point about a different browser, but it's not MY browser I'm concerned about - it's all of our thousands of users out there who have XP+IE and must come across the same problems on our website (unless I'm simply unique, which, sadly, I doubt!)

I think we're gonna have to give up on this one. I'm majorly grateful to all those who have contributed their time and effort (especially you, Asta) in searching for clues. I don't quite know how to close this off though - if I just accept an answer I guess this question gets PAQ'd which will be confusing for others since it doesn't contain a solution. On the other hand, I'm very happy to award points for effort!

Can you advise how we close this off gracefully and move onwards?  I have another interesting (and very solvable) problem which I'm about to post elsewhere, so I hope to see you again shortly...

Muchas gracias amigos

Grummy

No need to go to CS, I'm in the thread so I cna do whatever needs to be done. :^)

Cd&

OK Cd&, Asta's advice is always good so I guess a PAQ/Refund looks like the best bet.

Thanks again to both of you, and I'll look forward to more productive exchanges in the future. (I mean more productive-exchanges, not more-productive exchanges, if you see what I mean!)

Good to have you guys a few clicks away. It makes my amateur endeavours just that little bit less scary.

Best regards

G