Firefox 3.0.7 won't render wikipedia.

Asked by frith

I am adding a report here because I can't seem to find anyone else who has had this problem. I have googled around quite a bit, but to no avail.

Firefox 3.0.7 on Ubuntu Ibex won't display any wikipedia page. By that I mean, it will connect, download the content, and then all that gets displayed is the 'background' image. But its not really just the background, it has the white box overlay that holds some content normally (I think).

If I navigate away from the page, the whole correct page briefly displays (~1s) before I taken to the new page. If I refresh the page, the whole correct page briefly displays before going back to the background thingy.

I have found two things that can make the problem go away, but they break the internet in other important ways:

1. If I am quick, and lucky I can hit 'Esc' and the page will stop loading, and the content *will* be displayed.

2. If I disable javascript wikipedia works fine.

Obviously javascript is a pretty important part of the web, so disabling it is a poor solution.

Some info:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.7)
Gecko/2009030422
Ubuntu/8.10 (intrepid)
Firefox/3.0.7

I have tried starting in safe mode, the exact same behaviour results. I have removed my userinfo (mv ~/.mozilla ~/.mozilla-backup) to no avail.

If it is related to javascript (which I am not entirely sure about, since many other javascript using pages work fine). Then you may be interested to know that if I right-click->select all then right-click->view selection source, this is the resulting selection:

 <div id="globalWrapper">
  <div id="column-content">
 <div id="content">
  <a name="top" id="top"></a>
  <div id="siteNotice"><script type="text/javascript">if (wgNotice != '') document.writeln(wgNotice);</script></div></div></div></div>

Also, the error console throws exactly two warnings on each reload:

Warning: Unknown property 'column-count'. Declaration dropped.
Source File: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Common.css&usemsgcache=yes&ctype=text%2Fcss&smaxage=2678400&action=raw&maxage=2678400
Line: 37

Warning: Unknown property 'word-wrap'. Declaration dropped.
Source File: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Common.css&usemsgcache=yes&ctype=text%2Fcss&smaxage=2678400&action=raw&maxage=2678400
Line: 52

These warnings occasionally appear on other (working) websites. Just surfing the net seems to produce a wealth of these types of warnings.

I am at my wits end. If it were just about any other website it wouldn't be such an issue, but wikipedia is half the point of having an internet connection!

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu firefox Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
frith
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Steffen Banhardt (steffenbanhardt) said :
#1

Can u please try to start a new profile with the profile manager and test if it still appears? Type

firefox -ProfileManager

and create a new profile.

Revision history for this message
frith (frith-foottit) said :
#2

I'm not sure if it worked the way its supposed to, I typed in

firefox -ProfileManager

And it just came up with the default start page (same as when I renamed my profile settings). The problem persisted.

This same problem exists on the other user account on this computer too.

Revision history for this message
frith (frith-foottit) said :
#3

Ah, okay, I did it again. Must have still had some FF windows open.

firefox -ProfileManager

This time it came up with a window, and I selected 'Create New Profile'. Then selected the folder location (just the default), and started firefox.

Same result as before. No change.

Revision history for this message
Steffen Banhardt (steffenbanhardt) said :
#4

make sure, before u do so, to close *all* instances of firefox - if it still doesn't work, we might have some serious trouble...

then you could try to make a new profile via

firefox -CreateProfile test

You'll get a line saying something like

Success: created profile 'test' at '/home/USERNAME/.mozilla/firefox/*somecode*.test/prefs.js'

Then you go to

/home/USERNAME/.mozilla/firefox/

and edit the file

profiles.ini

in there. Look for the just created profile and add the line

Default=1

to its settings (and remove the line from your current profile)

Now firefox should start automatically with the new test profile.

Revision history for this message
Steffen Banhardt (steffenbanhardt) said :
#5

could you provide the exact build identifier for your ff?

just type about: in the adress bar, then there sould be something like:

Build identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; de; rv:1.9.0.7) Gecko/2009030422 Ubuntu/8.10 (intrepid) Firefox/3.0.7

Revision history for this message
frith (frith-foottit) said :
#6

Okay, I closed all ff windows, then typed:

firefox -CreateProfile test

Opened the 'profiles.ini' file as you mentioned. Moved the 'Default=1' line to the new 'test' profile. Started firefox.

The start page was the default ubuntu firefox start page, there are no bookmarks or anything in the menu, so I am pretty confident this is the new empty profile. Here is the build ID:

Build identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.7) Gecko/2009030422 Ubuntu/8.10 (intrepid) Firefox/3.0.7

It seems the same as what I posted in the original question.

The behaviour is unchanged. Still loads the (wikipedia) page, then it goes away. A refresh briefly brings it back, and then it goes away again.

Revision history for this message
frith (frith-foottit) said :
#7

If this helps, I made a screen capture of whats happening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvNNNr2ztr0&eurl=http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit2&feature=player_embedded

Goes for about a minute.

Things to note:
The 'loading bar' gets stuck when I have javascript enabled. This doesn't happen when I disable it.
The address at the bottom 'meta.wikimedia.org' is where all the fun begins and ends. As soon as this appears on the bottom bar, the content goes away.

Revision history for this message
Steffen Banhardt (steffenbanhardt) said :
#8

Hmmm, no problem here and no idea what that may be - have you tried any other browser? Is it possible, that there is a problem with your router, ISP, etc?

Revision history for this message
Steffen Banhardt (steffenbanhardt) said :
#9

Just another thougt:
Does the wp in other languages load? e.g. the German main page:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptseite

What happens if you try to load the meta main page:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Revision history for this message
Tom (tom6) said :
#10

Have you tried using Opera instead of Firefox? Is your hard-drive a bit too full? Mine was this morning but i've managed to clear a little space at last.

Good luck from
Tom :)

Revision history for this message
frith (frith-foottit) said :
#11

The plot thickens!

I installed opera, and it does the same thing! The actual sequence is different (the background image does not display, and the content does not flash up on a refresh), but the same issue of wikipedia not displaying when javascript is enabled is present. Disable javascript and it works fine.

Also, the german main page works fine. And the meta main page also works fine.

Curiouser and curiouser...

Revision history for this message
frith (frith-foottit) said :
#12

I should probably add some internet details here:

No router.
Using a wireless broadband modem - usb into computer. Model Huawei E160G. Provider is Three Australia.

I just tried it on my other machine, and it also doesnt work. It does work at uni, using a different internet connection, so I guess it isn't a software problem.

Really strange though..

I'll call my ISP, but if you guys have any last thoughts, let me know.

Revision history for this message
frith (frith-foottit) said :
#13

Okay, called ISP. Firmware update for modem.

Problem is fixed.

Thanks for your time guys.

Revision history for this message
Steffen Banhardt (steffenbanhardt) said :
#14

A modem firmware that kills wikipedia? Wow - now you have a story to tell...

Revision history for this message
ogmartins (ogmartins) said :
#15

I'm having the same problem but I dont use a modem.
Only with the english wiki pages!
Perhaps some chinese made routers with
firmware which blocks en.Wikipedia!
I am in Brazil.

Revision history for this message
ogmartins (ogmartins) said :
#16

Oh no!
On http://anonymouse.org
wikipedia works fine with javascrip on.
It is not a Firefox or browser problem.