Orpington Astronomical Society

Back Room => Updates and Upsets => Topic started by: JohnP on Mar 03, 2004, 04:02:00

Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: JohnP on Mar 03, 2004, 04:02:00
Can anyone explain why I can login to the forum using my work PC but not my home PC? Is it something to do with Internet settings? I have cookies enabled.

Thks,  John.
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Ian on Mar 03, 2004, 07:31:00
John,

there is a small configuration problem I've been unable to track down. Basically the most reliable method of logging on is to use the login link (top right corner) and click the remember me button.

Hopefully this problem will go away when I upgrade the board. I've only been talking about doing it for a year :sad:
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Mar 15, 2004, 21:56:00
I've noticed that a few browsers seem incapable of providing any referrer information. When actions are context-sensitive (as they're likely to be on a BB system like this, and as they definitely are on the OAS membership form) the lack of referrer information is going to lead to failures and other strangeness.

The prime culprit on the gallery archive is a browser that identifies itself thus:

"Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)"

which is being used by someone on zen.co.uk.

Ring any bells?
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 09, 2004, 00:58:00
In a fit of desperation, at work, I installed Firefox on the PC that's on my desk...

You remember that problem some folk had with staying logged in?

Yep, I'm seeing it here... :/
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 17, 2004, 00:38:00
Hmmm... Definitely something odd with this version of FireFox on Windows. It works as I expect at home on Linux....
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 22, 2004, 21:54:00
Anyone else (a) using FireFox on a Windows platform, and (b) having trouble with logins?
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Sue on Nov 22, 2004, 21:59:00
Yes. I tried Firefox yesterday (still have it alongside explorer to compare) and it wouldn't keep the loggin.. and the folders were all pink!
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 23, 2004, 01:03:00
Definitely something odd going on with Windows version of FireFox, but the Linux version doesn't seem to have trouble. As far as I can tell all the cookies that phpBB has stored do make some sort of sense....
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Ian on Nov 23, 2004, 16:58:00
which version of FF for Windows are you using Rick?
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 23, 2004, 19:09:00
That'll be this version:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 23, 2004, 19:16:00
Sometimes login works, usually if I get to the login panel via the main panel, and shift-reload both the main panel and the login panel along the way. If I manage to get myself logged in there's still no guarantee the login will persist for more than (maybe) an hour or so. This suggests there's possibly some strange cache effect behind the problem...
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 24, 2004, 00:09:00
It'll be all those connection attempts from dhcp-230-2e118.gatwick.eur.slb.com (136.250.230.118) or maybe from gw186.gatwick.eur.slb.com (136.250.228.186).
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 24, 2004, 19:35:00
Hmmm... Here's a Firefox experiment. Let's see if cache checking is the problem...

type about:config
search for browser.cache.check_doc_frequency.
change its value to 1

Here's a list of possible values:

0: Check the cached page is current once per browser session
1: Check every time I view the page
2: Never check (always use cached page)
3 (default): Check when the page is out of date (automatically determined)
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 24, 2004, 21:05:00
Nope. That didn't work...
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Ian on Nov 24, 2004, 22:51:00
I've just "upgraded" to v1.0 from RC1. Let me have a play see what happens.
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 25, 2004, 00:13:00
Good Luck :wink:
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Delphine on Nov 28, 2004, 18:27:00
I have just managed to log in using my old computer and windows 98.  I wonder if the problem is with XP - can't login with that at all.
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 29, 2004, 19:14:00
I didn't have any problems until I installed Firefox 1.0 on the W2K system at work. It has terrible difficulty logging in, but the old Netscape 4.78 on the same system had no trouble at all ever, so my guess is the problems are almost certainly entirely down to the browser settings (and especially how it handles cookies) and phpBB's interpretation of them.

Ian said he was going to look into it... :wink:
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Ian on Nov 29, 2004, 19:32:00
and I'm getting no fault found on any of my systems. I think the individual browser and security setings are the only remaining place to look.

What to do about it is something else... I'm not entirely sure that upgrading the board will make any difference, but I'll start looking at doing it anyway.
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 29, 2004, 19:51:00
It's very odd. There must be some setting somewhere. Firefox has a handly little URL about:config which can reveal quite a lot. I wonder whether the "signon.rememberSignons" option is fighting with the cookies?

This morning was really weird; I logged in and it refused to admit it. The bbs demanded my name and password for two posts I made in "Upsets...", but then suddenly it decided it would let me into "Behind the Scenes" without a challenge. When I got back to the main index I found I was logged in....

Another thought; check the date and time on your system. Sometimes time-drifts can cause trouble...
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 29, 2004, 21:52:00
...and then I'm logged out again, for no obvious reason. Weird.
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Nov 29, 2004, 22:34:00
...and back in, possibly as a result of having to enter name and password to make that post. Weird indeed are the ways of Firefox. :wink:
Title: Login doesn't work
Post by: Rick on Dec 14, 2004, 21:03:00
Havn't been having any obvious trouble with the login this week, so whatever you did fixed something... :wink: