Explain this weirdness accessing WordPress with Firefox?

August 22, 2006 10:53 PM

Why did Firefox suddenly begin to choke when I try to access /wp-admin/?

If I attempt to gain access to WordPress by going to http://again.bluesilver.org/wp-admin/, instead of going directly into the Dashboard, I get this result. The same response occurs when I click the link to logout. (Though it does logout my account just the same.) Everything is fine If I go to http://again.bluesilver.org/wp-admin/index.php, specify any other filename or navigate to any part of the administrative panel via the menu, as usual, everything's fine. This is also happening on another of my blogs.

This glitch only occurs with Firefox (1.5.0.6) and WordPress 2.0.4 and even more oddly, this just started happening in the last 12 hours. I have made no changes to either Firefox nor the WordPress installations in question in weeks.

The problem of getting into WP was solved easily enough but the weirdness is unsettling. Any ideas on a fix for this?

posted by Dreama to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Something included on that page (probably with a php extension) has the wrong MIME type.
posted by orthogonality at 10:56 PM on August 22, 2006

I'm using Firefox 1.5.0.6 under Mac OS X 10.4.7.

I'm running DOM Inspector and Talkback as extensions.

I had no difficulties getting to the WordPres login screen.

I recommend trying my suggestion here for troubleshooting general Firefox issues.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:58 PM on August 22, 2006

This might be a clue.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 11:20 PM on August 22, 2006

Yeah, this is the mime type being off.

Just click the radio button for "open with" and point it towards the firefox executable, then check the "do this automatically with files like this from now on" if it works. It should work.
posted by Matt Oneiros at 11:45 PM on August 22, 2006

Just click the radio button for "open with" and point it towards the firefox executable, then check the "do this automatically with files like this from now on" if it works. It should work.

I have gotten Firefox on Windows to go into an infinite loop by doing this. I don't recommend it. Better to fix the MIME type.
posted by grouse at 12:12 AM on August 23, 2006

>I have gotten Firefox on Windows to go into an infinite loop by doing this.

Same on Mac.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 2:55 AM on August 23, 2006

I've had this happen when my host's database server was down, and it resolved itself as soon as the server was back up. (I don't know enough about Wordpress to say whether this makes sense, but it seemed slightly odd behaviour to me...)
posted by jack_mo at 4:57 AM on August 23, 2006

I had this happen when my host's tmp directory was filled (shared hosting, someone else did it). It was resolved when the disk was emptied of garbage.
posted by maxpower at 5:12 AM on August 23, 2006

Sorry to be so off-topic, but: Dreama, can you please email me about the swap? I've sent you three messages through the website, and I've been unable to catch you on AIM. My username at gmail. Thanks!
posted by ruby.aftermath at 11:49 AM on August 23, 2006