Trouble with Firefox

May 28, 2007 7:04 AM

I love my homepage JournalistExpress.com which I have used for years. All of a sudden loading it with Firefox has become frustratingly long. 3,4,5 minutes sometimes. The help desk at JouralistExpress told me there is a known problem with Firefox and gave some suggested adjustments to settings all of which I made. No difference. Here's what they told me was the problem.

There is a known Firefox issue with IPv6. IPv6 was designed in part to solve the problem IPv4 will soon be facing: the exhaustion of all possible IP addresses. Firefox implemented IPv6 support in early 2000, but that support did not receive widespread testing until recently as IPv6-capable OSs and network software/equipment became more common. One particular bug occurs when an IPv6-capable DNS servers returns an IPv4 address when Firefox expects an IPv6 address. It is possible for Firefox to recover from this confusion, but a significant delay is introduced while Firefox tries to reach the site at what is essentially the wrong IP address. I believe this is the delay you are encountering. Even though Firefox states it is waiting for Journalist Express, it is using the unexpected IPv4 IP address as an IPv6 IP address and, in essence, is looking in the wrong place. Once it recovers, it eventually uses the correct IP address.

I admit I don't understand it. I find no forum on Firefox's site that addresses this problem. Before I abandon JournalistExpress I wonder if anyone can point me to a help source where I might fix the problem. TIA !

posted by NorthCoastCafe to computers & internet (10 comments total)

If your hosting provider is serving your domain with IPv6, then it is time to find a new provider.

while(1){

   print("It will be ten years before IPv6 is widely adopted/n");

   sleep(3600*24*365.25*10);

}

posted by b1tr0t at 7:22 AM on May 28, 2007

It's probably that your return key is broken.

Or this:
1. type about:config into your address bar.
2. Type "ipv6" into the search (without the quotes)
3. Set it to say "true"
posted by bonaldi at 7:24 AM on May 28, 2007

Or, put "ipv" into the filter, and add journalistexpress.com to the ipv4-only domains
posted by bonaldi at 7:25 AM on May 28, 2007

That url loaded for me in under 1 second on Firefox 2.0.0.3 on OS X. Whomever is telling you that that url requires ipv6 support is not giving you accurate information.
posted by gen at 7:40 AM on May 28, 2007

Loaded in 7.6 seconds for me in Firefox 2.0.0.3 on XP Pro. I've got quite a few addons but I havent intentionally changed any IP settings
posted by missmagenta at 7:53 AM on May 28, 2007

Loaded in 6.188 seconds for me in Firefox 2.0.0.3 on XP Home.
posted by rancidchickn at 7:57 AM on May 28, 2007

Took around 6-7 seconds for me as well. Sensible things to try:
-get the latest version of firefox
-clear your cache (tools > clear private data. Leave only 'cache' ticked, click clear private data now, then restart firefox)
posted by spark at 10:00 AM on May 28, 2007

5-6 seconds Firefox, ubuntu Feisty
posted by acro at 10:21 AM on May 28, 2007

Check this resource if you're looking for similar websites.
posted by acro at 10:36 AM on May 28, 2007

~7 secs. ff 2.0.0.3 xp pro
posted by juv3nal at 10:50 AM on May 28, 2007