Hello, I have only just made the switch to Linux and have just installed Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft Desktop on a new 120GB HDD. Problem is whenever I try to log into my internet banking site or various email accounts using Firefox (or any https site for that matter), I keep getting the "Firefox could not establish a connection to the server" message. I have read around bits & pieces and googled but I can't seem to be able to find an answer.

I have seen some things about https accessing certain ports in my modem, e.g port 80 for http and port 443 for https. I am running a Netcomm NB5 ADSL2+ compatible modem and all sites work fine on Windows. I have no idea what to do. My priority is getting this fixed first then I will be happy.

Please bear in mind I am a complete and utter nuffy with Linux and command line so go easy :|
Thanks in advance.

You might try looking in Preferences-->Advanced-->Security to be sure that SSL, TLS, etc are enabled.
I've never seen this issue--and I can't find anything else in FF preferences that seems relevant.

Yeh tried that still no luck... should I try to uninstall and reinstall firefox? How would I do this?

Try installing (or using) a different browser--Evolution, Opera, etc.--to see if that works.

I'm assuming that you are using the FF that comes with Ubuntu. You can remove and re-install it with the package manager (Synaptic or Adept)

You can also install FF directly (eg in /opt) without removing the exisiting install.

Not to ask a stupid question, but are you actually specifying "https" in the URL? Sometimes if you just use "http" to go to a secure site it won't work

Not a stupid question JW, if there's anybody asking the stupid questions right now that would be me! I don't actually specify anything in address bar, it's just whenever I try to connect to a secure server (e.g web-based email, my internet banking website etc) I have no luck. I have set up email client using Thunderbird but it doesn't connect, and neither does Gaim messenger. This may shed more light on the problem, sorry for not mentioning it before

Thanks for the info btw pixellany. Preferences are set up as advised, still no luck.

I'm thinking that maybe the Ubuntu install, by default, is blocking a port in my modem? I'm running XP on my other HDD and no problems accessing email, messenger and https sites there, so I know it's not my modem...

Thanks again.

Hmmmmm--how do you connect to a site without specifying something in the address bar?? (Clicking on a link is the same thing)

I am puzzled how connecting to e-mail server is relevant. Try pinging the various servers. To ping by url name, leave off all the http:// stuff---eg: ping www.google.com or ping mail.ispname.net

I did not think that modems had ports which could be blocked--I thought that ports were associated with the TCP/IP protocols

My guess would be that windows us using UPNP to open the ports it needs in the router, but ubuntu isn't. Not sure how you'd get around this though, other than specifying the modem to keep the open.

Router??--what router? OP just said modem...

Apart from https, you *can* access regular http sites, correct?

If so, then I'm baffled. Pixellany's suggestion about checking the security settings is excellent, but if that doesn't have an effect I'm not sure what else to suggest. If not, and you can't get to any sites at all in Firefox, then I'd guess it's something simple like DHCP isn't running.

Overall, if the access problem is strictly limited to https sites, unfortunately I wouldn't have any other suggestions.

Thanks all for your informative responses, a friend got me onto Swiftfox and I can now access https sites. I will now try and sort out my Gaim and Thunderbird issues.

Thanks again!