Debian can't load web page - Kubuntu can
 

This has been tested here with etch i386 on two machines, and with sid amd64 on one machine. None of the Debian boxes will load this site: http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/ Two Kubuntu edgy systems accessing the internet through the same router can load it. It isn't Java-related or browser-related. Other than that, I have no ideas. The webserver in question is running Linux and Apache, BTW.

Further testing might help narrow it down, so please try it and report in with your results.
Wild speculation is also encouraged, but I'm pretty sure this isn't caused by aliens.

Works fine for me using IceWeasel

What's left?
 

Tried here on sid amd-64: Iceweasel, Konqueror and Epiphany
On etch i386, on two machines: Konqueror and Firefox
None work. All the same result; "...contacted, waiting for reply" type messages, then they just sit and spin until they time out. Kubuntu machines work with Konqueror and Firefox.

Things which are not the cause:

1. Browser. Browsers that do not work here on Debian work here on Kubuntu.
2. Debian. Works elsewhere.
3. Network. All machines here, both working and nonworking, are on the same network with the same internet access.
4. Website. It is known to be working.

What's left?

I think there must be some kind of codec in play there. Do you have Java, Flash, the w32codecs package etc installed on Debian?

I would concentrate on 32-bit Debian first ... although I, here, am looking at it in 64-bit.

I can't open the site with my Debian Sid. Not from 64-bit or 32-bit chroot. But my old computer with Etch opens it fine. Strange! Something about snow on the site. :)

The homepage does not use Java, Flash, or any video. It does use javascript.

I'm not sure if this is effective, but I tried it on one of the Kubuntu boxes that work with the site.
First, with konqueror freshly started:

lsof | grep konqueror > list.not

Then after pointing it at the website:

lsof | grep konqueror > list.nohrsc

Then:

diff list.not list.nohrsc

The only thing that comes up with is files under /tmp/...
Assuming that this is effective, it means that konqueror is not loading any additional libraries or anything else in order to handle that site.

Works here on Etch using Firefox 3 Alpha1.
Doesn't work in Epiphany or Konqueror.

I threw everything I had at it. On the desktop; Iceweasel, Konqueror, Galeon, Epiphany, and Iceape; both 32-bit & 64-bit. On the laptop (32-bit); Iceweasel and Konqueror. No problems anywhere.

Only thing I can guess is that you have an Xorg or video driver issue.

http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/ Just tries to connect forever using Konqueror, Iceweasel, Opera 9.10, Mozilla Firefox 2.0, dillo and even on links2, w3m, elinks and lynx.

So maybe they are having server issues.

w3m: Can't load http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/

The thing is, they are not having server issues. If you hit it with something that works, it's fast and fine. I even got a response(!) to an email sent to the webmaster, who said they were having no issues. Your symptoms are identical to mine.

So now that we have another nonworking debian box, we can try to figure out where the working ones differ from the nonworking ones, and what the nonworking ones have in common. I think it is safe to say that it is something other than the browser.

OK- Here's a question for everyone following this thread.
When was the last time you upgraded?

All three of my affected machines were dist-upgraded within the last two weeks.
Two are etch i386, the other one is sid amd64.

From Malta I cannot reach this site with Firefox on a fully updated Sid PC and a Win98 PC.

However at the moment my bandwidth is poor (peak time in the Holiday season)

Traceroute doesn't get there in 40 hops and ping just sits there looking silly.

IP address resolves to 192.46.108.3

Maybe this helps a little?

To my surprise I can now enter http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/ on my Debian Sid! Seems to be something random. I haven't upgraded anything related to the web since last try.

www.nohrsc.nws.gov ping statistics ---
21 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 20008ms

Fully dist-upgraded Debian Sid.

Dig results:
$ dig www.nohrsc.nws.gov

; <<>> DiG 9.3.3 <<>> www.nohrsc.nws.gov
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 18198
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.nohrsc.nws.gov. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.nohrsc.nws.gov. 49830 IN A 192.46.108.3

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
nohrsc.nws.gov. 49830 IN NS dns.nohrsc.nws.gov.
nohrsc.nws.gov. 49830 IN NS dns-clone.nohrsc.nws.gov.

;; Query time: 20 msec
;; SERVER: 24.247.15.53#53(24.247.15.53)
;; WHEN: Fri Dec 29 15:46:35 2006
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 94

Nothing in my iptables is blocking the site , same goes for hosts file, tried with my router connected and even with a direct connection to my cable modem. Still nothing, it just sits there and spins never loading no matter what browser I attempt to use.

The only browser that actually times out is hv3:
502 Read from server failed: Timeout (65539)
The following error occurred while trying to access http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/:
The others just sit there trying to connect.

I've tried every available browser on my Slackware 11.0, even upgraded Firefox from 1.5.0.9 to 2.0.0.1. To no avail. On the same physical PC, in VMWare, Kubuntu 6.10 with Firefox 2.0 just does it nicely. :scratch:

It seems like sometimes it doesn't connect until I "echo 0 >/proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling", although sometimes it also (subsequently?) works with it enabled.