Images not cached at subdomain URL

[Arthur Way]

I've been experiencing an odd problem for a long time, now. IE6
does not cache any images at all when the subdomain URL is called
upon. If you call to the directory that actually holds the site
(and not the subdomain URL) the images are cached normally.
However - this is only a problem in IE. I've tested the site in
Netscape, Opera, and Mozilla and those browsers do not exhibit
this problem. Try it for yourself:

Images do not cache at:
http://thesims2.atomicfantasy.com
This is not only the rollover images but all images in general.
The entire GUI should only load in once. The center table content
is the only thing which changes from page to page. Yet if you
skip around, you see the whole interface coming in on each page
load, all over again. And the rollovers do not load in,
obviously. They get called on each mouseOver. In fact, if you
erase your browser cache and then check it after viewing this
URL - you'll see that NO IMAGES have even been placed in the cache
directory on the hard drive.

*But they *do cache at:
http://www.atomicfantasy.com/thesims2


My first thought was that this was an issue of site-root relative
links versus document-relative links. But then why does it work
properly in all browsers except IE?

My second thought was that this was an issue with my hosting
server. They have looked into the problem extensively and told me
it isn't a configuration issue on their end. They've never given
me reason to doubt them so I believe they're telling the truth.

To pre-empt a lot of answers that I know won't work:

I've already tried emptying the cache, including all offline
content, I've flushed my DNS info, I've gone through all four
browser cache settings (auto, every time, never, etc.) and I've
fiddled with security and cookie settings. Nothing changes it.

I've only come across a few other threads in a search of the
Internet, and none of them had a solution to this problem. The MS
knowledge base has nothing on this occurrence. Does anyone here
know what causes it and how to solve it? Or have any ideas that I
haven't already mentioned?

FTR, I use Win XPHome w/ SP1 w/ all updates current for IE.

 

[H Leboeuf]

Try to save the file AS Web Page complete. If you get an error message, read
on.

This Web Page Could Not Be Saved
When you attempt to save a Web page using the Web Page, complete
(*.htm;*.html) or Web Archive, single file (*.mht) options in Internet
Explorer, you may receive the follow error message: Error Saving Web Page.
This Web page could not be saved.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=235589 (i. e. 5, 6. 5/10/2003)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


The probable cause is that the web page contains a link to a StyleSheet
which resides
on a different server than the one where the page is located. After some
recent
security update (MS02-023 Patch or later), Internet Explorer blocks access
to
StyleSheet code if the code is on a different domain/server.
This is why the page fails to be saved.

For more information about MS02-023, please see:
322928 MS02-023: Patch Available to Disable Frames in the Restricted Sites
Zone
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=322928

The following is an example:
=====================
1. Open the web site in Internet Explorer on a machine
where MS02-023 security patch or later (such as Internet Explorer 6 SP1) is
installed.

2. Select Internet Explorer File menu and select Save.
3. Leave 'Save as Type' to 'Web Page, complete (*.htm,*.html)

Before saving of the web page is complete, and error message appears:
"Error Saving Web Page: The Web page could not be saved to the selected
location".
You can click OK to close the message, but the page is not saved to disk.

If you do the same with for example everything
works perfectly.

ANALYSIS
========
The difference is that postimees.ee uses:
<ink rel="stylesheet"
href="http://194.204.30.64/postimees/styles/postimees.css">
and aflonbadet:
<LINK rel="stylesheet" type="TEXT/CSS"
href="http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/sidhuvud/css/files/0,3590,bas,00.css">

194.204.30.64 is a different server than the current web page, while
www.aftonbladet.se is in the same sever.

To resolve the problem, you can inform the web site administrator to change
the StyleSheet location in the website.

Regards,
Hover Xue
Microsoft Partner Online Support

 

[Arthur Way]

The style sheet is held on the same server as the rest of the
site. I had no problems saving it as a complete page. Thanks for
the suggestion, though. To reiterate - my problem is that no
images are cached, nothing from the subdomain URL is cached at
all, in fact.

ACW

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Images do not cache at:

http://thesims2.atomicfantasy.com

The problem is that your server is sending

Vary: Host

with each file. Apparently IE's action when seeing this
is not to cache. The fix is to get the server operator to stop
the server from sending this header command.


FWIW I just got some feedback from another admin. who was having
the same symptom. He modified his Apache server to stop sending
the Vary header and IE started caching again!

<headers>
From: (e-mail address removed) (Steven of Bielik)
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6.browser
Subject: Re: IE6 not using cache on one site
Date: 23 Jan 2004 12:36:21 -0800
</headers>


I still don't know enough about Vary to say if IE is correct to stop
caching because of it. I don't think so. At the very least I think it
could cache for offline use since no request is being made which
would be intended to prevent that.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle

 

[Arthur Way]

That solved it, thanks. It only took me about a year to solve!
lol Microsoft: clarify this issue in the next release! With as
many people using IE as there are, I'm sure there are probably a
lot of ISP companies and clients alike losing/using a lot of
bandwidth without even knowing it (or knowing it and not why, like
I was) due to this easy-to-miss conflict.

ACW