HELP REQ: Cache problem

[Donchano]

OS: WinXPpro SP3
ISP: Telecom Xtra
ADSL Modem: D-Link Model DSL-502T V.C5
Wireless Router: Cisco LINKSYS Model WRT-110

It started on the day after Christmas. After making some minor
changes on 24 December 2009, I updated a webpage on my website again
to reflect the date (26 December 2009) and uploaded the changed page
using SmartFTP. No problems. Everything ticked along as usual.

But when I went to check how the changes looked in FF and IE, the old
(24-12-09) page loaded without any changes.

Cleaned both caches, but same thing happened.

Cleaned my DSN cache using "ipconfig /flushcache" in run. Rebooted.
No luck.

Went into the file manager for my web account and deleted the page
from the root directory and confirmed it was gone from the "remote"
directory in SmartFTP. But the deleted page STILL loaded in both FF
and IE.

Filed a ticket with my webhost who checked it out on both their US and
European servers. They confirmed that the page was no longer there
and that they got error windows when they attempted to load it. Their
suggestion: get in touch with my ISP and ask them to clear their
cache.

After spending quite a long time with my ISP's "Complex Technical
Issues" team, I was told that the page should be gone within 24-hours.
But no such luck.

Another long call to the support number and the guy from the Complex
Technical Issues team tried loading the pages on his company computer
as well as on his personal laptop, and got error windows telling him
the page didn't exist.

So it appears that the problem could be with my modem or my PC,
because the page (without the changes) still loads on both my PC and
my laptop (using the wireless router connection).

I've downloaded new firmware for both the D-Link ADSL modem and the
LINKSYS wireless router. I've also rebooted and hardbooted both
computers a number of times after flushing their DSN caches. But I'm
at a total loss to think of anything else I can try and thought I'd
ask if anyone on microsoft.public.windowsxp.general has any ideas.

The page: http://www.surfwriter.net/links1.htm

TIA

 

[Donchano]

The page: http://www.surfwriter.net/links1.htm

Is now showing as "Page Not Found" - finally, after 33 hours. However,
there are two more pages that were removed from by web's root
directory an hour later (eg: 32 hours ago) and they are both still
loading as of this moment:

http://www.surfwriter.net/reviews.htm

http://www.surfwriter.net/the_living_curl.htm

 

[Shenan Stanley]

UPDATE:

The page: http://www.surfwriter.net/links1.htm

Is now showing as "Page Not Found" - finally, after 33 hours.
However, there are two more pages that were removed from by web's
root directory an hour later (eg: 32 hours ago) and they are both
still loading as of this moment:

http://www.surfwriter.net/reviews.htm

http://www.surfwriter.net/the_living_curl.htm

All three show as "Page Not Found".

 

[Donchano]

All three show as "Page Not Found".

Thanks for checking. But those two pages are still loading the old
un-changed versions on both FF and IE despite me having cleaned both
caches and my PC's DSN cache. So the problem is somewhere at my end of
things.

 

[Jose]

try a / on t'end of the URL,IMS that will force a refresh from the site.

--
--
Geoff
ExploitEd

Wisdom and experience come with age, they say, but I do wish I could
remember the darn question

Did adding the / on t'end of the URL make any difference when you
tried it?

 

[Jose]

Thanks for checking. But those two pages are still loading the old
un-changed versions on both FF and IE despite me having cleaned both
caches and my PC's DSN cache. So the problem is somewhere at my end of
things.

They don't work for me either in IE, Firefox or Chrome.

Looking at the source for the home page, you can see and navigate to
the other links (.htm pages), but not those.

I'd think thy are not on the server or somehow damaged?

 

[Twayne]

In

They don't work for me either in IE, Firefox or Chrome.

Looking at the source for the home page, you can see and navigate to
the other links (.htm pages), but not those.

I'd think thy are not on the server or somehow damaged?

Or perhaps they were uploaded to the wrong folder on the server?

Just a WAG.

Twayne


--
--
Often you'll find excellent advice on a newsgroup.
Before you use that advice though, consider the
ramifications of it being wrong or even dangerous;
how important IS that to you?
ALWAYS verify and confirm ANY advice from a
newsgroup!

 

[Donchano]

They don't work for me either in IE, Firefox or Chrome.

Looking at the source for the home page, you can see and navigate to
the other links (.htm pages), but not those.

I'd think thy are not on the server or somehow damaged?

Thanks for your reply.

Guess I didn't make myself clear. Both of those pages have been
removed from the root directory of my webhost's server. The aren't
supposed to be on the server. The problem is that they still load on
*my* computers. Both my PC and my laptop using the modem & router
specified in my op. This is after I've cleared the caches/history in
both FF & IE on both computers and flushed the DNS cache on both
computers.

The problem is that the *.htm pages are still loading at my end even
though they've been removed from the server.

 

[Donchano]

Did adding the / on t'end of the URL make any difference when you
tried it?

BINGO! Yes it did. Now both pages are "Page Not Found." Thank you very
much. But I still wonder why no one else could see the pages I removed
from my webhost's server, yet I still could until I tried your
suggestion.

Again ... many thanks.

 

[Donchano]

try a / on t'end of the URL,IMS that will force a refresh from the site.

Many thanks. That worked perfectly. Now I can update those pages and
hopefully upload them to my account on my webhost's server without any
further difficulties. Happy New Year!

 

[Jim]

Thanks for your reply.

Guess I didn't make myself clear. Both of those pages have been
removed from the root directory of my webhost's server. The aren't
supposed to be on the server. The problem is that they still load on
*my* computers. Both my PC and my laptop using the modem & router
specified in my op. This is after I've cleared the caches/history in
both FF & IE on both computers and flushed the DNS cache on both
computers.

The problem is that the *.htm pages are still loading at my end even
though they've been removed from the server.

Maybe a copy in Docsandsettings ?

 

[Donchano]

Maybe a copy in Docsandsettings ?

Thanks for replying. I've searched through Documents & Settings for
*.htm, but couldn't find anything that remotely looked like a copy of
those pages. What's strange is that even though the pages are now
marked "Page Not Found" in Firefox if I add a "/" to the URL (eg:
http://www.surfwriter.net/the_living_curl.htm/ ) , it will still load
using the URL without the "/" added.

I'm wondering if my Firefox/Google toolbar might have something to do
with the cache not being cleared. I do know Google caches pages.

 

[Donchano]

Thanks to Geoff's suggestion, adding a "/" at the end of the URL's
made old (presumably cached) versions of the deleted pages come up as
"Page Not Found" in Firefox.

So what I've done is upload the changed/updated versions of those
pages to the root directory of my webhost's server and confirmed that
they are both showing.

But a new problem has occurred. When I type in the URL's without the
"/" the old version still loads on both Firefox and IE (starting with
cleared caches).

And instead of my browsers loading the changed/updated pages I'd
republished this morning when I add the "/" at the end of the URL, I'm
still getting "Page Not Found."

Having not found any cached version of either of those two pages after
searching through my harddrive, I'm wondering if perhaps my
Firefox-Google toolbar has cached pages in it's system?

But after removing Google toolbar from Firefox on my laptop, I am
*still* experiencing the same problem.

The two pages are and I'd be grateful to know of any of you can view
the changed pages in your browsers. The only change to look for
(besides the publishing date) is on The Living Curl review page and
is a link on the upper right to an interview.

It reads: "You can catch an excellent interview with filmmaker, Jamie
Budge on Liquid Salt.Net "

http://www.surfwriter.net/reviews.htm
http://www.surfwriter.net/reviews.htm/

http://www.surfwriter.net/the_living_curl.htm
http://www.surfwriter.net/the_living_curl.htm/

 

[Donchano]

On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:08:45 +1300, Donchano
<[email protected]> shouted from the highest rooftop:

UPDATE: Since posting this both updated pages are now loading as they
should.

So the problem is the long lag between uploading a changed page and
being able to see the changed page on my browsers. That was never a
problem before December 26th and I'm still at a loss to understand why
it's happened since then or how to fix it.

Any suggestions are welcome.

TIA

 

[almostbob]

There may be something in server settings that caches pages
I have an image cms 'gallery2' available as a preinstall from my isp
speed enhancements there are some cache settings, that screw up new content
(went back to 'gallery' not being able to see changes immediately sux)
perhaps your isp has changed settings
there may be something in your control panel or helpscreens or the news
section of your host that details how to turn it back off, or tune it
properly

clutching at straws

hth

 

[almostbob]

Found this added to my .htaccess by gallery2 installer

<Files .htaccess>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 2 days"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 60 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 60 days"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 60 days"
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access plus 60 days"
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 60 days"
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 360 days"
</IfModule>

maybe something similar

 

[HeyBub]

UPDATE: Since posting this both updated pages are now loading as they
should.

So the problem is the long lag between uploading a changed page and
being able to see the changed page on my browsers. That was never a
problem before December 26th and I'm still at a loss to understand why
it's happened since then or how to fix it.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Use a scanner that will interrogate every file on your computer looking for
a phrase found on these "ghost" web pages (i.e., Agent Ransack). This will
either confirm or refute that the pages in question live under some rock on
your machine.

If not on your machine, I guess that leaves your ISP or web-hoster as the
culprit.

 

[Donchano]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and help. After spending
literally hours on the phone with my ISP's technical support we have
finally figured out what the problem is. Unfortunately, they haven't
figured out a solution as yet.

The problem is a very localised cache problem with a very narrow band
of IP addresses which includes mine and a few neighbours. For some
reason nobody can explain, the server cache for these addresses takes
48 or more hours to be cleared.

While the Xtra.com's technical support (somewhere in the Philippines)
searches for a solution, I've experimented with adding the following
code to one of my webpages' header and it works for me.

<meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache">

As I understand it, the code forces the server (even the problem
server) to check the originating server for a new copy.

I'm hoping I don't have to add this meta-tag to each and every one of
my webpages, but if Xtra can't come up with a fix at their server end
of things, then at least there's an alternative to me having to wait
48+ hours to check any changes to my website online.

Again ... thanks for all of your suggestions and help. It has been a
very interesting and valuable learning curve. Cheers, b