Problems loading the frontpage and AOL users

We are aware that some users are having difficulties loading the frontpage of ConservativeHome.  If you are affected by this problem please leave a comment below specifying which browser and computer you use.  This will help us to resolve the problem.  In the meantime our apologies and thanks for your patience.

PS AOL users finding it difficult to leave comments might find it easier to use Internet Explorer.  For some reason this makes a difference.

Comments

[Firefox user]

I have had problems with a couple of different computers today but all using Firefox.

[Ken Stevens]

I can't access front page. I have Firefox on a Dell PC with XP.

Dunno what that spec means but my kiddies assure me that it's a good combination!

[Ben Locker]

I find www.browsershots.org invaluable for solving problems like this.

I'm having no problems with a Mac using Safari or Firefox.

[Adrian Owens]

Finally got through at 3rd attempt. Using IE with a Dell laptop and XP

[Aurora Borealis]

I've had problems too! I thought it might have been my broadband connection.

[Aurora Borealis]

Using IE7 by the way.

[Ken Stevens]

I just tried Ben Lockers tip re
www.browsershots.org
Response: "Could not get page content from conservativehome.blogs.com. Server failed to respond within 20 seconds."

[Iain]

I've found it almost impossible to enter the site, Dell desktop, XP.

[Ken Stevens]

Iain
I only got on because I had a bookmark direct to a topic upon which I have recently been bleating. Even though already in the site by that means, I can't get across to front page via menu box.

[bluepatriot]

I can get to every other page - ToryDiary, Platform, CentreRight immediately - but not the homepage.

[Deputy Editor]

Thanks for the feedback all. How long have you had these problems?

[Ken Stevens]

"How long have you had these problems?"

I first noticed impossibility of homepage access yesterday but had intermittent difficulty prior to that.
-- Wouldn't claim that as any sort of definitive answer re front page, as I've been accessing topics of particular interest directly via bookmarking.

[Norm Brainer]

not on AOL, but the frontpage is slooooow - I'm guessing maybe aol browser might have a shorter timeout so fails to load.

Get a faster server :)

[Will S]

It's been like this for a few weeks now. I don't recall exactly when it began. Reloading the page usually fixes the problem though.

Using Firefox + Vista

[Sally Roberts]

I've had a similar problem for at least the past few days - probably on and off for a good while before that. I run IE7 on an HP laptop.

[Dave B]

Safari 3.1.1

My impression was the problem was with your web host, not the page layout.

[John W]

Safari, Tiger, Powerbook

Has been taking me a few page loads to get it to work.

[Gareth Knight]

Been having problems for a few days.

IE6, Dell laptop, XP professional

[Jon H]

Safari on a Mac. It's been slow for weeks and recently sometimes fails to load. Same result with two different and very reliable ISPs - neither of which is AOL. I work as a web designer and have used TypePad, and I suspect your homepage is just too long - too many entries. Try reducing the number of posts on the homepage to 10.

[Bob B]

I'm having increasing problems getting through with a mainstream Dell desktop running XP Professional (+SP3) and a standard IE browser.

[Malcolm Dunn]

My bookmark hasn't worked for about 2 days. Got through via Google.

[Editor]

Thanks Jon for that suggestion: I'll try it now.

[MartinW]

For many weeks, it has been very slow and/or refuses. IE; XP; desktop and laptop computers.

[Jon H]

Editor, I see you've tried that but I am still getting the same results on Safari. Firefox, meanwhile, loads but still takes time. The most obvious root cause is insufficient bandwidth - this site does have exceptionally high traffic. I am guessing you have opened a help ticket with TypePad, who in my experience are quick and helpful. If not, I suggest that strongly. Feel free to contact me by email if you wish.

[Graeme Archer]

Today particularly bad but it's been ridiculously slow on the iPhone for ages. Bad at work (Dell + XP), OK at home (Safari + Tiger).

[Chris Palmer]

I do have the same problem. It could be the load on the server is too high. There are of course a lot of people that use this website.

[Dave B]

This is the error message I get when CH fails to load:

"Safari can’t open the page “http://conservativehome.blogs.com/” because the server unexpectedly dropped the connection, which sometimes occurs when the server is busy. You might be able to open the page later."

[Ken Stevens]

Just tried it three times in a row, by typing in address, by bookmark and by hopping via menu from another page.

A bit slow but nevertheless it struggled on each time.

... Now I suppose you'll say that you've not actually fiddled around to fix the system yet!

[Keith Griffiths]

Mozilla, ISP=BTInternet, Mesh desktop, XP

[Conor]

Have not been able to get in for 24 hours through Firefox. On new through explorer

[griff]

Internet Explorer fast
Mozilla sloooow
Mesh Desktop
ISP=BTInternet

[Norm Brainer]

Jon H ... It's not an insufficient bandwidth problem I wouldn't think.

What I would say is that there is so much dynamic content on the front page that one or many of the requests it needs to build the page is causing a lot of processor time and a lot of delay.... considering it's the front page it's probably the most visited so it adds up to a large load on the server.

As the content isn't personalised then maybe the front page should show a cached copy that is updated every minute or 5.

[Perdix]

Fujitsu Siemens PC with XP Home, Browser IE. Very slow to load - often fails to load. Also problematic when having read an article I use "back" to return to home page.

[Editor]

Thanks again for all of this feedback. It is useful.

[griff]

Internet Explorer now slooow

[Prentiz]

IE 6.0.29 on XP, over Pipex commercial (I think!)

[Bill Byway]

The front paghe has been extremely slow to load (and has sometimes failed) for the past few days, using both Firefox and my Blackberry browser.

[Cllr David Sammels]

I have had this problem for quite some time - I am on a Macbook Pro, and experience the problems with both Safari and Firefox browsers.

[Chris]

On my mac it won't load in Safari or Camino

[Bazzer]

A desktop here running XP and using IE7.

Con Home has always been slow to load (over many months) but the past few days it just hasn't managed it at all.

[Treacle]

Firefox, but only in the last 7 days, before that fine

[Gert Lush]

Apple iPhone (Safari)

[M Dowding]

IE on an Emachine normally very good. I suspect problems over the last few weeks were an embedded registry "spy" counter. Cleaned reg and bingo!
Probably a national security trial run on computer spying! I expect 42 days detention any moment,

[John F in Aberdeen]

I,m currently in Singapore,, have a Toshiba Tecra notebook and internet explorer.
Started having problems today, tried to get on at 8am Singapore time this morning,, managed to get on at 10 am but its very intermittent plus if you click on a story, then go back it goes down.

I think maybe too much stuff in the front page could be the problem. The centre right stuff and the section underneath with quotes from the other media always takes longer to load up.
Might be worth considering upgrading to a format like Politicshome.com

BTW I showed the people in my Singapore office PMQ,s the overwhelming verdict from the Singaporeans was,, Cameron is prime minesterial,, Brown is uuuuuuuuur rrrrrgh

[John D]

It's been very slow loading or completely failed to load a few times for quite while now - using various computers.

[John Leonard]

Sam,

Seems to happen with both AOL and Internet Explorer sporadically over the last couple of weeks or so.

Off topic but related:

Also the previous problem with AOL and typepad has not yet been fixed. Whilst there is a perfectly acceptable work round it might be worth giving Typepad a kick.

Occasionally having both browsers open (and you have to, to post, if you are an AOL user) can cause quite serious problems such as a full crash or browser crash(particularly when auto update sites like Politicshome and Newsnow are also open).

[Deborah]

Dell and IE

[Peregrine]

Been having loading problems for a while (over a week) both from work (IE7, networked Dell desktop) and home (IE7, Toshiba laptop). I often have problems from work which are only duplicated by small sites (such as Numberwatch) but have rarely had problems from home before.

[Ken Stevens]

My little boy ( a web developer) just got home, so I asked him to have a look. Reaction as follows:

"Tory Bureaucracy? ;-)

To be honest, I'm not at all sure. It's not a problem with the domain because a) you can get directly to the sub-sections and b) I checked the domain itself and it's responsive.

I can only imagine there's some sort of script that runs on the homepage that involves getting information from another server or an overloaded part of the same server that it is waiting for before it is able to load. This isn't uncommon but should be investigated by whoever runs it!"

Hope that means something to somebody!

[Orlando]

Problems for over a week.

Misery loves company...so now I don't feel that bad since I thought it was a problem at my end!

Sony Vaio using IE.

[Will W]

Had major problems using Firefox on my Dell running XP. But then I made the URL re-direct to the IP address on the system defaults, and it works fine.

[Benet Northcote]

very slow on my Nokia 6130i and loading off both the office and home Internet connections.

[Lindsay Jenkins]

Agree with fellow AOL user John Leonard - infuriating having to switch browsers to post and causes crashes.

Intermittently had problems accessing other sites e.g. newspapers with AOL but always sorted quickly.

Only this one remains a constant!

[christina Speight]

Have sent this direct already but for the record
Safari and Firefox on Mac - today worst ever. Total failure to Home page. BUT can get to ToryDiary direct and the slooowly back to Home page via index.

Recently when slooowly the Home page does come up the right hand two columns are missing! Today NOTHING

[Alex Swanson]

XP SP3
Firefox 2.0.0.14

[brian]

It is not the browser - this looks like a server timeout. If you have a restricted number of connections to your backend database then you may be running out of connections.

This site reports itself as running on an Apache server so check the error logs in /var/log/httpd or /var/log/Apache2 (depending on version).

It also appears to be using a Squid proxy so check that too..

[ross warren]

If only policy got people so excited LOL.

[RW]

Every time I try to load the home page it flags up a security issue and asks me "do you want to install Adobe Flash Player Installer". Didn't do that before. Could that be something to do with it? Also generally loads only on second or third try, and sometimes comes up with right hand columns missing, as others have mentioned. Using IE6 all updates. I think maybe your server's overloaded.

[snegchui]

Bad for about 4 days. XP Pro and Firefox. Found today that when on Main Page, if loading took a long time started to really impact other tabs, kill CH tab and rest spring back into life. Plenty of Server Reset messages and failure to load.

[Martin Wright]

Most problems with Internet Explorer, but even Firefox has been erratic and sometimes I've disconnected in mid-read.

[Keir Gravil]

Safari 3.1.1 - Leopard - iMac

Works sometimes, but other times I just can't get onto the page.

[Alex Swanson]

IE7 loads part of the page then hangs

[NickL]

I have had problems - I am using Firefox on Windows Vista

[Ali Gledhill]

It is very slow with Firefox / Linux.

I'm no expert in this kind of thing, bit I can offer a couple of suggestions / deductions.

The fault seems to be with the page taking so long to load that some browsers give up and others take ages. The problem is not with your hosted server - the rest of the site works. Therefore two thoughts are worth investigating:

1. The fault probably lies with somebody else's server being sluggish for some reason. Removing any scripts or images hosted elsewhere from the template should solve the problem. Pages display once files load, and slowness causes some browsers to time out.

2. Some commenters say the problem is about a week old. Perhaps an offending image or script was posted in the body of a newslinks post on the homepage in the last week or so? You might want to try changing the page to display just today's newslinks to see if that helps.

I hope this is of use. It is a pity that while the site is doing what it does best (MEP issues) many people can't access it!

[Ken Stevens]

With all the various helpful hints & tips flying around, do remember to tell us what the problem actually turns out to be!

[Patsy Sergeant]

I have only just managed to access this thread and the comment box, so YES I am also having accessing problems!

[Patsy Sergeant]

PS - I use Internet Explorer, but am still affected.

[Alison Donnithorne-Tait]

Just logged straight on, first time no struggle in ages, last few days very slow and this morning wouldn't do it.Vista Home Basic on lenovo laptop. Had huge problems with speed etc of AOL in all areas since the recent buyout. May be coincidental

[Patsy Sergeant]

I only managed to access this thread via the daily news e-mail that you send me. It has been getting slower for several weeks, but this last week it has been VERY slow, and pages have hung.... as other people have said. I have Dell desk top XP Pro: (I think) or anyway 7, and IE.

[Matt Wright]

Struggled to get on your site in last 3 or 4 days and have to try several times before getting on. Toshiba laptop and XP.

[Joe P]

Was having problems loading the homepage on my iMac but that is OK now. On the 'Dirty Uni Dropouts' thread, however, I keep getting a 'server reset' error, even though the page seemed to have loaded properly.

[Rupert Browett]

It seems to worse in the mornings

Dell desktop and vista using IE

[Ali Gledhill]

Further to earlier comments, it seems as if the problem was a cumulative one. The most probable reason is that either your server or one that hosts scripts/files from the website has been overloaded or is being stretched by a level of pageloads greater than it is able to handle. This would cause a slowing of pageloads which gradually gets worse.

If so, it's actually good news in a way!

That said, I have just loaded the frontpage twice at normal speed, so the problem might have been righted.

[Tandy]

Problems for more than a week on IE, Firefox and Safari - seens unrelated to browser and is only the home page.

[RobD]

Dell IE7

Have had problems for a few weeks but a refresh usually sorted it out. Today I could not get on at all from 10am onwards.

[Kevin Davis]

Firefox and has been a problem for past few days.

I appears to be the conservativehome.blogs.com that is the problem.

If you use conservativehome.com it goes through fine.

[m wood]

Firefox works fine for me. Biggest problem is tring to read the check characters, usually need 4 or 5 attempts, can't you make them a bit easier?

[Andrew]

Is it one of the flash widgets or a runaway script?

I'm on Firefox (3 preview) on WinVista.

The connection is resetting after a slow load. I would expect it is a problem at sixapart.

[Mary Hinge]

For the last 10 days or so it has taken two or three goes on both home (IE, XP, HP, Pipex broadband) and work (IE, Vista, Lenovo, Pipex commercial broadband) to get on. Some times I gave up.

[Neil Reddin]

Slow / no loading intermittently over the last few weeks.

Running FireFox with AdBlocker and Script Blocker blocking quantserve and widgetserver.

[Editor]

I hope the problem is not so bad today. Some testing suggests it has improved. I hope to have more concrete news soon. Thanks again for everyone's patience.

[Deborah]

Much better so far. Response is fine.
Fingers crossed.

[Ken Stevens]

opened up quickly just now

[Richard Calhoun]

Having problems as you describe:

Mozilla Firefox 7.1

HP with windows xp

[Deputy Editor]

I think I may have experienced this problem temporarily for the first time this morning. I noticed it said that Google Analytics was loading for a while so I took it off for the last few hours (back on now) - did that help anyone?

The Typepad people have finally got back to us now so hopefully it'll be sorted soon.

[Kevin Davis]

It is the .blogs.com addred that is the problem. the conservativehome.com is fine.