Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage on first load

[Paul_Sanders]

We have two 310B in AP running V4 MR1 We have configured the system to allow the use of FSAE to authenticate users (VDOM) and Explicit Proxy using port 8080 on the root VDOM. We have started to migrate users from our ISA server to the 310B by changing the user' s IE proxy settings to reflect the new proxy server. However the users receive a Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage the first time they visit any site, if they refresh the site loads OK. When I check the Web Filter logs the first attempt reports URL belongs to an allowed category in policy direct Which I presume should load the page. A subsequent refresh loads the page. Using the IE network diagnostic in the same session also fails. I suspect that our ISP link is saturated but it is odd that the ISA server reacts differently (it is also using the 310B to access the internet) Any ideas please?

[billp]

Using current firmware of 4.1.1? (4.0, MR 1, Patch 1)? There was a problem with picture files not loading properly in MR1. Doesn' t sound like it' s your problem, but perhaps related. Does the same issue happen with Firefox? Just an idea -- might give you a more detailed error message that could help you troubleshoot the issue. Bill

[Paul_Sanders]

Thanks for responding Bill. I did the upgrade to 4.1.1 last which installed OK but did not solve the problem. Firefox works just fine. So it is an IE problem / setting and it appears to affect both 6 and 8. I am currently working on tweeking IE settings.

[billp]

Interesting. On a lark, you might try changing the proxy port to see if that has any effect. There is a tech note on the Fortinet site saying that ports 8008 and 8010 are used for internal FTG communication and can cause conflicts if used for other things. Maybe 8080 is also used for something. Seems unlikely since it' s such a common proxy port, though. Best, Bill

[Paul_Sanders]

Bill I did a quick test with port 8888 no joy. Can not see port 8080 being a problem as is is a standard proxy redirect and 2 firefox works OK usinf 8080.

[FortiRack_Eric]

it sounds like there' s a failure on the primary dns server. A reload will use the secondary.

[Paul_Sanders]

Hello Eric, I do not think it is a DNS issue as the same scenario on the same system using Firefox loads on first call (using a different site!). I have also created a Vanilla IE8 install (very few tweaks) to rule out any configuration settings but that did not work either. Very annoying very frustrating as our IE set up works OK with ISA 2006.

[FortiRack_Eric]

hmm.... are you sure that it isn' t a DNS issue. I know that Firefox checks both DNS servers without an initial error where IE only uses secondary DNS after first fail.

[Paul_Sanders]

I think I have traced the culprit. A patch released by Microsoft in October for IE that apparently had some undesirable side effects. I have downloaded and run a couple of systems with the updated November patch and they are not showing the failure to load problem, but I am going to test again tomorrow just to make sure I am not seeing what I want to see. I have also posted similar to this with a ticket I opened with support.

[Paul_Sanders]

Right the MS patch related to KB976749 (Update for Internet Explorer x) appears to solve most of the hang problems. Thank you guys for all of you input.