Help: Some simple web pages do not load

[seth]

Some simple web pages do not load. They simply show some small number of KB (about 4-20KB) on the progress bar and then stop. The page never displays.

This is using the version if IE mobile that came with the dash (on WM5).

When I say "simple" I mean, no flash,. No PHP…essentially plain HTML

I suspect this is NOT a network problem as the same pages load fine if I use Opera Mobile instead of IE.

An example of a simple page that will not load in IE mobile for me is:
http://www.d20srd.org/

From the same site though, the following page loads FINE:
http://www.d20srd.org/extras/characterRecord.htm

The main difference I can see is that the [i]problem page has columns.

So my questions are:

Does anybody have any idea how to fix this?
Do other WM5 SmartPhone users have a problem loading the example problem page using IE on their dashes?
What other information can I provide that would help diagnose this issue?



My relevant settings are:
IE >> Menu >> Tools > Options >> Connections

[ ] Automatically detect settings.
(checked or unchecked does not seem to matter)

Select network: The Internet

Settings >> Connections >> Menu (Rt softkey) >> Advanced:

Internet connection: T-mobile Data

Settings >> Connections >> GPRS >> T-mobile Data

Connects to: The Internet

Access point: wap.voicestream.com

[Mike Temporale]

When I say "simple" I mean, no flash,. No PHP…essentially plain HTML

Well, to start - there is no flash player for the Smartphone. So I'm not surprised that you don't see flash content. ;)

As for PHP, that's a server side thing. You're not running PHP on the client browser. So this isn't a problem with your phone/IE Mobile. The fact that the page is written in PHP has nothing to do with the fact you can't see it on the device. Heck, this site is PHP and I read it all the time on my phone. :D

IE Mobile is not the same as IE 6 or IE 7. It's more like IE4 or so. There's a good chance that the site is using something that IE Mobile can't handle. Opera Mobile is a totaly different browser and supports different things.

[seth]

Sorry I was not clearer. When I said:

"When I say "simple" I mean, no flash,. No PHP…essentially plain HTML"

What I meant was thet the page I am trying to lod has NO flash and NO PHP. i.e. that it is a 'simple' web page.

Thanks

[seth]

I copied the problem page (http://www.d20srd.org/) to my own web server so I could investigate the problem

It uses a CSS:
http://www.d20srd.org/styles/home.css

The first line of this CSS is:
@import "main.css";


I found that if and only if I removed this first line, then IE mobile on my WM5 device loads the page just fine. I also verified that while the non-problem page does use CSS, that CSS has NO imports.

So one conclusion is that my IE mobile is choking on CSS imports.

Still no solution though :-(

[bshpmark]

I am having a similar problem on my Dash with some web pages not loading all the way. For example, at the xda-developers web site they have a page that has WM5 tweaks. The page loads completely on my SDA but stops loading at about 78K on my Dash. I have to press the STOP key to get the loading process to stop. Only a small portion of the page then displays. Never had a problem with any pages displaying on the SDA.

[seth]

I would really appreciate it if others could test their Dashes and let me know if they have this problem or not, and what version of ROM and WM they have.

Use this page to test if you have the issue:
http://www.d20srd.org/
loads or it does not load.

ROM version
Start >> Settings >> System Information >> ROM version

Windows version
Start >> Settings >> System Information >> About >> OS

Mine is:
- does NOT load
- ROM version: 1.11.531.1
- Windows version: 5.1.342 (Build 15097.3.0.1)

[bshpmark]

That page doesnotload on my Dash either.

ROM: 1.11.531.1

[Mike Temporale]

I would really appreciate it if others could test their Dashes and let me know if they have this problem or not, and what version of ROM and WM they have.

I think you'll find that EVERYONE has the same version of WinMo on their Dash. It's too soon for T-Mo or HTC to have released any updates. Further, IE Mobile is not a full featured browser. It doesn't support everything that it's desktop counterpart does. For that matter, it doesn't support the same things as Opera Mobile.

[seth]

I think you'll find that EVERYONE has the same version of WinMo on their Dash.

Thank you. Good to know

Further, IE Mobile is not a full featured browser. It doesn't support everything that it's desktop counterpart does. For that matter, it doesn't support the same things as Opera Mobile.

Yeah, I know. But I have confirmed reports that some Dash users can load this page, and others have the same exact problem I have.... so it is not a IEM feature support issue

[Gavino1212]

http://www.d20srd.org/ ......stops loading at 4kb on my Dash, and
http://www.d20srd.org/styles/home.css gives me an error saying it cannot be viewed on my device. Of course I don't know if it's supposed to load on my device or a desktop.

[seth]

http://www.d20srd.org/ ......stops loading at 4kb on my Dash, and
http://www.d20srd.org/styles/home.css gives me an error saying it cannot be viewed on my decive. Of course I don't know if it's supposed to load on my device or a desktop.

Thanks. (BTW, the home.css is not suppoed to load... only the first URL is the test one).

See, we have a serious defect here with many Dashes. A MSFT has no good way to submit a bug report! I will continue to try to find ways to report this though

[stevenf]

Just wanted to chime in that I also recently got a Dash, and see the same problem.

The URLs I noticed that seem to be affected are macrumors.com and daringfireball.net.

Most sites load fine, but this is very annoying because you don't know if you are just stalled waiting for the network, or if the page is simply never going to load no matter how long you wait.

Who in the world do we report this problem to?

[stevenf]

A few more notes on this:

1. You can work around it by going through a reformatting proxy such as Skweezer or Google Mobilizer. It's a pain in the butt to have to do so though.

2. This is affecting me on a great number of URLs, not just the two I posted.

3. I don't see any correlation to CSS @import specifically.

4. It seems like all WM5 Smartphone devices, not just the Dash, should be affected. Is this true? Any non-Dash Smartphone users willing to try one of these URLs?

5. I really wish I could report this bug. But who do I call? T-Mobile? I don't really want to spend an hour with someone telling me to reset my phone before I can convince them that it's an IE problem. And then what? They report it to HTC who reports it to MS? I'm sure that's going to work out. :?

6. I tried Opera Mini, but it only worked the first time I launched it after installing it. Subsequent attempts to launch Opera Mini fail with some sort of weird midlet error.

[seth]

Who in the world do we report this problem to?

Based on this website:
http://america.htc.com/support/dash/default.html

I sent a bug report to [email protected], but I got no answer :-(

Maybe if enough people send a bug report here we will get a response.

Next I will try sending it to [email protected]. I would advise everyone with this problem to send to both addresses

[stevenf]

Reported. I guess we'll see what happens. Not expecting much, but you never know.

[seth]

HTC says they will NOT fix this problem because:
"You are the only one that we have heard from having this issue"

Please let HTC know if your Dash is defective:


[email protected]
[email protected]



From: Tannis Brown [[email protected]] on behalf of info [[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 8:29 AM
To: Seth Eliot; info
Subject: RE: BUG REPORT: Some simple web pages fail to load in IE mobile

Good morning Seth and thank you for contacting HTC America Inc.
I have been able to duplicate this issue on the Dash that I have. I have so far been unable to find the reason that sites with CSS will not display so, I have engaged my contact at Microsoft for guidance. I will let you know as soon as I hear back.
Thanks,
Tannis

________________________________________
From: Tannis Brown [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of info
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 3:01 PM
To: Seth Eliot; info
Subject: RE: BUG REPORT: Some simple web pages fail to load in IE mobile

Hello Seth and thank you for contacting HTC America Inc.
We appreciate you brining this to our attention; we are always glad to hear back about our products. Unfortunately, no browser can fit/support all web pages. Currently, there is a limitation in PIE for CSS sites that may or may not be changed in future releases.
Thanks,
Tannis


________________________________________
From: Tannis Brown [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of info
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 8:46 AM
To: Seth Eliot; info
Subject: RE: BUG REPORT: Some simple web pages fail to load in IE mobile

Hi Seth, the info that I got was from our developers. You are the only one that we have heard from having this issue (there are entirely too many forums for us to even attempt to monitor). If the issues are brought to us via email (as you have done) or via our Wiki Site, then we have something to work with.
Your report has been noted (we track all emails and issues that come into us and send them off to the groups that work on development) but it is not up to us to modify PIE.

[stevenf]

For what it's worth, T-Mobile's WM6 update for the Dash appears to have resolved this problem for me. Sites that would never finish loading before now load fine.