Arch Linux

BrendanC

Member

Registered: 2013-08-02

Posts: 8

[Solved} Firefox cannot find server error - see message below

I just ran into this error when trying to set up Netflix (https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=168050) and have now found that the error seems to be a bug/issue with Firefox. Basically the issue seems to be an unexpected parsing error that is returned by Firefox when accessing Netflix (and possibly other Web sites). When I used normal Firefox (i.e.*NOT* the Wine  version) to search Netflix I got the error below (Unexpected XML Parser error).

Other reports of this error can be found here - however their solution may not work (it did notwork for me).

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/940974

I don't know how widespread this error is, or what the fix is - but if you are having wierd behaviour with Firefox this is something to check for.

Last edited by BrendanC (2013-08-14 02:03:47)

BrendanC

Member

Registered: 2013-08-02

Posts: 8

Re: [Solved} Firefox cannot find server error - see message below

OK - Well I'm reporting back here in case others run into similar problems in the future- After much hair pulling and further testing I was able to finally get this software working on both Arch and Linux Mint. It turns out that the 'Server Not Found error' with Firefox has been widely reported/documented elsewhere. (The solution described below works for both Linux distros).

However the solution is not obvious and in my case the problem was caused by incorrect Firefox dns cache and ipv6 settings - (FWIW - it took a lot of effort to nail this down) . As stated earlier I was able to find the server using the Google/Chrome browser, so that implied there must be one or more settings in Firefox that can be modified to make things work correctly.  Here's a bit more detail re the solution to the problem:

Firefox needs to be forced to ignore cached data to access the server. To do this requires that users modify the Firefox configuration  - here is the recipe that worked for me:

1) Enter 'about:config' in the location bar and then toggle the following dns/ipv6 settings as follows:

    a) Set network.dns.disableIpv6 to True (Default is False)
    b) Set network.dns.disablePreFetch to True (Default is False)

2) Next you need to turn off and Network Proxy Access in Firefox
(See Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Network/Settings) - Set to 'No Proxy'.

3) Clear out and existing cache and history data that may have been saved already.

4) Modify the browser auto update flag - set to 'Never Check for updates'

5) Check if you have any web caching service running on your desktop. Disable it if it is running.

Restart your browser and you should now be able to access the server. It seems like a complex process and some steps outlined above may be overkill - however this should take care of the 'Server Not Found' problem.

For those interested here are some links I found in researching his problem:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fi … owsers-can
https://answers.launchpad.net/netflix-d … ion/229828

As stated earlier I ran into this issue while trying to install Netflix on my Desktop under Linux.  To get Netflix running there are a few more wrinkles in this process - mainly because Netflix needs to be run under Wine in order to access the Silverlight plugin.  This presents a complication since when the browser is opened via wine the location bar is not readily accessible. However use of the F10 and F11 fn keys allows the user to access the 'about:config' options.

One final issue you may run into is that Silverlight may prompt for an upgrade after you have cleared these previous hurdles. If that happens the solution is to delete the profile folder (.netflix-desktop) and reinstall that component. (The launchpad link above covers this issue in more detail - although the solution is not perfect and things may change when Silverlight is finally replaced).)

Sorry if this is all a bit long winded, but it's taken me a few days to get my head around all this, and I want to record it here for future reference. It probably can/should be easier to set this up - however I hope these notes can help anyone else out there who is wrestling with Netflix or other Web Server installation issues.