I have been experiencing numerous problems with the Forums since Christmas.

One problem that was bad around New Years but has gotten better was new posts, PMs and Report This Post taking 5-20 minutes to complete.

The other problem went away 2 days ago but is back again. When I click on the 'Go to first unread post' or 'Last Page' link on a thread, I get the old 'The page cannot be displayed' error, pasted below.

I can open a page that has a number, and if I open page 5, I can then click the 'Last Page' link and it works. But it will not work from the forum page, and the 'First unread post' button doesn't work either. Refreshing the page does not work, either. You just keep getting the DNS error.

I started to report this Friday, but I thought that it was a problem with my network at home. But now it is happening at work, too.


The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please try the following:

Click the Refresh button, or try again later.

If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly.

To check your connection settings, click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Connections tab, click Settings. The settings should match those provided by your local area network (LAN) administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).
If your Network Administrator has enabled it, Microsoft Windows can examine your network and automatically discover network connection settings.
If you would like Windows to try and discover them,
click Detect Network Settings
Some sites require 128-bit connection security. Click the Help menu and then click About Internet Explorer to determine what strength security you have installed.
If you are trying to reach a secure site, make sure your Security settings can support it. Click the Tools menu, and then click Internet Options. On the Advanced tab, scroll to the Security section and check settings for SSL 2.0, SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0, PCT 1.0.
Click the Back button to try another link.



Cannot find server or DNS Error
Internet Explorer

I suspect a problem with your cookie or session data, since the problem seems to be related to links that use this data (last unread post, last page). Try clearing your browser's cache and cookies - that should fix it.


Regarding the New Year's slowdown - in general the server is keeping up quite well with loads. There will always be periods of slowdown though - if a slew of searches come in at once, for example. If slowdowns become a persistent, day-to-day issue, be sure and let me know.

Paul,

I did that and it did not resolve the problem. The problem had gone away again for a couple of days, but it started back up about half an hour ago.