iMac - Can't load "secure" web pages?

[ansky]

Hi... I'm an experienced WinXP user, but don't know much about troubleshooting Mac problems. My kids both have iMacs (one a iBook laptop, the other a G4 -- the desktop "bubble") and they are now home from college. Both have successfully used their Airport cards to connect to our wireless router (a Linksys G), and can surf the 'net...

However, the G4 (OS X 10.2.8) using the latest Firefox browser, is not able to get through logins to secure sites -- such as Excite's e-mail, or banking sites, etc... After entering user names and passwords and clicking the login buttons, the spinning beachball just spins on and on... after several minutes we eventually get a "page unavailable" message.

The laptop (and all other Win PCs connected to the router) connects to all these sites without a problem...

Any thoughts of how to track this to a root cause would be greatly appreciated...

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Thats quite odd. I remember having a problem like that on my beige G3 box.

Can you try creating a new account (in the perferences utitlity/User Accounts)? If it works in there it would be as simple as deleting some preference (relating to Firefox, but I don't know which ones.) files in the main account or perhaps just using the new one. Reinstalling Firefox might be a good idea too.

Otherwise it might be an archive install from the system disc that came with the G4.

EDIT: Usually people call their Apple computers Macs. iMacs are type of computer available from Apple.

 

[ansky]

Thanks...

I tried adding another account -- on the Mac, not in Firefox, right?

I made it an admin account and logged off my daughter's and into it.

Same problem though... Something I just noticed now though -- when the browser's just waiting (and waiting), eventually, down in the lower left (where it usually says something "opening page...") it changes after awhile to "waiting for data.coremetrics.com...."

I don't think I've ever seen anything like that on my pc... Is it a clue, or just a red herring?

Thanks again!

 

[generik]

Doesn't "Core" have something to do with Apple? Like Core Image, Core Data etc... maybe Coremetric is just Apple's data mining division?

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Yes, I meant create a new account on OS X.

Have you tried these pages in Internet Explorer yet? If they don't work in either browser than I'd suggest an Archive and Install.

Edit: data.coremetrics.com probably means nothing. Its likely just a database service that the site your trying to use has employed.

 

[ansky]

Thanks, iDuck... (I kind of figured that about coremetrics, after doing some googles of it)...

So, now I have to show my ignorance again -- I tried searching around this site for references to "Archive" and "Install", but as you can imagine those are pretty broad, so I couldn't weed through to find out specifics...

Is Archive like doing a back-up? Are you suggesting an "Install" of everything, from OSX up? [Hey, I thought this didn't happen with Macs! ]

I really appreciate the help!

 

[spinne1]

If it were me I'd update the OS to at least 10.3.9, then update Firefox to the latest version. That should do it.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Thanks, iDuck... (I kind of figured that about coremetrics, after doing some googles of it)...

So, now I have to show my ignorance again -- I tried searching around this site for references to "Archive" and "Install", but as you can imagine those are pretty broad, so I couldn't weed through to find out specifics...

Is Archive like doing a back-up? Are you suggesting an "Install" of everything, from OSX up? [Hey, I thought this didn't happen with Macs! ]

I really appreciate the help!

Archive and install makes a backup of all files, and then reinstalls the system. All of this done automatically. Things like this don't usually happen with Macs, but even Apple products aren't perfect. There probably is a fix for your problem which doesn't include a system reinstall, but I'm not aware of it and finding one might be a pain. Sometimes its just easier to reinstall..

Here are some handy instructions:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

 

[gauchogolfer]

Before you do an Archive & Install, have you tried viewing the pages in other browsers, Safari for example? A&I is a bit of a large step for something like this.

 

[ansky]

Thanks to everyone so far...

I did try both IE 5.2 (but since MS isn't supporting anymore, didn't think that meant much) and Safari (which my kid says has been a little quirky) -- thought Firefox (latest version) was the best bet...

I do have a question upgrading to 10.3.9 (as a minimum, it was suggested)... would I do that before trying A&I or after? Oh, one more, how much is the upgrade?

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Thanks to everyone so far...

I did try both IE 5.2 (but since MS isn't supporting anymore, didn't think that meant much) and Safari (which my kid says has been a little quirky) -- thought Firefox (latest version) was the best bet...

I do have a question upgrading to 10.3.9 (as a minimum, it was suggested)... would I do that before trying A&I or after? Oh, one more, how much is the upgrade?

You could upgrade without the A&I and it would probably solve your problem. I'm pretty sure Panther is available on ebay for a good price.