I'm trying to get into my friends' store's surveillance system and keep getting a 404/"The requested URL was not found on this server" error.

I'm getting the error with Leopard/Safari 3.2.3 (both with and without [all of] SafariBlock, Ad Subtract, and ClickToFlash enabled); I'm also getting it with Snow Leopard/pristine Safari 4.0.4, but my friend is not getting it with the same SL/pristine Safari 4.0.4.

On the other hand, though, I can get into the system just fine with Firefox 3.5.5.

I'd love to post the URL but, for obvious reasons, cannot.

Google is less than helpful in this instance.

Can anybody hazard a guess as to what may be the issue here?

Edit: On a lark, I ran DNS Flusher with no resultant joy.

Does the URL contain spaces, accented characters, or other unusual punctuation?

It's http://##.###.###.###:100 (with the #s indicating digits and the :100 indicating that the connection needs to go through port 100 [or something along those lines]).

On the machine that does not work, are you running a firewall, or some kind of network blocking software that might block port 100?

Not that I'm aware of.

(I had my Apple firewall set for Safari/Block incoming connections, but changing "block" to "allow" accomplished nothing.)

Thanks for taking an interest.

Edit: I just disabled both Little Snitch and APE (one at a time) with no joy.

My sneaking suspicion is that it has something to do with the fact that it's working on port 100. The fact that it works on some browsers but not others and some computers but not others, combined with the fact that it's on an unusual port, to me smells like an issue with some sort of filtering software blocking that port somewhere along the way.

Can you talk to the owner of the security site and find out if he can put up a simple page on port 80? If you can reach that but not the security feed on port 100, that would be very informative.

try "curl http://##.##.##.##:100" and see what that gets you. it may display more useful information than your web browser.

there could be a proxy server issue in the mix, locally or at your isp?

Sorry for being slow getting back to you.

Correction, clarification, update...

It is not the MBP that can get into the site; it's a PowerBook G4.

The blind URL I posted is that of the security system's login page, which I can get into; the URL of the target page, the one that displays the camera images and controls, which I cannot get into, is http://##.##.##.##:100/home.cgi.

Macs and OS X and browser versions that can and cannot get into the target page:

1. PowerBook G4/10.3.9/Max version of Safari: Yes
2. iBook G4/10.4.11/Safari 4.04: No
3. iBook G4/10.4.11/Explorer 5.5: Yes
4. MacBook/10.5.7/Safari 3.2.3: No
5. MacBook/10.5.7/Firefox 3.5.5: Yes
6. MacBook (booted from flash drive)/10.6.2/Safari 4.0.4: No
7. MacBook (booted from flash drive)/10.6.2/Safari 4.0.5: No

> Can you talk to the owner of the security site and find out if he can put up a simple page on port 80? If you can reach that but not the security feed on port 100, that would be very informative.

If only I could ...

My friend bought the system from some guys he met at a trade show, I've no idea if they have, or ever had, a storefront, and when I asked for their phone number over the summer it could not be found; likewise the user's guide which my friend took upstairs to read two years ago and hasn't been seen since. Aaaargh!!!

The system is PC based with only view access and minimal control functionality available from a Mac, and my best guess is I'd bet that the box in the back of the store is the server I'm trying to access.

Is any of that even the least bit helpful?

Thanks.

"curl http://##.###.###.###:100/home.cgi" returns:


(Note that, as explained in my post to tacit, that is the correct target URL.)

Does that mean anything to you?

Thanks.

Wow. Curioser and curioser.

Hmm. It's possible that there is some kind of proxy setting in the Macs or browsers that won't work. It's also possible that the CGI for the system looks at the browser's referrer and returns nothing for browsers it doesn't recognize--which would be a very weird thing to do.

Try this, just for kicks:

On one of the Macs where Safari doesn't work, go to Safari's preferences, click Advanced, and then click the Show Develop menu in menu bar (assuming you don't already have it turned on).

Then click Develop->User Agent->Firefox 3.5.3

Then try to go to the Web page. If it works, then what's happening is that the script is written to return a phony 404 error if it does not recognize the browser.

As a side note, these Macs that do and don't work are on the same network, right?

Finally got to it...

> As a side note, these Macs that do and don't work are on the same network, right?

No; the various Macs which I've tried to get into the website are all unrelated, their only commonality being that they belong to people to whom I can entrust the passwords...no networks to be found anywhere.


I forgot to mention that I tried that in Safari 3.2.3 with no joy, but I didn't get around to trying in Safari 4.0.5 until you posted...

No joy with IE 8.0 or Firefox 3.5.3.



Edit: It's just kinda odd that Panther's Safari can get in; is it possible that Safari has changed in some way that's caused this issue?

It seems unlikely to me that the issue is a change in Safari. Whatever the problem is, it's something weirder.

A 404 error is generated by the server, not by Safari; changes in Safari should not cause the server to claim that the URL can not be found, unless the server is checking browser agents and has been programmed to spit back a phony 404 error with some browsers.

At this point, you've got me flummoxed.

> At this point, you've got me flummoxed.

Oh, well... Thanks all the same for your input; if you can't figure this one out it's not likely that anybody can.

(I'll keep playing and see if there's anything to be learned.)