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500 - Internal server error


geo_trekers

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Just started to get it here.

 

Server Error

 

500 - Internal server error.

 

There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.

I saw that a few times two days ago. I restarted FireFox and it was fine after that.

 

I'm not sure if mine is the same problem, but I can reproduce the Internal Error every single time. And after that, every single page on geocaching.com I access on that instance of browser returns Internal Error and I need to restart Firefox.

 

Since I don't know if it does anything bad to the back end, I won't be sharing how I produced the problem here. I'd be happy to e-mail any Groundspeak employee or moderator with the details if they're interested.

Edited by Chrysalides
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Just started to get it here.

 

Server Error

 

500 - Internal server error.

 

There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.

I saw that a few times two days ago. I restarted FireFox and it was fine after that.

 

So it's not neessarily an Exploder thing.

 

Right after I restarted Explorer and went to the GC website I got a bogus virus warning that tried to install a virus program. I don't know if its a related issue or not.

Had to roll back my system to get rid of it.

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Right after I restarted Explorer and went to the GC website I got a bogus virus warning that tried to install a virus program. I don't know if its a related issue or not.

Had to roll back my system to get rid of it.

Someone mentioned the same thing happens on cacherstats a couple of months back. I definitely did not see that on geocaching.com or cacherstats.

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Right after I restarted Explorer and went to the GC website I got a bogus virus warning that tried to install a virus program.

 

Was it a warning about a spyware or tracking cookie?

 

There are 1/2 dozen or so 3rd party cookies that gc is more than happy to plant on your system.

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Right after I restarted Explorer and went to the GC website I got a bogus virus warning that tried to install a virus program.

 

Was it a warning about a spyware or tracking cookie?

 

There are 1/2 dozen or so 3rd party cookies that gc is more than happy to plant on your system.

 

Spyware, then a trojan warning and then it installed a program that said it was antivirus. It also mimicked a Windows Defender window that you are supposed to click yes on.

 

I'm no fool. I just did a hard shutdown, restarted in safe mode, rolled back the system and all is OK again.

I just wish the people whose computers I work on were as vigilant. I'm taking in a computer tomorrow with the same symptoms but they didn't have system restore turned on. UGH! (at least I get paid for it)

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Right after I restarted Explorer and went to the GC website I got a bogus virus warning that tried to install a virus program.

 

Was it a warning about a spyware or tracking cookie?

 

There are 1/2 dozen or so 3rd party cookies that gc is more than happy to plant on your system.

 

Spyware, then a trojan warning and then it installed a program that said it was antivirus. It also mimicked a Windows Defender window that you are supposed to click yes on.

 

I'm no fool. I just did a hard shutdown, restarted in safe mode, rolled back the system and all is OK again.

I just wish the people whose computers I work on were as vigilant. I'm taking in a computer tomorrow with the same symptoms but they didn't have system restore turned on. UGH! (at least I get paid for it)

 

 

Boy sometimes wished I knew more then how to turn these things on and off again.

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Spyware, then a trojan warning and then it installed a program that said it was antivirus. It also mimicked a Windows Defender window that you are supposed to click yes on.

I'm no fool. I just did a hard shutdown, restarted in safe mode, rolled back the system and all is OK again.

I just wish the people whose computers I work on were as vigilant. I'm taking in a computer tomorrow with the same symptoms but they didn't have system restore turned on. UGH! (at least I get paid for it)

Good thinking! I spent three days removing phony antivirus malware from a friend's computer a few months ago. There were actually three slightly different ones. I'd get one cleaned out and the next level would appear, like peeling an onion!
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Spyware, then a trojan warning and then it installed a program that said it was antivirus. It also mimicked a Windows Defender window that you are supposed to click yes on.

I'm no fool. I just did a hard shutdown, restarted in safe mode, rolled back the system and all is OK again.

I just wish the people whose computers I work on were as vigilant. I'm taking in a computer tomorrow with the same symptoms but they didn't have system restore turned on. UGH! (at least I get paid for it)

Good thinking! I spent three days removing phony antivirus malware from a friend's computer a few months ago. There were actually three slightly different ones. I'd get one cleaned out and the next level would appear, like peeling an onion!

Two things about this disturbs me:

 

1) how would software be installed automatically? (it could be a pop-up window showing the installation progress when it's not actually doing anything - at least, not until you try to click on it in some devious spyware)

 

2) why would a visit to geocaching.com trigger it? if the site is compromised, you'd think there'll be a howl in the forums.

 

I'd be worried that there's already something in the system, or if the DNS I use has been compromised, if this happens to me.

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Spyware, then a trojan warning and then it installed a program that said it was antivirus. It also mimicked a Windows Defender window that you are supposed to click yes on.

I'm no fool. I just did a hard shutdown, restarted in safe mode, rolled back the system and all is OK again.

I just wish the people whose computers I work on were as vigilant. I'm taking in a computer tomorrow with the same symptoms but they didn't have system restore turned on. UGH! (at least I get paid for it)

Good thinking! I spent three days removing phony antivirus malware from a friend's computer a few months ago. There were actually three slightly different ones. I'd get one cleaned out and the next level would appear, like peeling an onion!

 

I'm doing exactly that right now. Good thing it's a computer I set up. I was vigilant and set a restore point AND saved a copy of the registry before giving him back the computer last time. Should be a piece of cake.

 

If only I could find the guys who develop these evil virus scareware programs. I would love to take them on a long caching trip off a short pier.

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Spyware, then a trojan warning and then it installed a program that said it was antivirus. It also mimicked a Windows Defender window that you are supposed to click yes on.

I'm no fool. I just did a hard shutdown, restarted in safe mode, rolled back the system and all is OK again.

I just wish the people whose computers I work on were as vigilant. I'm taking in a computer tomorrow with the same symptoms but they didn't have system restore turned on. UGH! (at least I get paid for it)

Good thinking! I spent three days removing phony antivirus malware from a friend's computer a few months ago. There were actually three slightly different ones. I'd get one cleaned out and the next level would appear, like peeling an onion!

Two things about this disturbs me:

 

1) how would software be installed automatically? (it could be a pop-up window showing the installation progress when it's not actually doing anything - at least, not until you try to click on it in some devious spyware)

 

2) why would a visit to geocaching.com trigger it? if the site is compromised, you'd think there'll be a howl in the forums.

 

I'd be worried that there's already something in the system, or if the DNS I use has been compromised, if this happens to me.

They mimic the Windows antivirus software telling you that AV is turned off, click here to turn it on. Clicking initiates the install program. There are a ton of them out there right now. Taks a look at Google's results: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sou...oq=&aqi=g10

 

I personally do not know of any examples of geocaching.com as a source of the infection.

Edited by knowschad
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Spyware, then a trojan warning and then it installed a program that said it was antivirus. It also mimicked a Windows Defender window that you are supposed to click yes on.

I'm no fool. I just did a hard shutdown, restarted in safe mode, rolled back the system and all is OK again.

I just wish the people whose computers I work on were as vigilant. I'm taking in a computer tomorrow with the same symptoms but they didn't have system restore turned on. UGH! (at least I get paid for it)

Good thinking! I spent three days removing phony antivirus malware from a friend's computer a few months ago. There were actually three slightly different ones. I'd get one cleaned out and the next level would appear, like peeling an onion!

Two things about this disturbs me:

 

1) how would software be installed automatically? (it could be a pop-up window showing the installation progress when it's not actually doing anything - at least, not until you try to click on it in some devious spyware)

 

2) why would a visit to geocaching.com trigger it? if the site is compromised, you'd think there'll be a howl in the forums.

 

I'd be worried that there's already something in the system, or if the DNS I use has been compromised, if this happens to me.

They mimic the Windows antivirus software telling you that AV is turned off, click here to turn it on. Clicking initiates the install program. There are a ton of them out there right now. Taks a look at Google's results: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sou...oq=&aqi=g10

 

I personally do not know of any examples of geocaching.com as a source of the infection.

 

Me neither but the chance of a third party advertiser getting hijacked is a real possibility. Those banner ads you see throughout GCs website can be the source of an infection. Emphasis on the word "can" as it is not an accusation.

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I tried to get a cache along a route a few days ago (just prior to a trip we took) and started getting the Error 500. I am not getting anything from my antivirus, just the 500. I am running 64 bit Windows XP. I usually use firefox 3.5.6. I also tried on Chrome 3.0.195.38 just a few minutes ago and tried on IE 8.0.6001.18828 the other day. Once I get it I have to jump through hoops to get anywhere on the geocaching.com site, including here. Very frustrating, especially since I became a paid member right at this time mostly to get the cache along a route for this trip (at least that was my excuse - if I can get that working, I will probably remain a member for that and other perks) :rolleyes:

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We are trying to track this down. It seems to be extremely transient and attempting the exact same steps that caused the error only moments earlier will often succeed without issue.

 

If you get one of these 500 errors, please post here as soon as you can with the following information:

  • What page you were on
  • What you were attempting to do
  • The precise time at which you encountered the error
  • If possible, a screenshot of the last web page you were on before the error occurred showing the contents of any fields you may have filled out

The more info we have the better chance we will have of pinpointing the source. Thank you!

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If you get one of these 500 errors, please post here as soon as you can with the following information

 

At the moment I can reproduce this error as follows:

- open a new IE8 instance

- open My PQs (http://www.geocaching.com/pocket/)

- Click on 2 PQs by holding CTRL to open them in new tabs

- "Submit Information" from one of those new tabs

->> from now on I can´t access any GC site in this Browser-Session

 

Closing IE and start again erverything is fine again.

 

I´ve encountered this problem very often in the last weeks while working with field-notes: I normally open some logs in different tabs working with them parallel.

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I have been getting this error for several weeks now and it is very irritating. I can't even open up the main page to log on. I was trying to go to www.geocaching.com from 4:30pm to 4:51pm EST today. I was trying to edit some TB's and a cache that I am working on but it seems that the site doesn't like too much activity after a certain period of time. I can access the site through a IP blocking site but that option doesn't allow me to log on so it pretty much useless. It also allows me to log on from another computer on a different network so it seems to me that the site is restricting my useage on my primary computer.

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My opinion is that it is a resource problem at Groundspeak and the only thing deleting cookies, rebooting, or any other "fix" does is make your retry at a later point when GS may not be so busy.

 

Um, seeing as cleaing your session cookie fixes the problem instantly (without even restarting browser), this is clearly wrong.

 

Clearing the session cookies will reset any the temporary state (on the server) the site stores about you, since you are starting a new session. Waitiing until that session expires would have the same effect. As a web developer I doubt it's related to 'business', though possibly the initial condition is triggered by that.

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Been having this issue on mixed environments both at work and home throughout the day...

 

Work - Proxied connection (bluecoats) with IE 6 / FF Portable 3.5.

Home - Non-proxied connection with FF 3.5.6.

 

Error appears to happen when I am viewing caches in google maps view (ie, http://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx) and selecting caches to open up a new window to add a log. After submitting one log and going to the other tab to select the next cache I receive this error. Most recently happened at home around 1:30 EST and still persisting.

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Been having this issue on mixed environments both at work and home throughout the day...

 

Work - Proxied connection (bluecoats) with IE 6 / FF Portable 3.5.

Home - Non-proxied connection with FF 3.5.6.

 

Error appears to happen when I am viewing caches in google maps view (ie, http://www.geocaching.com/map/default.aspx) and selecting caches to open up a new window to add a log. After submitting one log and going to the other tab to select the next cache I receive this error. Most recently happened at home around 1:30 EST and still persisting.

 

I was able to recover by terminating my session via http://www.geocaching.com/login/default.aspx?RESET=Y and then re-logging.

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Ok this is not funny anymore, getting sick of writing logs push submit and getting one of two answers.

1 - internal error 500

2 - internal connection problem

 

will log all caches as . so not to try and remember what was writen.

 

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Ok vented fill better.

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For me, it is totally random. Today it was on GC1B9B at 9:04 AM Eastern Time. I had just posted a log on the page and had gone back to the main cache page. When I clicked to view all logs, I got the error.

 

The site also seems to be slowing down again, sometimes somewhat randomly. Last night it was slower all night it seemed. I would go to other web sites in other tabs and move through them successfully while GC was still trying to load a page.

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I understand this is an annoying issue for those experiencing it, but I feel the need to point out that I logged just under 90 caches over 4 days (Thurs-Sun) last week/end and never saw this problem once.

 

Just saying that it's not happening to everyone.

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I'm getting the error now. First, I could see my private profile and cache pages. But clicking to view any specific log or any public profile from any cache page would immediately generate a 500 error. Go to a different cache page, same issue. Cache is fine, links from page get 500 error.

 

Now, after coming here to read up on any problems, I can't get to any page at www.geocaching.com.

 

Exactly how many people got GPS receivers from Santa?

 

Edit: polskikrol's RESET link worked

Edited by J-Way
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My opinion is that it is a resource problem at Groundspeak and the only thing deleting cookies, rebooting, or any other "fix" does is make your retry at a later point when GS may not be so busy.

 

Um, seeing as cleaing your session cookie fixes the problem instantly (without even restarting browser), this is clearly wrong.

 

Clearing the session cookies will reset any the temporary state (on the server) the site stores about you, since you are starting a new session. Waitiing until that session expires would have the same effect. As a web developer I doubt it's related to 'business', though possibly the initial condition is triggered by that.

 

Wrong, the time he took to clear his cookies probably gave enough time for him to land on another server at gc. Remember, there is more than one front end server, and if this is happening on one server only, then whatever method they are using to load balance (it appears to be round robin dns) could very well be enough of a pause to force him to a new server.

 

A 500 error is ALWAYS something on the web server, if clearing cookies fixes it, then in most cases something underlying is what really fixed it (like moving to a new server) OR some really bad code that allows a bad cookie to make it error out (which should never happen, its an open door to a dos attack).

 

Official definition (as defined by w3.org):

 

500 Internal Server Error

 

The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request.

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My opinion is that it is a resource problem at Groundspeak and the only thing deleting cookies, rebooting, or any other "fix" does is make your retry at a later point when GS may not be so busy.

 

Um, seeing as cleaing your session cookie fixes the problem instantly (without even restarting browser), this is clearly wrong.

 

Clearing the session cookies will reset any the temporary state (on the server) the site stores about you, since you are starting a new session. Waitiing until that session expires would have the same effect. As a web developer I doubt it's related to 'business', though possibly the initial condition is triggered by that.

 

Wrong, the time he took to clear his cookies probably gave enough time for him to land on another server at gc. Remember, there is more than one front end server, and if this is happening on one server only, then whatever method they are using to load balance (it appears to be round robin dns) could very well be enough of a pause to force him to a new server.

 

A 500 error is ALWAYS something on the web server, if clearing cookies fixes it, then in most cases something underlying is what really fixed it (like moving to a new server) OR some really bad code that allows a bad cookie to make it error out (which should never happen, its an open door to a dos attack).

 

Official definition (as defined by w3.org):

 

500 Internal Server Error

 

The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request.

 

Probably using session persistence on the load balanced server pool. Would presume one of the servers needs to have IIS / Apache / Tomcat restarted. Simple HTTP monitors would not suffice if the server is still up and the load balancer keeps servicing requests to it.

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I'm still having problems with this this morning, have had problems since at least last Thursday. I was working from a bookmark list, had gone to one cache, loaded the list of nearby caches, chose one (GC1WR38) both from the list and from the Google Maps to bookmark, got to the bookmark list page, but when I selected the bookmark list to add the cache listing to, and clicked to add the listing I got the 500 Internal Server error. This was after one try of clearing the recent history in FF 3.5.7, and rebooting my computer. Hope this can be resolved soon. It is kind of a pain!! Happened several times from 6:45 am MST to 7:15 am MST.

 

 

We are trying to track this down. It seems to be extremely transient and attempting the exact same steps that caused the error only moments earlier will often succeed without issue.

 

If you get one of these 500 errors, please post here as soon as you can with the following information:

  • What page you were on
  • What you were attempting to do
  • The precise time at which you encountered the error
  • If possible, a screenshot of the last web page you were on before the error occurred showing the contents of any fields you may have filled out

The more info we have the better chance we will have of pinpointing the source. Thank you!

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I am getting it now too. Especially when I try to send a cache to my gps via "send to gps" It says it on the little window then I lose the whole site. I have to keep restarting the browser to get back on. Tried a different browser, tried rebooting. So since I am not the only one I think the GC IT guys need to check this out.

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I've seen a few dozen occurrences of this tonight. It's not page or data specific (going back and performing the same acti may or may not fail again) All the flailing about cookies and AV and firewalls above is misguided; an error 500 is a server-side problem. Any changes in cookies, etc. are placebos that just move further down the fourth dimesion: time.

 

There's a triple whammy here:

 

1) the actual error, whatever it is.

2) that the error (form contents, call stack, etc.) aren't logged by the server or intervening middleware on the server.

3) You're sent to http://www.geocaching.com/error/error.aspx...=/seek/log.aspx - the clear intent is for aspxerrorpath to contain the full, reproducible URL suitable for retries, but as you can see, it doesn't. Nor does it contain the sites style.

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Jon, I believe the 500 - Internal server error can be generated 100% of the time by editing a cache page to a date prior to 1900.

 

I discovered this with a typo in the dates field on a cache edit form, and have verified it repeatedly on caches under both my player account and admin account.

 

Firefox 2.0.0.6 Windows 2000 Professional (yeah, someday I'll update)

 

I just did again on an unpublished cache, GC2054N.

 

Here's the date section of that page with 1879 entered

 

430499d9-5221-41b0-9cfe-70d1c3984667.jpg

 

and when I hit "submit changes" I get

http://www.geocaching.com/error/error.aspx...ide/report.aspx

 

From that page, if I use the browser back button, it returns me to the cache edit form as it appeared prior to my edit, date 10/22/2008. All links from that page go to the error message.

 

If I have the edit page opened in one instance of the browser and am also logged in on another tab, I may still use the website by closing the instance with the error message and using working from the other tab, or I may have to end my session and start with a new log on. That's not consistent.

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Jon, I believe the 500 - Internal server error can be generated 100% of the time by editing a cache page to a date prior to 1900.

 

Thanks, we've already fixed that issue (to be included in next week's site update). We've also corrected some other 500 errors that will be in that roll-out. We are now in a position of hoping that they will correct what the people in this thread are seeing. Please keep us updated both before and after the roll-out!

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This stupid error is starting to get on my nerves. I have half of a log entry sitting in limbo now!!

 

UGH!!

 

I received the error when I was using field notes. I posted a log entry and then went back to the field notes page instead of using the link to submit more field notes.

 

It happened twice doing the exact same thing. It is probably related. If I had to guess, there is probably a time limit thing that causes the hiccup. The time limit was maybe set to avoid multiple posting?

 

At any rate, that's my symptoms.

Edited by bittsen
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Not exactly the same problem but still annoying. On forums that go to more than one page I get this:

 

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Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 10th January 2010 - 01:36 PM

There are times I would like to read and perhaps respond but I get this error message.

Windpws XP Firefox browser, always happens

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I got an e-mail from someone who mentioned getting this error while trying to post a photo to their logs on one of my travel bugs that they had last week. I went in to the same travel bug and wasn't getting the error. However, I am getting the error on other travel bugs. And it seems to be random, occuring on some and not others. Here's what I'm doing.

 

On a TB/coin page, I click on "Visit log" next to my log entry.

 

On the log screen, I click on the button that says "Upload Image".

 

And then....ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!

 

Like mentioned, it's happening on some items and not others. And one person had the error on one of my travel bugs, but I'm having no problem accessing the same exact option.

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