415864 - caching network connection makes it impossible to connect to a server that was temporarily offline

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Core :: Networking, defect)

Description

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

This has happened to me a couple of times on Windows and on Mac. When trying to connect to a site which is down, instead of eventually getting an error page, Firefox seems to "stick" on trying to load the page. The throbber keeps throbbing, and "Waiting for [site] ..." stays in the status bar. After that point, nothing seems to be able to get rid of that stuck state: reloading the connection, opening a new tab and trying to connect to the site, flushing DNS, toggling online/offline, nothing I've tried works. Meanwhile, ping and other applications are able to connect to the site in question.

STR:
1. Try to connect to a site which is temporarily unreachable
2. Fail to connect
3. Wait until site comes back online
4. Try to connect again (by hitting reload, or opening a new tab)

Expected: connect to site

Actual: fail to connect to site (throbber throbs endlessly, "Waiting for [site]..." stays in status bar)

Reed says he's seen this, too.