Parts of webpages missing

Problem with Apache not reading full html files

[cottonchipper]

I've just installed Apache 2.0 on my Windows XP server and placed the index.html page of my website in the htdocs directory. When I open the page it is missing a good deal of the content that should be at the top. When I view the source I see it's also missing the header. It looks like it's not pulling in a big chunk of html. But, I know it's there because it's there when I open the file from Windows Explorer.

The information is missing whether I open it using the localhost command or by typing in the domain name.

In addition, some of the content from near the bottom to the end of the page is repeated below where the actual bottom should be.

It also appears this same problem occurs with any other html page in the htdocs directory that I try to open.

I'm NOT skilled in web hosting, so please spell it out for me.

[encyclo]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, cottonchipper.

There was a thread a while back with the same problem, but with no solution found other than reverting to Apache 1.3. However, we must continue undaunted...

Firstly, are there any error messages showing up in the error log? Are the pages you are trying to load large or small? Is there a difference in how Apache reacts dependent on filesize? Are you running PHP as well, and are the problem files parsed for PHP or are they standard HTML?

[cottonchipper]

First, I don't think there's anything in the error log that refers to the problem, but here's a transcript.

[Sun Aug 01 17:08:01 2004] [notice] Parent: Created child process 2196
[Sun Aug 01 17:08:02 2004] [notice] Child 2196: Child process is running
[Sun Aug 01 17:08:02 2004] [notice] Child 2196: Acquired the start mutex.
[Sun Aug 01 17:08:02 2004] [notice] Child 2196: Starting 250 worker threads.
[Sun Aug 01 19:43:44 2004] [error] [client 216.31.21.30] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/markcotton
[Sun Aug 01 20:25:51 2004] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/image-1527640-5377629, referer: [localhost...]
[Sun Aug 01 20:25:51 2004] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/counter.js, referer: [localhost...]
[Sun Aug 01 20:25:51 2004] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/counter.js, referer: [localhost...]
[Sun Aug 01 20:27:58 2004] [error] [client 216.31.21.30] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/image-1527640-5377629, referer: [216.31.21.30...]
[Sun Aug 01 20:27:58 2004] [error] [client 216.31.21.30] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/counter.js, referer: [216.31.21.30...]
[Sun Aug 01 20:27:58 2004] [error] [client 216.31.21.30] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/counter.js, referer: [216.31.21.30...]
[Mon Aug 02 05:01:53 2004] [notice] Parent: Created child process 2004
[Mon Aug 02 05:02:08 2004] [notice] Child 2004: Child process is running
[Mon Aug 02 05:02:08 2004] [notice] Child 2004: Acquired the start mutex.
[Mon Aug 02 05:02:08 2004] [notice] Child 2004: Starting 250 worker threads.
[Mon Aug 02 06:20:54 2004] [warn] pid file C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
[Mon Aug 02 06:20:56 2004] [notice] Parent: Created child process 2004
[Mon Aug 02 06:21:10 2004] [notice] Child 2004: Child process is running
[Mon Aug 02 06:21:10 2004] [notice] Child 2004: Acquired the start mutex.
[Mon Aug 02 06:21:10 2004] [notice] Child 2004: Starting 250 worker threads.
[Mon Aug 02 07:14:56 2004] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/toys.html
[Mon Aug 02 07:15:01 2004] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/toy.html
[Mon Aug 02 07:15:06 2004] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/toycars.html
[Mon Aug 02 07:15:09 2004] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not exist: C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs/toycars.html

*************

If I had to speculate, I'd say Apache acts differently if there are tables included in the page. I have the same pages I'm trying to load currently hosted at a remote server so you can look at them if you like. They will load correctly for you from this server.

Here are a few examples of pages that DON'T load correctly:

<snip>

There is one page, a rather small one that DOES load correctly:

<snip>

I appreciate your time on this. Would it be better for me to uninstall 2.0 and try 1.3? Would I be giving up anything of significance? Eventually I'd like to run some pages with some PHP and MySQL in them. I don't have PHP installed yet, however MySQL is installed and running, but there doesn't seem to be any change when I shut it down and try the problem pages.

There is no PHP included in any of the pages. So far as I know they are standard html, although I'm sure you can tell better by looking at them than I can. I've been using Netscape Composer to create them, and have inserted some html snippets here and there.

[edited by: jdMorgan at 1:24 am (utc) on Aug. 3, 2004]
[edit reason] Snipped URLs per TOS [/edit]

[cottonchipper]

Uh oh, it looks like I violated the terms of service by putting my URL's in my post. Sorry, I'm new here.

[cottonchipper]

Here's the latest: Apache 2.0 is working, but I don't know why.

I downloaded and installed Apache 1.3, tried the problem pages and got the same result of missing portions.

I uninstalled 1.3 and looked at the html for the index page that was my initial problem. I noticed that one of the names that had a hypertext link had an ampersand, so on a whim I replaced it with the word "and". The page then loaded correctly in Apache 2.0.

Was this a fluke? Was it likely that something else I did fixed the problem? Because now, not only does the index page load correctly, but every other problem page does too, even though I didn't change them a bit.

Oh, well. All's well that ends well. Thanks everyone for your time.

[jdMorgan]

You might want to run the problem pages through the w3c validator, and see if there is a common problem.

Jim