Microsoft Edge infinite loop

[csdude55]

I don't have Microsoft Edge on my end, so I'm just working with what a user is telling me.

He's been a site user for years. Yesterday, he tried to post something, but it takes him to an infinite loop. He said the page refreshes over and over, until finally he gets:

This page is having a problem loading

We tried to load this page for you a few times, but there is still a problem with this site. We know you have better things to do than to watch this page reload over and over again so try coming back to this page later.

I haven't changed anything on my end in awhile, other than uploading the stub files I was just talking about yesterday. And while only one person has said something, that doesn't mean that 100 people aren't seeing the problem and just not saying anything.

And he says that he can post on other sites, it's only happening here.

Can you guys suggest what I might do to emulate this problem using Windows 7? Or, is there a list of things that commonly cause Edge to loop that I should be checking?

[keyplyr]

Difficult to replicate 3rd party reports. You don't know what other conditions contributed to their experience (your server availability, his network, browser extensions, malware on their end, etc.)

I always test just to make sure it's not a support issue on my end. You might wish to consider keeping up-to-date copies of all the major browsers for testing purposes. I keep Opera, Chrome, IE, Edge, Safari and Firefox on desktop... Chrome, Opera and Yandex on my Android mobile phone. However, I'm not going to buy an iPhone just to test with :)

[csdude55]

Yeah, I have all of them, too, but I'm still running Windows 7 so I haven't been able to test with Edge. That's a catch 22; I've heard nothing but negative about Windows 10, and I'm not sure that all of my software will transfer over, so I really don't want it (the whole idea of it takes me back to Windows ME). But AFAIK, I can't get Edge on Windows 7, so I have no way of testing.

Unless you guys can suggest a hack that will let me use Edge on Windows 7? Or a reliable emulator?

[keyplyr]

I love10. Fast and secure. It basically is 7 only better. If you go to the Windows download site there's a tool that analyzes your set-up and reports on what installed software is supported. Too bad you didn't take advantage of the free upgrade.

Besides, end of life is fast approaching 7 :)

[lucy24]

the page refreshes over and over, until finally

This can mean either of two things, and we’ll need someone familiar with Edge error messages to help pinpoint it.

Option A: The browser keeps sending in a request to the server, and keeps getting redirected until it throws in the towel. (Browsers make a staggering number of attempts before they give up--20 or more, which would suggest a correspondingly staggeringly badly coded site.)

Option B: The browser is trying to execute a script that results in a refresh or reload (as when you post to these very forums, and surely most forums in the world).

Here it kinda sounds like Option B, since you say the page is in fact refreshing ... over and over.

Come to think of it, if you allow these very forums to refresh the "recent posts" page, this too happens over and over and over again. (One time I counted seven refreshes. Higher numbers are no doubt possible.) Is it possible that Edge has a quota, rather than a flat "allow" or "don't allow" the reload/redirect?

[phranque]

i would suggest using Edge's F12 Network devtools:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/f12-devtools-guide/network [docs.microsoft.com]

perhaps you'll get clues from examining the resource requests and responses that cause the loop(s).

[csdude55]

Well, the user emailed me today and said that he had to do a "major update". It wasn't an automatic update, he said "they have to do it" (I'm assuming Microsoft has to do it?). It took 4 hours to complete, but once it was done he didn't have any more problems.

It sucks when I don't know how to duplicate the problem, or even what version of Edge he was running. For all I know, I could be losing a lot of traffic from people using that same version of Edge, and they just think the problem is on my end...

[edited by: csdude55 at 1:13 am (utc) on Jun 27, 2017]

[keyplyr]

I could be losing a lot of traffic from people using that same version of Edge...

Yes... you could be losing your edge