Sudden odd behavior in different browsers, MODx versions, servers, computers

At the office, we've been experiencing some very odd behavior with various installations of MODx. I'm talking about different accounts, with varying versions of MODx (2.1.3 - 2.2.4), on different servers and witnessed on different computers and browsers.

There are many odd things going on, but typically, I go to, let's say, the Package Manager, or System Settings in the control panel and the main part of the page will be missing. Even if I look through different computers, they are missing at the same time. Then they come back a bit later.

Or, at certain times of the day (usually around the middle of the day), I visit the Package Manager and all package list entries are missing...no matter which computer, server or account I look at; all at the same time. Sometimes I've wondered if the servers that the MODx organization uses to house the packages may be experiencing some regular downtime or something, since it's always around the middle of the day (eastern time).

At times, I go to a page and the save/close/help buttons are missing. Then, I go to another page, which shows them and then revisit the original page and they're back. I've thought it might be some cache issue but I keep clearing the site cache and the problem persists.

Not sure if it's a related problem, but today (for the last couple of days, in fact), I'm struggling with Formit in that I can get a certain form to work in Chrome but not Firefox or IE. All code seems correct but I cannot figure why it would work in Chrome but not other browsers. A simple three field form in the footer of a page that doesn't seem to want to send ( see here: http://108.160.154.121/~got2net/index.php ) in IE or Firefox but sends with Chrome. This is with MODx 2.2.2-pl (traditional). Am I wrong, but if it works in Chrome, it follows that it should also work with other browsers, no? Any reason it wouldn't that is not obvious? I've reinstalled the package twice.

The above mentioned control panel odd behaviors seems less so when I work in IE, believe it or not (version 9). Chrome and Firefox are both the latest versions. Cache gets cleared repeatedly, both browser and site cache.

It's almost as if my installations are haunted all of a sudden. Anyone out there experience any sudden unexplainable change(s) in their installation(s)? Anything to look for? I've started to wonder if there's something about new release browsers that MODx is taking issue with.

Thanks in advance.

MODx versions 2.1.3 - 2.2.4
PHP version 5.3.14 and 5.2.10 [ed. note: waizen last edited this post 14 years, 3 months ago.]

Update: All of a sudden, the Formit problem cleared itself. This is in-spite of clearing browser and site cache many times.

Any thoughts on a server-wide cache issues? We're going to be looking into the solution found here: https://forums.modx.com/thread/73462/2-2-0-install-issue---blank-manager#dis-post-416581 as a possible solution but if anyone has any other thoughts, they are very welcome.

One thing to try is manually deleting all files in the core/cache directory when things get weird. Cache corruption is less of an issue in the more recent versions, but I think it still occurs occasionally.

Turning off compress_js and compress_css System Settings is in order when the Manager doesn't render correctly.

Package Manager will hang, or take a long time to render, when there is a problem with the internet connection. It could be a gateway timeout at MODX (I know the forums have this problem), or an issue with your internet connection.

I have seen some package-related messages in the MODX Error log lately that come and go.


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PLEASE, PLEASE specify the version of MODX you are using.
MODX info for everyone: http://bobsguides.com/modx.html

Thanks for responding, Bob.

I've thought of the core/cache route but to be honest with you, I've been burned quite a few times deleting the contents of that directory whereby the site completely blows up. Luckily, I usually have a backup to revert to.

Just to be clear...when you delete the contents of core/cache, it should be the entire contents, right? Any files within core/cache that should be left alone?

I don't know if there is any relationship, but for the last week or so every morning around 6 and again around 12 noon the whole Internet goes weird. Some home pages will hang or produce 500 or server reset error, while inner pages from the same site work fine. Parts of pages will load, then just stop. Sites like Google or the MODx forums will load without css, although the css files are available from the links in the "view source" of the pages in question. This lasts for anywhere from a few minutes to over an hour. I don't know if it's some kind of local interference in my case, or if something is going on "out there".

Actually, there are a lot of changes happening with the browsers right now. Firefox and Safari have moved to a rapid, "quiet" update model to come into line with Chrome's success and level of support for the updates to HTML, CSS and JS (ECMAScript). In the last week, Firefox, Safari and Chrome have all done a major update...

In particular, the changes to JavaScript engines are affecting cookies, logins and even how and whether GETs and POSTs work in different manners. Offline Storage for HTML5 utilizing JavaScript has become a real issue of contention between the browsers, particularly given that everything is still in draft. I have found that using jQuery for ALL of my JavaScript/AJAX calls in the front-end has eased the burden on the manager quite a bit, but before I moved over to jQuery, I was experiencing many issues similar to the ones that you are describing when Chrome moved to 18 and Firefox moved to 12. (P.S. I always use the latest jQuery supplied from Google's CDM.)

Maybe this might have something to do with it?

On a side note, I think all of the browsers will fully support HTML5, CSS3 and ECMAScript5 before the drafts are actually complete, LOL.

Firefox just went to 14.01, and those "quick links" in the new tab aren't showing the thumbnails any more.

Hey, Susan... just out of curiosity, what part of the country are you in? Eastern, Mtn, West Coast, etc.?

Heh. Try Israel.

Ohhhhh.... way eastern. Or, would that be way western?

I guess the cause of the internet issues you might be experiencing would probably not be the same as mine, then.