Heel N Toe Needs Some Advice
 

See below. I told him I'd help but he just laughed.

Eric has allowed this thread and will help as much as possible.

PM me for Toes personal email address and I will contact you folks that can provide assistance:

Hello Pelicans,
Heel n Toe here... I began getting this message every time I clicked on my Pelican O/T forum bookmark in Firefox a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and haven't been able to log in since:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Server Error
403: Forbidden - Access is Denied.
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials
that you supplied.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul and the Pelican IT department have been doing everything they can think of to help correct the problem, but haven't been able to find a solution, so I'm turning to you.

I remember seeing a thread not long before I lost access about someone else having a similar problem. If you remember that thread or were the author, was it the same problem and/or did it contain a solution?

Paul has done enough, so he doesn't need to be 'middle man' any longer

Again, I'll get you his email address if you folks PM me.

Best and thanks.

Bump

If I had that problem first thing I'd do is delete the bookmark.
Then I'd run CCleaner and clear the cookies and cache.
I'd then type in the URL directly, no cut or paste stuff.

Hope this might help but it's all I've got.

^^^ What Scott said .... (I defer to him), but if clearing out the browser side doesn't fix it, the server database might need to be "cleared" next.

I have noticed a few db errors a few weeks back.

The daily resets at 5:30 est are obvious, bogus activity is reduced, and mebbe Pelican is just tired of H&T making stooopid posts....

Nah .... that ain't it .... I'm here still :)

Good luck!

Always try multiple browsers, multiple devices (PC, phone, etc...), and different networks (not just your home network, try a friend's home, via your phone's connectivity, free wifi, etc...).


If you have success via anything (other browsers, devices, networks) then the issue is with one of the things associated that didn't work (maybe your ISP and/or home network, maybe a specific browser, maybe a specific device).

Once you've done the above, and narrowed it down "it's not chrome on my phone or my kid's PC at the coffee shop" (or whatever), then you start looking at where it does fail.

It fails for all browsers and devices at home (then look at your home network, ISP, DNS).

"It fails on my PC and Firefox, but works fine on my phone or works fine via chrome on my PC" then look at your PC and Firefox.

It could be as simple as clearing cookies, cache, and history in the browser that you usually use. It could be some plug-in in the browser. It could be a "security" software blocking your connectivity. It could be that the DNS from your ISP is causing issues. (I can provide other DNS servers to test with if necessary).

My PC has 2-3 browsers. I have my phone my wife's phone, we both have PCs. I can disable the wifi on my phone and use the phone direct through the phone's Internet (instead of my wifi network via my ISP). (that usually does the trick) You can borrow a friends PC at their house and see if you get the same results (rules out your home network, devices, browsers).

I tell PP to keep me logged in, and I only login 2-3 times a year. I assume it's usually after some sort of upgrade on my PC or maintenance at PP.

I have the same exact problem at home .I cant log on, on my lap top ,desktop nor my phone. I have no problems logging in at work on any devices , including my phone . Hopefully this is helpful ?

When I had the same problem a few weeks back....I couldn't login the normal way, but I found that if I started my login at pelicanparts.com and went through the several choices....it worked.

A cookied start would not work, even after clearing my browsing data.

Fastfredracing, thanks for letting us know you're having the problem too, I'll pass it on.

HnT and look171 are the only two that I've been in communication within regards to this 403 error pop up which looks like this...
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1733867743.jpg


These are a few of the things we've tried to fix it so far:

-Checking on another device or computer (problem is some people only have one device)

-Clearing cookies on browsers

-Pressing Ctrl + F5 or Cmd+Shift+R for Mac

-Manually typing in forums.pelicanparts.com

- Clicking on these two to access forums:
New style (incomplete)
(regular forum style)

Currently out of ideas along with my colleague, so we decided to open it up to the braintrust. Everything seems operational on the forum so we aren't sure what's going on.

Steve Masraum offers some excellent tips/advice for isolating "where" the issue is. It's almost always on the client side ... but ...

Not knowing what happens on the server side (database flips/swaps etc), the server could be "hosed" if a db error occured while H&T was logging in, etc., and I had a few of those ... when making a post, etc. back when the site was mostly unreachable for several days.

Good luck ... Eric, thank you guys! Still lots of "things going on", but the efforts are noticed ....

And appreciated :)

Good point. The users with issues might also want to try creating a new user and seeing if that works. That would point at it possibly being an issue with the site/database rather than their stuff (especially if the other troubleshooting that I posted doesn't yield any fruit).

I can not log in via mobile view (only desktop) this morning. Getting some type of vbulletin err msg. I was logging in to point out this....

It sounds as if these users can access the site, but simply can't log in. After clearing out the client side (on that device), then I would focus on the server db .... it smells "fishy" these daze ;).

Unlike baseball players ... network guys get as many strikes as we want fixing "our network" problems :).

280 "active users" at 5:30 am .... yippee!

From mobile logon attempt ... this is from memory....

invalid_redirect_url_x

I think that was it .... hth.

Mobile logon is working now :)

My desktop just allowed me in. Same messages. Same as a couple weeks before Thanksgiving, also.

I get the bounced message, backup a page and go back into a thread and i'm logged in. One log in, a couple extra steps.

Here's the message.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1733922783.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1733923241.jpg

Logging on and posting from mobile is messed up since the "change" this morning ... just fyi.

Takes you to desktop mode... no bueno.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1734020876.jpg

I get this message when I try to log in from any device and that page basically locks up. But if I go back and click on the "forums" button it shows that I am logged in. It sounds like the same experience Bob is having.

Mine is less egregious. It says my last visit was 11-21 but clearly I've been visiting everyday.

I would say the nuclear option almost always works: clear everything from your browser - cookies, passwords, site settings, cached files, etc.

I'm getting the same 'Could not find...' message too, but clicking back and then going to the forums page gets me here.

It's broken but works.

This is all from the change made yesterday morning ... that Eric aluded to earlier.

Just my guess...

I usually have Pelican set to remember me (save cookies) and my browser to keep them, so I almost never login/logout.

In the process of trying to help HnT, I logged out, and when I logged back in I got the same error as above. It's just PP trying to take you to some sort of launch page, probably the forum root. It's easy enough to delete part of the URL and hit enter or change the URL to the OT forum to get in.
Just kill the part in the red outline or replace it with something else.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1734142849.jpg

I've been using mobile view from a small phone for years now and being forced to desktop mode sux on a 3" screen :( ... with this change.

If this isn't "fixed" ... my posting daze are soon to be over .... it's virtually a PITA now ;)...

Is the invalid_redirect_url_x fixed for you guys yet?

I finally ran into the same issue as some of you guys did on both my phone and 2 computers. I just re-logged in on each device and it seems back to normal now *I hope*.

Awesome Eric.... I just posted and saw your update.

Working great for me now...

Thank you :)

When asked if a "problem" was fixed ... ???

I dunno.....

Ask me again later ... much later :D

Good here also.

Still no worky here . I can log in at my work, via desktop, mobile devices,and my phone. At home, I still get 403 access denied code. I cannot log in there with any devices, including the same phone that I login with at work. I also was able to log in with that phone, away from home last weekend, using mobile data, so I would say , it has something to do with my IP address, or my home internet config?
I already wiped my cache, cookies, and browsing data several times. I even reset back to factory defaults .
This all started right around Thanksgiving like others have stated. I am not aware of any changes that happened on my end leading up to this .
Its no big deal, not complaining here, I seem to get a lot more done around the house , but I just thought Id let you know, in case it is helpful to you at all
I only hope that Pelican OT can manage with my reduced number of well thought out and intellectual posts in the mean time

Everything went smoothly Eric. Thanks.

Fred, we'll struggle along, but it just won't be the same place.

Merry Christmas all.

Yep, sounds like it's your ISP or home network.

https://www.sitelock.com/blog/how-to-fix-403-forbidden-error/

Fred - Heal N Toe would like to know if you found a solution to this problem and what it was. Apparently he still can't access the site.

Yep, same issue. I gave up and had to go cold turkey away from this place. The wind / fire here has cause many power outages for couple days. When power came back on, just out of habit and clicked on Off Topic and it worked. Its been working ever since. I couldn't log on with my phone at home during those times neither but it does work at a local Starbucks near by. Not sure how much of this help?

Sounds like something on your home ISP provider's DNS (lookup).... common as a common cold ;). Steve will understand, most won't .... I have to "juggle" mine on occasion .... it just is :(.

Nature of the beast too....

Good luck!

I pretty much tried everything mentioned above, and also from online searches on how to fix 304, or 403 access forbidden code .
I have also given up , and only log in here at work . Amazing how much stuff I get done at home .

Yep, that was one of my suggestions earlier. Since we're thinking it could be DNS, I sent HnT instructions on how to change DNS on his PC as well as a few trustworthy, public DNS servers that he can use to bypass his ISP's DNS.

Fingers crossed!

I have no idea what those are? With some luck that comes from power outage, it is now working. I didn't do anything but just stayed off it. Normally, I am not on here since I am out in the field or the shop.

Don't you love it when you ignore a problem long enough that it just goes away on its own?