Hello Wayne.

I can connect from my end just fine. Does this also happen on other browsers (Safari, for example)? If it doesn't, it's possible that you are having a problem with some Firefox add-on that is hindering your Firefox's normal behavior. Have you tried disabling all add-ons (just to check), to see if Firefox goes back to normal?

Whenever you have a problem with Firefox, whatever it is, you should make sure it's not caused by one (or more than one) of your installed add-ons, be it an extension, a theme or a plugin. To do that easily and cleanly, run Firefox in safe mode (don't forget to select Disable all add-ons when you start safe mode). If the problem disappears, you know it's from an add-on. Disable them all in normal mode, and enable them one at a time until you find the source of the problem. See this article for information about troubleshooting extensions and themes and this one for plugins.

If you need support for one of your add-ons, you'll have to contact its author.

If the problem is not disappears when all add-ons are disabled, please tell me, so we can work from there. Please have no fear of following my instructions to the line, as all can be easily undone.

Thank you for your response. My G4 is the only computer in the house which will not open USAToday. I cannot type it into the address line and it does not open as the preferred homepage. I did as you instructed, open Firefox in safe mode with add-ons disabled and it still gives me this message:

Unable to connect

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at www.usatoday.com.

   *   The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few
         moments.

   *   If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
         connection.

   *   If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
         that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

To be honest, I don't know what "add-ons" are. Until an article a few weeks ago recommending Firefox over Safari or IE because the latter were "full of holes". In researching a possible solution to this problem I have seen some of my add ons and have no idea where they came from. I certainly did not add a Harry Potter add-on. There are others that I don't know where they came from, nor do I know what they do. I was a very long time Safari user.

In that vein, I have considered Cache as a problem, but cannot find it to clear it out, a Safari throwback.

Additionally, I have my Firefox set to not save a history.

Again, thank you for you assistance. Wayne Loney

The fact that other computers in your house are able to access the site rules out a router/network issue.

Although, I meant if other browsers (Safari, for example) had the same problem, in your computer. Do you have any other browser installed besides Firefox? If so, please try it and report back the results. If Firefox is the only one, never mind.

As for add-ons, they are supplementary pieces of software that work in or with Firefox. They may be extensions (go into Tools > Add-ons > Extensions to manage them, you may also want to uninstall all unwanted extensions), they may be themes (go into Tools > Add-ons > Themes to manage them) or plugins (go into Tools > Add-ons > Plugins to disable the ones you don't want). To make it simpler for you, please just run Firefox in safe mode, tick the box that says Disable all add-ons at startup, and see if the problem persists. Please report back the results, and we'll work from there.

I did the "disable add-ons" the first time you recommended it and got the same message. I just tried Safari and IE and neither of them will open USAToday either, this is too weird.

Wayne

That rules it out as a Firefox problem. I recommend you check your Firewall for any setting that may be blocking the site. For more help, you'll probably need to contact Apple, since you're on a Mac, right?

I'm sorry I can't help you more than this.

Running on Windows XP - I have the same problem with my BBC home page - has worked fine on Firefox for a couple of years then suddenly and inexplicably, the home page just will not open. When Firefox starts I now get a blank page and the status bar says 'Done' - infuriating! Further more, if I enter the address directly in the address bar - I still get a blank page. I have uninstalled Firefox and reloaded it - no change. I have also opened IE and Chrome and set the BBC as my home page in both browsers - works fine. Also logged in another user running Firefox - set up BBC as home page - works perfectly.

i have exactly the same problem loading the bbc home page with firefox on my max (osx 10.6.4 snow leopard) upgraded from firefox 3.6.8 to vers 4 beta hoping the problem would clear it hasn't. other pages on the bbc site working fine, and the home page works fine on safari, so it is definitely a firefox issue. i have cleared cache and it made no difference. the page info says the blank home page is just 20 bytes, and most interestingly the render mode is 'Quirks mode' though other bbc pages are 'standard compliance mode'.

That's interesting - I have checked my page info and it is the same. If you Google 'Quirks Mode' there are numerous links and the one that I have picked up on is the Javascript - I am sorry to say that I do not understand any of the information relating to the Quiks Mode/Javascript relationship, but I do recall that I had a Javascript update prior to the home page disappearing. That said, I have the same update on my laptop (running on Vista) and I have no problems with my homepage which loading normally.

For some uknown reason the BBC home page is now working normally - I have changed nothing. Despite the loss of my home page for a while, I retained it in my Firefox browser settings and added a second BBC page (weather) so that I could get to other BBC areas. So, I started Firefox today as usual and to my surprise, the BBC Home page loaded - problem solved - don't ask me how - no idea but I strongly suspect that Javascript is implicated.

firefox wont open it just says cant connect to server, and i need firefox to run programs. without firefox my program wont run either its like they both in sync. when i check other sites it works perfectly going on the internet but firefox. I really need my firefox back online. please help send me a email at brandonjarrendell@gmail.com

I update Firfox and now it won't connect to the internet. I uninstalled the old one a retried download the latest and the same probelm exist. IE8 still works fine.

Thanks Bill