@GauGau: I know what you mean about trying to get support for such an issue. But to be clear, in my case, this problem is completely reproducible. It might be seemingly random for whom it affects, but for me, it is constantly a problem since April 25th (when I first noticed it). Since I figured out my laptop works, I haven't checked my desktop as often, but every time I have checked the desktop in the past week, it gives the same error. I mentioned (in a post above) that last week, the problem went away - for that time, I was sitting at the computer trying every few minutes or so for about 15 minutes, then the problem went away, all 3 things worked (FTP, PHPMyAdmin, and SMF), then 20 minutes later, it stopped working. I was probing before & after with a simple "try to export a table" and during the time it worked, I was uploading files, posting on the forum, and modifying MySQL tables. I didn't change any settings or anything else. That made me think it really was a server issue . . . until I followed Thu's suggestion and tried my laptop to find that that worked, which is beguiling.
Except for that one case, the problem (and lack thereof) is reproducible on both computers - the desktop and the laptop. If the problem is going away once in a while, it's very infrequently and so multiple tries would give a high percentage of errors on a problematic computer (like my desktop).
My wife's desktop computer was never used on Coppermine's server and the time I tried it yesterday, it did *not* work. It gave the same set of errors on FTP, PHPMyAdmin, and SMF as my desktop computer. All 3 computers are on the same LAN (through a router with a cable modem as the internet connection). My desktop computer is wired directly to the router, my wife's desktop and the laptop are on wireless.
I wish I could think of any specific ideas to suggest to the webhost. If anyone has anything they want me to try on my laptop and desktop, please let me know. The best I can do is summarize what I know so far:
Desktop Computer:
- FTP, Passive or Active Mode, Download:
--- works for all files
- FTP, Passive Mode, Upload:
--- files <= 1456 bytes : works fine
--- files >= 1457 bytes : client timeout (40+ seconds), 0-byte file created
- FTP, Active Mode, Upload:
--- files <= 1456 bytes : works fine (no delay)
--- files >= 1457 bytes : stalls for 10 seconds, then transfers fine
- PHPMyAdmin:
--- View Pages : works fine
--- Submitting Form Data, small amount : works fine
--- Submitting Form Data, medium-large amount : server connection reset
- SMF Forum:
--- View Posts : works fine
--- Quick Reply, short (few sentences) : works fine
--- Quick Reply, medium-long : server connection reset
--- Regular Reply : server connection reset
--- Modify Post : server connection reset
Computer OS: Windows XP SP2, with all updates
FTP Program: SmartFTP 2.0.996
Web Browser: FireFox 1.5.0.3 and IE 6.0
In general, the web issues were the same between FireFox and IE. The only differences are reproducible, for example, I can export tables in PHPMyAdmin on IE but cannot on FireFox. I'm guessing there is something "larger" about the form data between the two browsers although I'm not sure why.
On the laptop computer, I have the same software and everything works fine. No timeouts, no stalling for 10 seconds, no problems whatsoever.
edit: Don't ask me why it's 1456 bytes. Anyone have any ideas? I wonder if I count the number of bytes allowed for form data and quick reply messages, it would be the same. Since I don't know what that would tell me, I don't plan to unless someone thinks it's useful.