More on this issue.

There are two devices on the LAN managed using browser interfaces - an NAS (reported as above) and an ADSL modem. A screen shot of the failing access attempt to the NAS is attached and the IP address is correct.

A similar effect is generated when I try to access the management page of the ADSL modem.

In my mind, the firefox update did this. With the previous version - 3.6.4 (a link somewhere in the browser told me this) - both of the device management pages were accessible and now they aren't). This is the second time a Mozilla auto update has burned me with parameter changes that affect other devices or software (the other time was a thunderbird update, and I spent months accusing the security software team before the truth came out) and impressed I am not.

What's causing this inability to access a device web page???

Davidk

With some effort, this is solved. and it was the browser causing it.

Testing with config changes to the security suite made no difference to the reported error outcome. It took the un-installation of the internet security suite to expose Firefox as the cause. The failing settings were the "use system settings" option in the tools/options/advanced/network panel. I have never had occasion to change anything in this space since I began using Firefox, and when I installed the NAS in Sep 09, access to it via FF using the ip_address was the norm.

However, when attempting to connect using FF with the security suite "not there" a proxy not responding error occurred, which was the tip about the cause. Reviewing the FF network panel, a manual selection of proxy server and no proxy for local connections was the fix required. It continued to work after the security suite was re-installed. A jpg image of that working configuration is attached.

In the last 6 months FF has undergone a number of updates. One of those - most probably one of 3.6.4 or 3.6.6 - changed something in the way FF managed local network connections. Whereby the same ip addresses in the address bar previously allowed were no longer permitted - all without telling the user in the update, until the condition occurred in operations.

This is the second time a mozilla product has done this to me, on auto update, and I am pissed off that a good product could be contaminated by poor design and testing in this way. Auto updates for FF and TBird are off my agenda. If the end effects of a change are not comprehensive and explained in detail - I won't use it. the pain of the errors it's caused is considerable.

Davidk

That Use system proxy settings was added in Firefox 3.6.6, as near as I can figure out - not in 3.6.4. And, the select that setting as the Default was a mistake, IMO - users don't expect a change like that in a "Security / Stability update". Before Firefox 3.6, changes like that were held until the next major version release, unless it was to patch a major security Bug; but now Mozilla is tossing in changes whenever they feel like it.

They write the EULA, but IMO that is a breach of implied trust that users might have - that Mozilla isn't going to change Firefox in a substantial way during the "run" of a major version, unless they're fixing a major Bug or stability issue. IMO, OOPP and "Use system ..." is neither of those.

Muchas gracias for the confirming information. And yes - it's not the sort of change one expects without some warning and descriptive notes.

The only thing which made me even suspect FF as the problem cause is that I knew I had been using the web interface to the LAN devices in late May, and recalled the FF auto update. In effect, a very short time between working and not working.

In the TBird case I mentioned, that wasn't the case - I'd been pointing the finger at the security system for nearly 6 months before the truth came out, and I made a point of apologising to them afterwards, together with the details of the cause and fix. I'm sure that their view of mozilla products is now somewhat biassed when problems occur now.

Thanks again

Davidk

You're welcome. I am marking this thread as solved.