Image/Thumbnail Problems: FA Images will Not Load... Security Certificate Error?

[ShiningLion]

Strangely, out of nowhere, suddenly images will not load on FA in Google Chrome today. The banner and ads will display, but everything else is just empty image placeholders! I can run the site in Internet explorer, but it does the same thing, however, a dialogue pops up at the top telling me that Internet Explorer has blocked the site from displaying content with security certificate errors. When I click that dialogue and tell it to allow the blocked content, all of the image placeholders go away and the actual images are displayed.

So it would seem as though the images are not loading in Chrome because of a security certificate error... At least that seems like it could be the reason, since Internet Explorer tries to block them as well for that reason. Unfortunately, Chrome does not give me a dialogue mentioning anything of the sort or giving me an option to unblock the content. Anyone know what's up with this problem?

-Shine

 

[ShiningLion]

I've been running FA on Chrome, my default browser for a couple years now with no problem, and I didn't change any browser or security settings recently.

 

[Namrepus221]

Having the same problem but it's flat out crashing my mobile browser to the point nothing will load for any site. There is definately something wrong.

 

[Xipher]

Having this issue as well but its not consistent, happens mostly on my mobile browser.

 

[ElCid]

Having a similar issue on IE8. Pics are loading for viewing, but when I try to save them, they all try to save as "untitled.bmp". Every other site, images save just fine.

 

[ShiningLion]

Update: some images have begun to load, but only a few, and it is completely random. Most of the images still will not load, but some are randomly popping up every once in a while. The problem now seems sporadic.

 

[ShiningLion]

Update: Now all avatars load and display, but no submissions or thumbnails. I have also had a few instances where only the submissions thumbnails would show, and only on the submissions notification page, not on any user page or the main FA page. For the most part, no images will load, most of the time since this problem began, but when they do load it is very strange and random which ones will load and which ones will not, but it is always a specific set that will load (avatars, thumbnails, etc.) while the other sets will not. WTF?

 

[ShiningLion]

*RESOLVED* No thanks to the helpful FA admins.

It seems as if FA's security certificate is not listed in the list of trusted security certificate providers that your computer has by default. This causes FA to not load, or not to load specific content. In Internet Explorer, you are prompted whether or not to allow the content with the certification errors, but in Chrome it can simply end up blocked with no prompt to enable it.

You need to fix this by installing FA's security certificate. There is a sort of stepladder of three certificates that FA uses to operate. This is called a certification path, and there is a tab you can click to view it when you are viewing a specific site's security certificate. You need to view the certification path and see if ANY of the set are marked as not trusted "usually have a red X over the icon for that certificate" and INSTALL those certificates by VIEWING each one individually that is not trusted, EXPORTING each one that is not trusted to a file on your computer, then IMPORTING each of those into the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" store in your browser. An import wizard will walk you through the process.

I am not going to explain how to do this for either browser, as it is too much for a person like me who is not too famliar with this stuff to type out (Hint, you should be able to find the certificate settings in the Options menu in your browser. In Chrome it is listed in the "under the hood" section). Here is a link though where someone explains how to do this process in Internet Explorer, which should also fix the problem in Chrome. Scroll down to the comment by user zacharysyoung and read his 12 step instructions. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Chrome/thread?tid=18ea33a150bbccd2&hl=en

Sorry that this is the best help I can offer on the situation. Perhaps if FA had a more diligent support team they could explain the issue better. I'll be honest, I'm not even sure how SAFE it is to install these certificates as "trusted" but it will rid the problem of content being blocked due to the security certificate errors. Please do this at your own risk.

 

[yak]

Sorry, the unhelpful FA admins were first unaware, and then simply too busy fixing the certificate issue.
This should not be a problem any longer.

 

[Xanderfox]

So how do you fix the problem, cause yea the problem still persists for me, how do I fix it? Seriously what do I do? Do I do something or do i wait until the admins have time to fix it?

 

[Xanderfox]

So... are admins that busy that we only get minimal info? Really my image links are all still broken, is the problem being dealt with? Do I need to do something myself to resolve this issue?

 

[yak]

So... are admins that busy that we only get minimal info?

Speaking of minimal info, you could have provided a more verbose description of your problem as well as mentioning what you are using to access FA with.
As far as I know, the untrusted certificate issue for Android devices has been resolved by linking our certificate against a 2048bit RapidSSL intermediate and a GeoTrust cross-root CA.

 

[Janglur]

I, also, am having this problem using both Chrome and Firefox. Images aren't loading, any images, at all. Like the entire image DB is down or something.
This is the second day i've had this problem now.

 

[Xanderfox]

To be honest I don't know WHAT is going on, only images I viewed between 11 and 12 last night weren't broken, anything new is, not being an administration I can only assume it has to do with the peak hour performance issues.

 

[SkieFire]

Xander: What browser/OS are you using?

And does it still happen when you try others?

 

[Xanderfox]

When I use Chrome image links are broken, Firefox saw them perfectly fine

 

[Chanyder]

Using Chrome ver 16.0.912.77 m with the same problems.

 

[kayfox]

Well, its sending the intermediate:
kayfox@xheotris:~$ openssl s_client -showcerts -connect d.facdn.net:443
CONNECTED(00000003)
depth=1 C = US, O = "GeoTrust, Inc.", CN = RapidSSL CA
verify error:num=20:unable to get local issuer certificate
verify return:0
---
Certificate chain
0 s:/serialNumber=tpf0i5KZkR79Th/zcprmju0WiNHCGnvb/C=US/O=*.facdn.net/OU=GT45481223/OU=See www.rapidssl.com/resources/cps (c)12/OU=Domain Control Validated - RapidSSL(R)/CN=*.facdn.net
i:/C=US/O=GeoTrust, Inc./CN=RapidSSL CA
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
1 s:/C=US/O=GeoTrust, Inc./CN=RapidSSL CA
i:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=GeoTrust Global CA
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
-----END CERTIFICATE-----
---
Server certificate
subject=/serialNumber=tpf0i5KZkR79Th/zcprmju0WiNHCGnvb/C=US/O=*.facdn.net/OU=GT45481223/OU=See www.rapidssl.com/resources/cps (c)12/OU=Domain Control Validated - RapidSSL(R)/CN=*.facdn.net
issuer=/C=US/O=GeoTrust, Inc./CN=RapidSSL CA
---

 

[Janglur]

Problem is still continuing.

 

[Xanderfox]

the problem continues for me too, a few image links work, ones I viewed on the 24, every new one or one I didn't view is broken. it appears only to be a issue with Chrome as far as I can tell. I've not sitting here tested every web browser.

 

[Janglur]

Still no update? Still no fix?

 

[Xanderfox]

doesn't look like it.

 

[kayfox]

There is no fix, it is working as expected.

Further explaination:

0 s:/serialNumber=tpf0i5KZkR79Th/zcprmju0WiNHCGnvb/C=US/O=*.facdn.net/OU=GT45481223/OU=See www.rapidssl.com/resources/cps (c)12/OU=Domain Control Validated - RapidSSL(R)/CN=*.facdn.net
i:/C=US/O=GeoTrust, Inc./CN=RapidSSL CA

We see here that *.facdn.net is issued a certificate by "/C=US/O=GeoTrust, Inc./CN=RapidSSL CA" which is an intermediate certificate authority.

1 s:/C=US/O=GeoTrust, Inc./CN=RapidSSL CA
i:/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=GeoTrust Global CA

So, facdn.net has been nice enough to include an intermediate CA certificate linking RapidSSL to "/C=US/O=GeoTrust Inc./CN=GeoTrust Global CA" which I have verified exists in Microsoft's standard CA distribution, as well as current versions of Opera and Firefox.

Please clear your SSL state by closing your browser completely and/or rebooting and try again.

 

[Xanderfox]

So in other words your saying this isn't a problem that will EVER be addressed, and if your use Chrome to surf FA you SOL? How is the fact that this isn't a issue with IE, Firefox or Opera solve the problem with Google Chrome? and Clear your SSL? really, "turn it off and back on" is the solution? I'm sorry but is there useful advice? Can I actually do something other than wait for software updates?

 

[yak]

No, he is saying it's a problem you have to address.
Tested in Google Chrome 16.0.912.75m, then updated it to 16.0.912.77m. In both cases the images were served without issues.

[ps] thanks, kay.