Invalid Page Format errors have returned for some groups

[morestuff]

I am now getting this error on some, but not all groups.

Affected groups include:

hf47158toCNC

DIY-CNC

gearcutting

Is Yahoo up to yet more changes?

Regards,
Steve

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Steve,

No. I don't think so. What they are doing is randomly requesting that you re-log in despite the fact that you're already logged in.

Try logging in to Yahoo using IE and then start PGO.

Cheers,

Wilson.

[Mike E]

Wilson,

In 9 out 10 groups I also get invalid page format errors for the last week. Logged in, or not, to yahoo (fire fox) makes no difference. Options: "skip authorization" checked or unchecked - no difference.

Upgraded yesterday to v3.0.77 - still invalid formats errors
Any suggestions? thanks Mike

[morestuff]

Hi Wilson,

Thanks for you reply and your continued support.

I am running Windows 2K with up to date patches.

I have tried logging in with my IE browser first, no change.

This problem started about 10 days ago.

I thought maybe it resulted from Yahoo's recent addition of
"sharing" features and my multiple profiles. Changing to
have all groups use my main profile did not help.

I have historically used PopCheck to manage cookies etc., so
it was disabled and a test run. No luck.

Here are a couple of snips from my log window to show the
problem:

---------------
8/12/2009 9:54:21 PM >  Set group's info (7x24Mini-LatheCNC)
8/12/2009 9:54:21 PM >  Authorization started
8/12/2009 9:54:22 PM >  Authorization accomplished
8/12/2009 9:54:22 PM >  Request number of messages
8/12/2009 9:54:22 PM >  Error : Invalid page format.
---------------

The 7x24 group is the very first group in my list, and it authorizes
reliably every time, and also fails with Invalid page format every
time.

Similar results for any group, among those that fail, happens but
only if there are new messages.

Other groups, a few, seem to work fine. An example from a run
where many fail, then one that works, followed by others that fail
in the same run:

--------------------------

8/12/2009 9:54:34 PM >  Set group's info (CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO)
8/12/2009 9:54:34 PM >  Authorization started
8/12/2009 9:54:35 PM >  Authorization accomplished
8/12/2009 9:54:35 PM >  Request number of messages
8/12/2009 9:54:36 PM >  Number of messages : 96799
8/12/2009 9:54:36 PM >  Receive message : 96794
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Received message from : Peter Mack
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Receive message : 96795
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Received message from : Geoff
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Receive message : 96796
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Received message from : ikodb
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Receive message : 96797
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Received message from : ikodb
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Receive message : 96798
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Received message from : stcnc2000
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Receive message : 96799
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Received message from : Roland Jollivet
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Set group's info (cadcamuk)
8/12/2009 9:54:37 PM >  Authorization started
8/12/2009 9:54:38 PM >  Authorization accomplished
8/12/2009 9:54:38 PM >  Request number of messages
8/12/2009 9:54:39 PM >  Error : The group does not exist.
8/12/2009 9:54:39 PM >  Set group's info (CandCNCSupport)
8/12/2009 9:54:39 PM >  Authorization started
8/12/2009 9:54:40 PM >  Authorization accomplished
8/12/2009 9:54:40 PM >  Request number of messages
8/12/2009 9:54:41 PM >  Error : Invalid page format.

---------------
The non-existant group is not the trigger for the problem,
I just included it so that you saw an un-edited segment of
the log. Problem exists for the very first group, see above.

If there are other tests that will help diagnose the problem,
let me know and I will try to help capture data.

Regards,
Steve Stallings

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Guys,

I'm seeing this too. Which is good as I can investigate it.

Will let you know what I find.

Cheers,

Wilson.

[morestuff]

OK, I may have solved my problems, and it does seem to be related to Yahoo's new login security.

I closed my browser and then searched my system for any and ALL cookies related to Yahoo, and deleted them. I think having browser closed was important.

Next startup of browser required login for groups that need it.

PG Offline now seems to be able to read these groups.

Other funny stuff with Yahoo also seems to be behaving better.

Hopefully this is the end of it for now.  8-)

Cheers,
Steve Stallings

[Wilson Logan]

Hi All,

OK, I'm able to get groups with public archives and I'm getting the IPF error for groups which require membership to view the archives.

This made me think its something to do with the login page.

I signed into Yahoo and there is an extra page which requests you to enter the answers to 2 secret questions. I did that and ran PGO. Still the same. I stopped PGO. Stopped IE. Re-started IE, re-started PGO with 'Skip Authorization' set ON. Problem solved.

I have set  'Skip Authorization' OFF and it still works OK.

So, thats the deal. You need to sign in to Yahoo in IE and answer the 2 questions.

Steve, did you have to do that?

Cheers,

Wilson.

[morestuff]

OK, the extra page with the two questions is part of the "funny stuff" that I referred to, but there is more going on with Yahoo and their cookies. I could not get the two questions response to "take" and survive a logoff/logon until I killed all the cookies.

Regards,
Steve Stallings

[Wilson Logan]

Interesting?  It went OK for me.

I answered the questions, made sure I was logged in. Turned off IE, turned on PGO. Worked.

I have cookies switched on I believe.

Cheers,

Wilson.

[Mike E]

Thanks Wilson,

This solved my invalid page format problems. I have always used myyahoo, so I went to yahoo, logged in, answered Pass Word Q&A.  Now pg offline works fine. Mike

[morestuff]

Damn, its back. Yahoo must be doing something really strange.

I am getting the screen to set secret questions again. It is happening when using my web browser to access non-public groups, and I assume, happening with PGOffline since it is also failing again.

Anybody got any idea what is going on?

Steve

[Wilson Logan]

Hi Steve,

Very odd. I signed in again and my questions seem to have stuck. I was not asked to create 2 new ones. I'd say something to do with cookies but is that likely? Yahoo will know if you've answered the questions or not so no need to consult cookies on your machine. I'd have thought....

Cheers,

Wilson.

[morestuff]

This definitely some sort of Yahoo cookie management problem, I just cannot get to the bottom of it. Probably complicated by the fact that running W2K forces me to run IE version 6 or use Firefox. I cannot ditch IE because of stupid web sites coded specifically to work with its quirks, so I end up running it most of the time.

I can get PGOffline to work by starting each browser and making sure Yahoo thinks I am logged out, exit the browsers, then delete all cookies, then start PGOffline.

Regards,
Steve

[Jkulifay]

I have several groups that I put into different databases. I now want to combine them. I exported them. I'm trying to create a new database to import them into. It says I need to get groups. I've recently upgraded to IE8.
When I go to get the groups, I get "  Error : Invalid page format." I tried logging in. I tried skipping the authorization. I don't know how to get to the next step.

Thanks for your help.

[Wilson Logan]

IE8 may be the problem.

I'm currently doing some testing with another user who has installed IE8 and is getting the same 'Invalid Page Format' error.

I installed IE8 as a test some months ago and didn't have a problem but I uninstalled it because it doesn't seem to do anything that IE7 doesn't do.

BTW you can add groups manually to your new database. Groups--> Get Groups.

Cheers,

Wilson.