Problem with Firefox or ZenCart?

I don't really know if this is an installation issue or not, but it seemed like the best place to ask this question. I'm running: Zen Cart 1.3.6 (upgraded from v1.3.5) and PHP Version 4.4.4 on Apache/1.3.37 (Unix).

Initially, my site seemed to work fine.

Then, today, I fired up the computer and using my Firefox browser, I tried to look at my site and got this open/download box: "You have chosen to open [blank space] which is: application/x-httpd-php from: http://www.[My Site]" But, my site was not showing up in any other way whatsoever.

I got this to happen multiple times, opening new tabs, and always having the problem. Then, I tried looking at some other sites to see if the problem was with my browser, but other sites worked fine.

Then, I tried looking at my site with other browsers (Opera and IE), and my site worked fine.

I went back to look with Firefox, and got the same problem. So, I decided to go ahead and download, and ended up downloading a file named "cipie3zu." It turns out that cipie3zu is identical to index.php.

Then, if I'm recalling correctly, I typed in the specific address, www.[My Site]/index.php, and it worked. But going back to just typing in my site name created the problem again.

Then, I closed Firefox, and opened it again. Went to my site, and like magic, it worked.

Sort of sounds like a glitch with Firefox. But, why would it work on other sites with non-specific addresses (like google.com)?

So, is the problem with Firefox or ZenCart? Was this a one-time glitch (I don't believe in them)?

Is that file you downloaded physically on your server?

No, it is not physically on the server - at least not now.

it could be the server.. i had this problem a lot when i was hosted on SiteGround.. too many users were on the server at that time (not on my site.. just the server itself browsing around on other sites) and it would time out and give me an index.php download instead of showing me the page.

getyourgameshere.com:

it could be the server.. i had this problem a lot when i was hosted on SiteGround.. too many users were on the server at that time (not on my site.. just the server itself browsing around on other sites) and it would time out and give me an index.php download instead of showing me the page.

Exactly. This is a common indicator of a server that's either too busy, or is experiencing temporary problems. The problem is that PHP isn't able to respond to all the requests sent to it for processing, and instead, the browser gets no parsing response from PHP and decides to just send the content to the browser as it normally would. This could be a problem with insufficient RAM or CPU availability on the server ... or just too busy.
If the problem happens repeatedly, report it, and consider switching hosts if they cannot respond or resolve it for you.

Thank you for the explanation. I did switch to a new host a few weeks ago because it "was a better value."

But, why did my other browsers seem to work OK, but apparently Firefox had to be restarted in order to work. Closing and opening tabs, and refreshing didn't help. Was I looking at the cache?

And also, why would typing in "www.My_Site/index.php" produce good results if the server was having problems?

I'll keep an eye on it, and if the problem continues, I'll switch hosts.

And speaking of that, does anyone have a recommendation for a site that has thorough, honest, unbiased reviews of different hosting companies and packages?

Thanks again.

Please make any personal recommendations for hosting via PM. In the meantime you can take a look at the Zen Cart Certified hosts using the link for hosting above.

expose:

Thank you for the explanation. I did switch to a new host a few weeks ago because it "was a better value."

But, why did my other browsers seem to work OK, but apparently Firefox had to be restarted in order to work. Closing and opening tabs, and refreshing didn't help. Was I looking at the cache?

And also, why would typing in "www.My_Site/index.php" produce good results if the server was having problems?

I'll keep an eye on it, and if the problem continues, I'll switch hosts.

And speaking of that, does anyone have a recommendation for a site that has thorough, honest, unbiased reviews of different hosting companies and packages?

Thanks again.
Hi, I just got firefox, I can open my site fine , but can't get admin to work, any idea why ?