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Safari can't connect to the server

In the past few days Safari refuses to load any web pages returning a "Safari can't connect to the server" message and I've run out of ideas on how to address this - has anyone else had this problem?


I can't load any http or https sites, but RSS feeds continue to work just fine (although embedded graphics won't load)


I have no other connectivity issues in general - Chrome and Firefox work well. Safari also works fine if I log in under a different account - so it's clearly linked to my account somehow. I've deleted the com.apple.safari.plist file from my library, reset safari and ended up reinstalling it, to no avail.


Any suggestions on what else I should try?


Thanks

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Nov 26, 2011 9:47 AM

Reply
11 replies

Mar 9, 2017 6:28 AM in response to naimatali

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.


Safari can’t open a website


Safari - Unsupported third-party add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues


Safari doesn't load a page or webpage items are missing


Web Content not responding

Nov 26, 2011 9:57 AM in response to cmanders

Please read this whole message before doing anything.


This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.


The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. First, disconnect all wired peripherals except keyboard, mouse, monitor, and Ethernet, if applicable. Boot in safe mode and log in as yourself. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:


  • Be sure your Mac is shut down.
  • Press the power button.
  • Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
  • Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).


During startup, you will see "Safe Boot" on the login screen, which appears even if you normally log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.


Safe mode is slower than normal, and some things won’t work at all, perhaps including wireless networking on certain Macs. If you usually connect to the Internet via WiFi, and it doesn’t work in safe mode, connect using an Ethernet cable. If you can’t do that, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and perform a safe login, as follows: Enter your credentials at the login screen, then hold down the shift key and click the “Log in” button. Keep holding the key until the menu bar appears. In this mode, your login items, among other things, won’t load.


In safe mode, test again. Same problem(s) now?


After testing, reboot (if you booted in safe mode) or log out/log in (if you performed a safe login) as usual.

Nov 26, 2011 1:09 PM in response to cmanders

You can avoid the "cannot connec to server" issues by using OpenDNS for better speed and more security and t's free.


Open System Preferences / Preferences then select the Network tab. Click the Advanced tab then click the DNS tab.



Enter these numbers exactly as you see them here.


Click +


208.67.222.222


Click +


208.67.220.220


Then click OK.


More about OpenDNS here.


Topic : Manually provided DNS server addresses are higher priority than DHCP's

Nov 26, 2011 1:18 PM in response to Linc Davis

Your issue has nothing to do with DNS.


Please read this whole message before doing anything.


This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.


Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software -- potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions -- they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.


These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.


Below are four lines of text in monospaced type, which are UNIX shell commands. They’re harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of running these commands, search this site for other discussions in which they’ve been used without any report of ill effects.


Some of the commands will line-wrap in your browser, but each one is really just a single long line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.


Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.


To begin, launch the Terminal application; e.g., by entering the first few letters of its name in a Spotlight search.


Step 1


Copy or drag -- do not type -- the line below into the Terminal window, then press return:


kextstat -kl | awk ' !/apple/ { print $6 $7 } '


Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered (the text, please, not a screenshot.)


Step 2


Repeat with this line:


sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk ' !/0x|apple|com\.vix|edu\.|org\./ { print $3 } '


This time, you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning.


Step 3


launchctl list | sed 1d | awk ' !/0x|apple|edu\.|org\./ { print $3 } '


Step 4

ls -1A {,/}Library/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Sta}* 2> /dev/null


Important: If you synchronize with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, change it to something like “user@me.com” before posting.


Remember, this is all drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste, whichever you prefer -- no typing, except your password.


You can then quit Terminal.

Nov 26, 2011 1:29 PM in response to Linc Davis

Results pasted in below. Thanks


Step 1 Results:


at.obdev.nke.LittleSnitch(2.4.4)

com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower(1.5.3)

com.bresink.driver.BRESINKx86Monitoring(7.0)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv(4.1.0)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB(4.1.0)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt(4.1.0)

org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp(4.1.0)

com.rogueamoeba.hermes(4.1.0)

com.parallels.kext.prl_usb_connect(7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_hypervisor(7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_hid_hook(7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_netbridge(7.0

com.parallels.kext.prl_vnic(7.0



Step 2 results:


com.parallels.vm.prl_naptd

com.rogueamoeba.hermes

com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.google.keystone.daemon

com.bombich.ccc

com.adobe.SwitchBoard

at.obdev.littlesnitchd



Step 3 results:


com.wacom.wacomtablet

com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy

com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent

com.parallels.desktop.client.launch

com.google.keystone.root.agent

com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager

at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent

at.obdev.LittleSnitchNetworkMonitor

ws.agile.1PasswordAgent

com.valvesoftware.steamclean

com.adobe.ARM.930da3ce175de4e82bd3cdf1dd8571f74bd3b6a7236bc94bfc00f6e9

com.adobe.ARM.5cb0a23ff523a4549435399405d6c2af5188f2bbf449abe7ac650414

com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0



Step 4 results:


/Library/Components:



/Library/Extensions:

VBoxDrv.kext

VBoxNetAdp.kext

VBoxNetFlt.kext

VBoxUSB.kext



/Library/Frameworks:

AEProfiling.framework

AERegistration.framework

Adobe AIR.framework

AudioMixEngine.framework

Frameworks

MacFUSE.framework

NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

PluginManager.framework

TSLicense.framework

XSKey.framework

iLifeFaceRecognition.framework

iLifeKit.framework

iLifePageLayout.framework

iLifeSQLAccess.framework

iLifeSlideshow.framework



/Library/Input Methods:



/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

CitrixICAClientPlugIn.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin

GarminGpsControl.plugin

Google Earth Web Plug-in.plugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin.plugin

Quartz Composer.webplugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

Silverlight.plugin

WacomNetscape.plugin

WacomSafari.plugin

flashplayer.xpt

googletalkbrowserplugin.plugin

iPhotoPhotocast.plugin

npgtpo3dautoplugin.plugin

nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt



/Library/LaunchAgents:

at.obdev.LittleSnitchNetworkMonitor.plist

at.obdev.LittleSnitchUIAgent.plist

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist

com.google.keystone.agent.plist

com.parallels.DesktopControlAgent.plist

com.parallels.desktop.launch.plist

com.parallels.vm.prl_pcproxy.plist

com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist



/Library/LaunchDaemons:

at.obdev.littlesnitchd.plist

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist

com.apple.aelwriter.plist

com.apple.remotepairtool.plist

com.bombich.ccc.plist

com.google.keystone.daemon.plist

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon.plist

com.rogueamoeba.hermes.plist



/Library/PreferencePanes:

Archives.prefPane

Citrix Online Plug-in.prefPane

Flash Player.prefPane

Flip4Mac WMV.prefPane

MacFUSE.prefPane

Perian.prefPane

WacomTablet.prefPane



/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

com.bombich.ccc

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper



/Library/QuickLook:

GBQLGenerator.qlgenerator

iWork.qlgenerator



/Library/QuickTime:

AC3MovieImport.component

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

Flip4Mac WMV Advanced.component

Flip4Mac WMV Export.component

Flip4Mac WMV Import.component

Google Camera Adapter 0.component

Google Camera Adapter 1.component

Perian.component



/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

Adobe Unit Types.osax



/Library/StartupItems:

BRESINKx86Monitoring

Bulldog

ProTec6

ProTec6b

VirtualBox



Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

AdiumAddressBookAction_AIM.scpt

AdiumAddressBookAction_ICQ.scpt

AdiumAddressBookAction_Jabber.scpt

AdiumAddressBookAction_MSN.scpt

AdiumAddressBookAction_SMS.scpt

AdiumAddressBookAction_Yahoo.scpt

SkypeABDialer.bundle

SkypeABSMS.bundle



Library/Adobe Lightroom:

Develop Presets



Library/Frameworks:

DL70ACE.framework

DL70AGM.framework

DL70ARE.framework

DL70AXE16SharedExpat.framework

DL70AXE8SharedExpat.framework

DL70AdobeXMP.framework

DL70BIB.framework

DL70BIBUtils.framework

DL70CoolType.framework

DL70JP2K.framework

DL70PDFL.framework

DL81ACE.framework

DL81AGM.framework

DL81ARE.framework

DL81AXE8SharedExpat.framework

DL81BIB.framework

DL81BIBUtils.framework

DL81CoolType.framework

DL81JP2K.framework

DL81PDFL.framework

DL81XMP.framework



Library/Indexes:

FindByContent



Library/InputManagers:

Menu Extra Enabler

Smart Crash Reports



Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

EvernoteSafariClipperPlugin.webplugin

Unity Player.plugin



Library/LaunchAgents:

Deskfeed.plist

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.ARM.5cb0a23ff523a4549435399405d6c2af5188f2bbf449abe7ac650414.plist

com.adobe.ARM.930da3ce175de4e82bd3cdf1dd8571f74bd3b6a7236bc94bfc00f6e9.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.3E567576-6C99-40D5-8CDC-464 E5F510957.plist

com.apple.FolderActions.enabled.plist

com.apple.FolderActions.folders.plist

com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist

org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist

ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist



Library/PreferencePanes:

.DS_Store

GeekTool.prefPane

Growl.prefPane



Library/QuickTime:



Library/ScriptingAdditions:



Library/Services:

GraphicConverter.service



Nov 26, 2011 1:32 PM in response to cmanders

There are some OpenDNS advocates on this site. I'm not one of them. I find its business model highly dubious, and it has a known history of hijacking Google searches and redirecting them to its own servers -- a practice that was apparently discontinued after public exposure. In comparative tests, the performance of OpenDNS servers is relatively poor, probably much worse than your ISP's DNS servers. I suggest you avoid OpenDNS. In any case, your choice of DNS service is unrelated to the subject of this discussion.


OpenDNS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

OpenDNS Community > Forums > Re: Namebench results

Nov 26, 2011 1:50 PM in response to cmanders

Back up all data if you haven’t already done so. Before proceeding, you must be sure you can restore your system to the state it’s in now. If you skip this step, no one but you will be responsible for the consequences.


You should update the following system modification(s), if an update is available from the developer:


Parallels OR VirtualBox (both should not be installed)

Soundflower OR Rogue Amoeba audio driver (both should not be installed)

Belkin UPS software


and remove at least the following:


† Parallels OR VirtualBox

† Soundflower OR Rogue Amoeba audio driver

Menu Extra Enabler

Smart Crash Reports

MacFUSE


It's essential that all of the latter be removed completely, and the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool provided, if any, or otherwise to follow the developer's instructions. In some cases it may be necessary to re-download or even reinstall the software in order to get rid of it. I can't be more specific, because I don't install such things myself.


Never reinstall the modifications marked with a dagger (†) above, if any. If your problem is resolved after uninstalling all the above modifications and rebooting, but you still want to use some of those not marked with a dagger, you can experiment with putting them back, one at a time, testing carefully after each one. Keep in mind that system modifications may be incompatible with each other or with future Mac OS updates, so it may not be clear which one is at fault.


Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very difficult to solve.


If making the suggested changes and rebooting doesn't resolve your issue, post again.

Safari can't connect to the server

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