Only for Google links: Safari Can't Open the Page

Thanks so much, Linc; you kindly suggested this once before. So why not make it one of the first things I did this time when the Google problem recurred the other day.

All other sites except Google results links work fine in that environment; I don't store pwds in Safari itself, so wasn't hampered there.

No difference; same timeouts :-(

(I also repeated - this afternoon - your advice to remove all Google cookies. This time - unlike the other day - it made no difference.)

Thanks!

I've also set my default search to DuckDuckGo in Safari 9.0.1 with a 100% success rate.

With one egregious example: DuckDuckGo results always fail (so far) when the URL itself is Google itself.

Could this even be some sort of network throttling of Google?!

Risco - thanks!

I suppose it's possible that Safari handles responses from Google servers differently from the way in which FireFox and Chrome do.

And/or that Google works differently with different browsers.

I suppose it could be that certain ISPs - at least three major ones acting (presumably independently?) on two continents (although I'm a British expat in California!) - are independently either throttling or failing with only Google domains.

But the more people who report this, the more my instinct tells me that it must be something specific about the way in which some software handles specific URLs like, 'https://www.google.com/url?…' followed by a lengthy series of (properly-formed? and properly-escaped?) parameters.

I feel as though I should re-open my case. I'll gladly do Capture_data again. But I'll feel short-changed if the result that it's a network issue comes back.

Perhaps this could help?

Thanks, Jonathan!

What's your theory, please?

Help appreciated… :-)

Both ethernet (my default, AT&T U-Verse) and Wi-fi (to test/eliminate).

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015) - Technical Specificationsdesktop

Direct Ethernet from AT&T (to test: same bug) or via Airport Extreme, recently replaced - same phenomenon in both cases.

In short, this began with the simplest out-of-the-box wired environments.

Only Google results links. Everything else loads instantly all the time!

I had been clear of this for about six months. Totally clear.

Two weeks ago I was caught bythis ethernet update and could get nothing.

Eventually - with the help of AppleCare - it was resolved completely by removing these two files in my System's Library Preferences SystemConfiguration folder:

1. NetworkInterfaces.plist
2. preferences.plist

(this is documented).

Unfortunately, the bug whereby Google links are no longer reachable has returned.

I'd have thought that this was indicative of something?

I am now on 10.11.5 with Safari 9.1.1

I really had hoped that Apple would have fixed this by now.

Are others still experiencing it:

1. enter a search term in Google
2. page(s) of results come back instantaneously
3. click on a link for one of those results
4. 25% of the time, the connection either times out altogether or returns a 'server' cannot be found error?

But report with Apple… the last time they responded it was to say they thought it had been fixed.

NB, all the usual troubleshooting techniques tried - and I do mean all of them, viz: this began happening on a clean install of Apple software only (not one single third part app installed + no Safari extensions) using the User account created on shipping… brand new machine lifted from the box!

Only Google. Only Safari!

It did work for almost two days… from the time I removed that data (around 6:30 PDT on Thursday) until this afternoon.

Now I get the error on every single link I click on after a Google search again :-(((

Thanks for adding, Jonathan.

This first began for me at the beginning of this year (2015). Apple was very helpful. I did all the usual Capture Data uploads; their engineers diagnosed it as a problem with AT&T (we have U-verse). I confess, I was skeptical… only in Safari, only with Google results pages; networking?

AT&T came, checked the line, and said they made minor adjustments at the 'box' (on the street).

The problem did appear to go away - from May/June until last week.

Now it's become more than a minor annoyance; it makes Google totally unusable.

In FF etc it's fine. Other search engines all work; I'm contemplating switching to DuckDuckGo.

But it does look - with all due respect to those who know a great deal more about networking than I do - as though these specific combinations of circumstances, like the one you mention, warrant close investigation on the grounds that there are apparently software-specific problems afoot.

Thanks, Linc. Yes, my default DNS has been OpenDNS for years.

Instead I've actually also tried AT&T's DNS addresses (ISP is U-Verse) because of this (no improvement) - and those of Google that you note here.

Same fault - though only in Safari and only from Google links, and usually only intermittently.

While not being a network expert by any means, I've always assumed that this is not a DNS malfunction since Safari's error message doesn't actually say it can't find the Google server; but that the (resolved?) page on which the content resides has stopped responding after a minute or so.

I take this to mean that URLs in the format, "https://www.google.com?url=…", are resolved, reached and then somehow fail in Safari only.

Just FTR every other site I use is available instantly, I have a fast machine; and never ever experience any other kind of connectivity issues, crashes or hangs etc. Odd, isn't it.

Your help appreciated!

Thanks, Linc. It really is odd, isn't it.

Can a network in such circumstances as these really selectively cause certain specific, reproducible, links/URLs on certain always predictable pages to become unavailable the first time they're requested; and then almost always allow them to be served on reloading?

AT&T - as might be expected - did go through the motions; but they were laughing up their sleeves at someone suggesting such apparently software-specific behaviour to be caused by their network.