downloaded current FF. Now can't access web. Get msg "performing a TLS handshake to ..." in ll corner of blank webpage. Help?
Equipment is older laptop with AMD processor. Belkin router and Epson printer are on my network.
I have a network checker (software) installed to identify what is connected. In the past it has identified everything with addresses in the "192.168.5.0 to the 192.168.5.10" range. Recently it identifies the router as "192.168.5.121". This was weeks before the update to the latest FF version and a seemingly random change (I didn't knowingly do anything that should have initiated the change). But everything continued to work ok. After the update, when a web page is requested, an empty web page will appear with a lower left corner message box showing "performing a TLS handshake on ,... (the page requested). And the handshake is apparently never made, because the page never fills.
I had assumed that the change in router id has something to do with the handshaking delay,... but I am hesitant to make changes when I am not sure of the outcome. Also,... i'm not too conversant with much of the nomenclature used.
Hope we can get back on the net. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
P.S. I cannot verify that the "installed plugins" suggested below are in fact installed on my computer. I think I still have Win 7.
All Replies (3)
A TLS handshake is a key part of making a secure connection. If you stop the request (click the x in the address bar) and try a different site that doesn't require a secure connection, does it load? For example, you can type or paste this in the address bar and press Enter:
example.com
That should load http://example.com/ (a boring example page).
If the problem is only with HTTPS sites, that helps narrow down the scope of the problem.
Are other browsers on your system, such as Internet Explorer 11, affected by this problem?
Some help articles that might be useful:
Thanks for your reply.
Different sites give similar results: no page loaded. There is a difference tho, in that the requests using https have the message "performing a TLS handshake,...", and then never load,... where the http request does not display the TLS message,... but also never loads.
I have tried the chrome browser. Both https and http sites produce the same results,... no pages load. (There is no TLS message on the chrome browser when accessing a https website.)
I don't understand how the browser operates, but the TLS message seems to be telling me that the router, or modem or computer is not sending (or responding to) the handshake signal. It seems something changed as a result of the FF download. Is there some EASY way I can check the addresses used by the router, modem and computer to see if that is buggered?
One other item of interest (to me at least), I borrowed an Amazon Fire and using it, was able to access the web last night. So my assumption is that my router and modem are doing their jobs. And there is either a hardware glitch in the computer or a dropped bit somewhere that the browser is seeking.
Hope the above is helpful in identifying my problem. Sorry for the delay in responding to your message. Since the net is not accessible at home, I have to come to the library to get and send e-mails.
Thanks again.
Neither Firefox nor Chrome can connect to secure or insecure websites. Strange.
Is Internet Explorer able to connect?
Usually the little messages flash by so fast that I'm not sure which ones come first. However, usually the first step is for the browser to perform a DNS lookup to find the numeric IP address associated with the host name (e.g., you want www.google.com and Firefox looks up the IP address so it can contact the server). If the DNS query fails, there should be a prompt error message such as server not found. So it sounds as though that is going through.
Then for an HTTPS connection, Firefox will attempt to make a secure connection with the server. For an HTTP connection, Firefox will make an insecure connection. There's an eventual error page if Firefox can't make a connection within a certain period of time. I can't recall what that page looks like.
If the article Firefox and other browsers can't load websites was not helpful, you might need to seek assistance at a forum supporting Windows or for resolving networking issues.