How can I stop frequent 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR loops?
In the past week or so I've frequently found that when returning to a tab in my browser that's been idle for a while, it just starts to loop. If I'm quick I can see a 500 INTERNAL SERVER image, then it will quickly refresh, and I'll see it again - it just keeps looping.
I've found that if I remove the query part of the URL and visit that, I'll get to a signin page. I sign in (no password required as it apparently has my ID in a cookie somewhere). Once I've signed in (again), I can go back to the original page and things are fine.
So, it seems I'm frequently being logged out, even though I always check the "Keep me signed in" checkbox (I'm at home), and it's only been hours, not weeks, since I viewed something on FamilySearch. I'm kind of used to that - it's been happening for months. What's new is that pages seem to be refreshing automatically, finding I'm not signed in, but rather than return me to a signin page, are just refreshing themselves. Very annoying!
What's really puzzling is that I don't see any other complaints here in the community. Am I the only one seeing this?
Since I'm sure someone will ask, I'm running Firefox 1.2.0esr (64-bit).
Answers
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There may be an issue with particular pages (person vs pedigree vs search vs memories). Does this happen on all pages? Examples of the full URL that causes this looping would be helpful.
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It doesn't seem to happen on particular pages, and never when I first visit a profile so I don't think it's tied to any particular pages. I only see it when returning to a tab with a FamilySearch profile after I've been off doing other things for awhile. Once I re-login, I can visit the same page and it's fine. It does seem to happen on profile pages most often, something like https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GQ92-BT4 (I didn't see it on this particular page, but ones like it).
I've of course tried the usual fix for this sort of thing, clearing all of my FamilySearch cookies.
Just a correction as well - I'm running Firefox 102.8.0esr.
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This happens to me on every page but the home page. Even going to the search page https://www.familysearch.org/search/ will trigger the infinite loop. Going to the home page https://www.familysearch.org/ in another tab stops the loop in the original tab, and the site will work normally for some time. But if you go back after too long (an hour or so), the infinite loops resume. I'm assuming it's some cookie or local storage setting.
I'm also on Firefox so it may be related to that.
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It's been happening to me as well. I'll have a tab open to a PID while researching/verifying in another tab or window. When I return to the PID, it will be in a constant loop of error messages. Clearing cookies fixes the error, but I'm having to do that several times a day.
Running Windows 10 and Firefox, both fully updated.
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I was finally able to grab a screen capture of the screen in between screen refreshes. This time, it was the tab I was viewing at the time - I'd just gone for lunch, and it kicked off when I returned.
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I noticed this starting happening to me a couple weeks ago. I'm running Firefox (109.0.1) on Linux with a window full of FamilySearch tabs open. Returning after being away for an hour or so produces the same "500 Internal Server Error" error loop being discussed, though for me it only affects the Person Details pages. If I close the tab and go to another Person Details page that one drops right into the error loop.
The simplest thing that worked for me was that in that brief pause between refreshes I could click on the FamilySearch logo (top left of page) to bring me back to the site's home page. Then clicking Back would take me back to the Details page, which would refresh, but come back with the person data rather than an error. Clicking on other Person Details tabs after that would also simply refresh with that person's data. (I don't know why the refreshes are happening, the existing page content should be displayed when I click on the tab.)
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Looks like someone at FamilySearch got the message and fixed it. I haven't seen the error loop happen for a couple days now. It still seems to refresh when it's been idle for awhile but it gets logged back in with no interventions from me.
Thanks, anonymous web developer.
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I emailed them a few days ago and got a response yesterday that basically said, "Well, try another browser and OS, and make sure your bandwidth is at least 5 Mbs."
I hadn't had a chance to try out Chrome, but I had pointed them at this thread.
And while I think I got the error loop when I first got on this morning, I haven't seen it since.
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