erratic 'cart expiry' and protx error...

[SamL]

Here's an odd one, cart (www.thekimonocompany.co.uk) normally works fine, some users though are getting error messages from Protx instead of the receipt page. I suspect some of these are due to a network glitch making the page unavailable ... however ... some people are getting a 'cart expired' error.

Expiry is set to something like 12 hours as we had a problem with this before, I am fairly sure the server time is OK, people are ordering from UK so does anyone know of any bugs/issues that could cause people to get erratic cart expiry messages?

Many thanks in advance,
Sam

[Mike Hughes]

The most common cause of these kind of errors is the PCs clock setting. Sometimes people have it on the wrong time zone and change the local time so it displays correctly. This can cause the cookies to expire early.

Mike

I did place a test order, and everything looked OK. If the 'cart expiry' message only appears during the transition to protx then it's probably something other than time settings. Most likely a transition problem from one domain to another. There is a fix around somewhere on the forum to make the cookie acceptable on both the www. and non www. domains and this might fix the problem if some people are using the non www. domain.

[SamL]

Thanks Mike,

I just wound the clock back to 6 yesterday evening but still got through Protx OK ... bummer, it was tempting to think that was it

All the best,
Sam

[Mike Hughes]

I think you need to wind the clock forward to see this happening. AFAIK the way it works is:

1. The scripts issue the cookie with an expiry time based on the server.
2. When the scripts ask for the Cookie, the PC looks at the expiry time and says either "OK, it's still valid so here it is" or "too late, it's expired".

To see this happen I believe you have to set your time zone to be -12 hours (international date line for example) and then adjust your PC clock forward 12-13 hours so that it shows the correct time and date. Now when your PC looks at the cookie it should decide that it's expired and not send it to the server.

You will probably need to clear any existing actinic cookies before going to your website as otherwise it will use that to find the session file.

Mike

PS. I've tried various times to get this to not-work but my cart still goes strong. Probably because I can't find my cookies anymore to delete the existing one.

[SamL]

Thanks, like you say though, still doesn't re-create the error people get

[Toby B]

I am fairly sure the server time is OK, people are ordering from UK so does anyone know of any bugs/issues that could cause people to get erratic cart expiry messages?

If you upload a file to the server is the time stamp correct?

You could also try increasing the chopping cart expiry period in Web | Configure Expiry Periods

[SamL]

Thanks Toby, I'm afraid that, yes, the timestamp is correct and expiry is already 12 hours

Sam

[Bruce]

Sam,

I would suggest taking this up with support. It would be good to have a few more details, any entries in the error log for the period the complaint was made etc woudl be helpful.

Kind regards,