Frontpage The server "" timed out error

This is a typical problem with Frontpage 2003. especially on Windows XP. Here is a good description of the problem

The server "" timed out. The current request did not complete successfully.

Asked by: pgithens 

I've been working on the same website with FP 2003 for nearly a year with no problems. The website has grown but is not huge. Two days ago I went to open it and make a couple of changes and I suddenly get the dreaded server "" timed out message.

I've searched the web and there appear to be a variety of different causes for this, none of which seem to apply. I'd made no change to the theme or anything else of significance in recent weeks. To be sure, I deleted the folder that had my last updates in it. That didn't solve anything. (I've since put it back.) At this point, I can't open the website folder or any of the files from Frontpage.

Bear in mind, this is just when I open Frontpage on my local computer . . . not when I try to publish the site. I've tried stopping the firewall in case it was trying to hit the website at startup for some reason but that fixed nothing either.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

The real reason of this problem is that at some point, your computer stopped working or Frontpage froze while you were working on a web site. As the result of such freezes there might be corruption in the _vti_pvt folder.

A couple of minor breakthroughs on this front.

• This is a local error and it affects a branch of web site tree, not the whole tree.
• The first thing to clean all FP temp files.
  • Go to  http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm  and download FP Cleaner ( with Expression Web Designer and SharePoint Designer support ) Download links are at the bottom of the page. Run the functions that clear: The Hidden Temporary files. The Hidden Cache (*.web) files."
  • Run "recalculating hyperlinks" via /Tools/Recalculate hyperlinks
    
• If this does not help, then create a blank, or empty site using the same name of a different disk. You then copy over your files from your existing web and, usually it all opens and works again.

  "I created a new directory, and copied all of the information from the old directory. Then, I deleted the _vti_pvt folder. When I opened the new folder in front page, it asked if I wanted to ad the Frontpage information to the folder; I answered yes. 

  You will notice that you can access the folder through Frontpage, but that the navigation and other front page specifics are missing. I copied the file "structure" found in the _vti_pvt folder from the old folder to the new one, while front page was closed, and was able to recover my navigation. I just rebuilt the rest as needed. "

Please note that attempt to copy complex web page with multiple scripts or web page that specifically is designed to make copying more difficult reliably hangsFrontpage. Befor attempting such thing it make sense to save all you open page as you lose you recent edits.

Actually absence of automatic saving of changes "a la MS Word" is one of the most annoing drawbacks of Frontapage 2003. You canpacially fix that by using programmable keyboard abd adding Ctrl-S to some often used macros.

See also Frontpage Tips. Specifically:

 Using special mouse button as save button for Frontpage.

One of the major deficiencies of Frontpage is absence of autosave. That means that if Frontpage froze or your tower computer lost power you can lose all your work in opened but not saved pages. There are multiple ways to alleviate this problem. Here is the most recent tip which involves using mouse that have more buttons than standard. In this case one button can be assigned to save. 

Using G-510s Logitech keyboard or any other programmable keyboard  you can define macros

• Define macro Ctrl-S; Ctrl-H assign it to a key, and use it instead of regular Ctrl-H
• Ctrl-S; Ctrl-K, and use it instead of regular Ctrl-K
• Ctrl-PgDown; Ctrl-PgDown -- switch from design view to the code view can be redefined into
  Ctrl-S; Ctrl-PgDown; Ctrl-PgDown

This trick also works well with

• Logitech G600 Gaming Mouse -- using left split button

• Logitech Marathon Mouse M705 -- using bottom right button

• Logitech Wireless Performance Mouse MX -- using bottom right button

if you assign Ctrl-F, Ctrl-H and Ctrl-K to special buttons.

NEWS CONTENTS

• 20130330 : The server timed out. The current request did not complete successfully ( social.msdn.microsoft.com )
• 20030314 : virtualranger ( 14 Mar 03 , tek-tips.com )
• 20030314 : Discussion on Frontpage 2000 server times out error ( TechRepublic )
• 20030212 : Microsoft FrontPage - The server timed out. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ( Feb 12, 2003 , tek-tips.com )

Old News ;-)

[Mar 30, 2013] The server timed out. The current request did not complete successfully

social.msdn.microsoft.com

Hi,

I'm using Expression Web 3. When I load up my site from the sites list, i get error "The server "" timed out. The current request did not complete successfully."

I deleted the cache of the site as suggested in a previous post. That didn't help. I physically moved the sites directory to somewhere else on the machine and pointed Expression to there. Still same error upon loading the site.

I click Ok to the message and cannot Proceed into my site. It's not stored on a server, but stored locally on my machine.

What can I do?

[Mar 14, 2003] virtualranger (TechnicalUser)

14 Mar 03 | tek-tips.com

Error:
When opening or saving a FrontPage web with FP Explorer, it responds 'Server "" TimedOut..Request could not be completed.'

Solution:
This can be caused by having too many files in one directory (usually more than 250). It can also be caused by having too many web pages in the frontpage "web". These are common errors made by people new to FrontPage. The frontpage extensions begin to have difficulty with "webs" larger than 20MB, depending on how many files are there. What ends up happening is that the frontpage extensions cannot finish processing the entire "web" before the frontpage explorer times out waiting for a response. This is a problem with the design of FrontPage and isn't a problem with our server.

The easiest solution is to move files into subdirectories. If it still continues to time out, you may have to split the web up into several smaller subwebs so that it doesn't have to process so much all at once.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Jamie

Discussion on Frontpage 2000 server time's out error

TechRepublic

I have used FP extensions for many years to publish. Unlike the jerks who complained above and made guesses like a monkey typing at a keyboard, I can tell you that Microsoft software using FP extensions cannot publish to a mounted drive other than a local Microsoft mount. It cannot publish successfully to Unix, Linux (Samba) or Novell mounts; it will time out.

It will also timeout if there are very large files. I have been seeking a way to solve this for some time but have not found it. However, there is a way when published to flag those large files and tell the system not to publish them; then the rest of the web will backup or publish without timeout errors.

Wish the news were better.

[Feb 12, 2003] Microsoft FrontPage - The server timed out. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

Feb 12, 2003 | tek-tips.com

PointNClick (IS/IT--Management)

12 Feb 03 22:34

Ah, I assumed you were opening a "live" page via frontpage on a remote webhost and getting that message. I've never tried across a network if that's what you're doing.

Could you transfer the files across the network and then edit them "locally?"

Sorry, that's about the most help I can offer :(

SteveTaylor (IS/IT--Management) 13 Feb 03 6:09

Thanks again PnC.

A couple of minor breakthroughs on this front. I found an old thread on here that suggested creating a blank, or empty site using the same name of a different disk. You then copy over your files from your existing web and, hey presto, it all opens and works again. For JUST me. Not OTHER users on the network.

After reading your post, I also tried copying to my local D drive and this worked also.

However, neither solution is ideal.

*What* is FP trying to do *behind* the scenes as it loads up? That really is the nub of my problem, and indeed, the trigger for my original error message.

As with a lot of Micro$oft "produce", the core product is excellent and functional. However, they always seem to try and over-reach themselves, and moreover, under-document their attempts to do so. Trying to find anything on this issue by using a search engine (even the MS ones @MS!) throws up problems because of the 2 adjacent double quotes *within* the search string itself!

I was astonished when I installed a new firewall a few months ago and discovered that MS Word tries to connect somewhere. Why on earth does a word processing app. need internet access?

All I'm trying to do is use a networked drive instead of a local one. That is *not* unreasonable.

I suspect that FP is trying to be cleverer than it actually *is* and that is at the root of this issue.

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