PHP forms fail in IE6

I moved my PHP scripts from a Solaris server to a Windows NT server recently at work. But forms no longer work fully in IE6. After much testing I get these results:

Using <textarea> in a form, only 235 characters can be passed successfuly. After that, the browser hangs, trying to load the next page. (The loading bar moves very slowly at the bottom but nothing happens.)

Using <input> in a form I can get 326 characters through, sometimes slightly more.

Changing the form from POST to GET allows 1708 characters!

Does anyone know anything about this problem? In Mozilla, Opera, whatever, the forms are processed instantly. But always IE6 sticks - yet the forms worked on the old server.

I am using a recent PHP version with register_globals OFF and the standard settings for the GET buffer size etc.

I have tried emptying the browser cache, deleting cookies etc, even moving the cache to another drive.

Is there a tweak I need to make on the server, or in the php.ini file? Otherwise it means all forms on our site are no use!

I've seen this as well and it drove me nuts.
I never found out why it was doing it nor did I find a solution.
If you find anhything please post it here.

Being a Linux user, I've never personally run across this behavior, but I have seen a problem with the enc-type in some versions of PHP. That is, if you've got an enc-type of "multipart/form-data," POST vars get lost. I believe this bug popped up in response to a tightening of security around file upload management.

I don't think this fits your problem precisely, but maybe it'll spark a relevant thought for somebody.

Does the behavior exhibit itself only in IE6? I know that in early versions of IE6, there were other problems like meta refreshes not working properly. Maybe an upgrade is in order. (A long shot, I know.)

Just for kicks, why not try turning register_globals on and see what happens. If it works, you might take another look at how you're referring to your variables (using $_POST in lieu of $HTTP_POST_VARS if you're not already, for example). Are you doing anything fancy with sessions or cookies or headers?

To clarify my earlier question about IE6, does it work in IE5.5, for example, or for more recent (or older) releases of 6?

Are there particular character sequences it hangs on? For example, could it be a matter of the program choking on single or double quotes? Just tossing out ideas here.

isnt really a php problem.
I mean after all you are just making a form and passing the information on to the next page.
the form loads fine
you enter in info then click submit and here is where it hangs.
doesn't even get to the next page. just hangs.

I'm using IE6 SP1 on Windows XP. The server is Windows NT running PHP 4.3.3 on IIS 5.0. Any more details that might help, just ask. I've checked every setting but cannot see a problem.

Yes, the problem only affects IE6. But only on this server/PHP setup. Before I was on a Solaris server where PHP had the register_globals ON and it worked OK.

Here's the code I'm using to test at the moment. If it's not a PHP problem, sorry for posting here.



Then in the second file:

Indulge me and get rid of the enctype parameter in the form tag. I know there have been problems with that in the past. I'd think it would affect all browsers (being a server side problem). If that doesn't fix the problem, try it with register_globals on as you had it on the old server.

Now I can get 314 characters through before it sticks (using POST).

I am trying some tweaks on the PHP config file. If they don't work, I will try turning register_globals on as you suggest.

Tried it with register_globals On. No difference. Must be a Windows server bug or something.