Q -

Anything that prevents you from connecting to the page you're trying to open can give you a "404 Error" page. In the normal course of "webbing" your clicky gets passed to a "local" server, which passes it to some other server, which passes it... etc.

ANY server in this sequence of passes that is unable to forward the request for connection - and receive a response back from the next server down the line - can return a "404 Error."

The difficulty is that there is no strict standard for what the error message says. Some one of the servers, quite likely the one closest to you, has to look up a page that has their canned "404 Error" statement.

The C:\!webserver\ should be the location of the "Error message page" on the server that substituted the "Error message page" for the generic "404 Error" signal. The Error message page can say anything that the particular server that opens it for you wishes to display.

The remainder of what looks like a file name is probably the URL you were trying to reach, in this case mudcat\htdocs.

The RFC that treewind (2:55 pm) linked states (page 66 10.4.5 404 Not Found):
This status code is commonly used when the server does not wish to
reveal exactly why the request has been refused, or when no other
response is applicable.

There are several other places where the RFC says, in effect, "if you don't want to tell them why, you can lie and use 404 Error instead."

Since the problem seems to go away late at night, when traffic may be lower, it is quite likely that you're getting failure to connect due to inadequate server capacity at some point in the relay chain that passes things between you and the mudcat server. The most likely suspect would be your ISP server - the one you connect to first to get to the internet.

It's not common to use the C:\ identifier for server drives (partly because most server operators don't generally allow outside traffic to access their root folder), but if your ISP connects you in a LAN style setup, the C:\!Webserver may be a folder location on your ISP's server. It remains possible that it's a location on your machine, where the "canned" 404 Error page is supposed to be.

If/when the error page comes up again, you might get more information by right-clickin on the error message page, and selecting Properties. It's likely to show you the same information that's on the page itself, but may at least re-arrange things so that it's easier to see where it's coming from.

The \null and /nul that bracket the rest of the message are a puzzle for me, but they may be just artifacts of the system used to insert the target web page into the "address line." I don't see them in the few connect error messages I've bothered to look at (IE6 on WinXP) but most of my "disconnects" are courtesy of my local 'phone company - not really network errors.

For test purposes, there's an invisible clicky to a reliable off-site page at the bottom of this thread page. Just go down about 8 lines below the "Forum Home" clicky and hover 'til you get a "hot spot."

John