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[Shadowen]

With Media Server running, browsing some websites causes Media Center to warn about images missing from the library.  It appears that Media Server is somehow responding to traffic intended for the web browser.  For example, this URL http://computer.howstuffworks.com/router1.htm causes a missing file warning to appear for a file named g.gif.  

This only happens when the Media Server is running on port 80.

Here is the status log from Media Server:
 
09/03/03 18:02:17 - sharer starting
09/03/03 18:02:17 - Initializing server.
09/03/03 18:02:17 - Server initialized
09/03/03 18:02:17 - sharer ready to accept connections
09/03/03 18:02:17 - TiVo HTTP ready for connections
09/03/03 18:02:40 - received a connection
09/03/03 18:02:41 - Current Connections: 1
09/03/03 18:02:41 - ready for another connection
09/03/03 18:02:41 - sharing thread started
09/03/03 18:02:41 - received a connection
09/03/03 18:02:41 - Client tried to download an unsupported file type.
09/03/03 18:02:41 - sharing thread exiting
09/03/03 18:02:41 - Current Connections: 1
09/03/03 18:02:41 - ready for another connection
09/03/03 18:02:41 - sharing thread started
09/03/03 18:02:41 - sending 415
09/03/03 18:02:41 - Client tried to download an unsupported file type.
09/03/03 18:02:41 - sharing thread exiting
09/03/03 18:02:42 - received a connection
09/03/03 18:02:42 - Current Connections: 1
09/03/03 18:02:42 - ready for another connection
09/03/03 18:02:42 - sharing thread started
09/03/03 18:02:42 - could not open <init/0.8233143907588637/g.gif>
09/03/03 18:02:42 - sending 404
09/03/03 18:02:42 - Missing File:  init/0.8233143907588637/g.gif
09/03/03 18:02:42 - sharing thread exiting
09/03/03 18:05:00 - received a connection
09/03/03 18:05:01 - Current Connections: 1
09/03/03 18:05:01 - ready for another connection
09/03/03 18:05:01 - sharing thread started
09/03/03 18:05:01 - sending 415
09/03/03 18:05:01 - Client tried to download an unsupported file type.
09/03/03 18:05:01 - sharing thread exiting
09/03/03 18:05:05 - received a connection
09/03/03 18:05:05 - Current Connections: 1
09/03/03 18:05:05 - ready for another connection
09/03/03 18:05:05 - sharing thread started
09/03/03 18:05:05 - sending 415
09/03/03 18:05:05 - Client tried to download an unsupported file type.
09/03/03 18:05:05 - sharing thread exiting

Thanks,    
amwoza

[Shadowen]

I am observing the state of the network ports on my system as this is occuring.

Internet explorer makes a connection between the remote web server (on port 80) to a port on my system (randomly generated). Then, port 80 is opened locally to the randomly generated port from IE.

localhost:80--->localhost:[random_port]--->remotehost:80

Is this normal IE behavior?

With Media Server running (also on port 80) it responds with the error message pop-up stating the images (from the remote web site) are missing from the library.

So it appears that two separate processes, Media Server and IE, are both trying to use port 80 on my local system.

[JimH]

When you are using your browser, a connection back inbound on port 80 is not normal.

Some worms use this port to explore for vulnerable systems.

You can easily move Media Server to another port (8081, for example) if you think it is causing the problem.

[Shadowen]

This is so strange...it is only happening when Media Server is running on port 80...if I move it to another port everthing works fine.  But it might be worth looking into for security sake.

[JimH]

It isn't our issue.  You're seeing something trying to connect inbound to you on port 80.   Not good.

If you have a firewall, you can turn off inbound access on that port (if you're not running a server).

[John Gateley]

If I understand everything right, the web page you are viewing is coded incorrectly. It refers to a picture, and IE tries to open that picture according to a list of locations. The first location is your local machine. If that fails, it tries the web page the image is embedded in. This is just a guess.

j

[Shadowen]

Could some sort of validation be added in Media Server so that only request from Media Center clients are accepted?

[JimH]

You're barking up the wrong tree.   If you're concerned, set up a firewall and only allow connections from trusted PC's.

[Shadowen]

I figured out what was causing the problem.

Kazaa Lite has a service called the "Supertrick" to block pop-up ads on websites.  They add several known addresses for ad servers to the local hosts file and redirect traffic back to the local system 127.0.0.1 (thus blocking the ad).  This was causing IE to open a local port 80 that was conflicting with the Media Server running on port 80.  Once I removed the bogus entries from the local host file the Media Server problems went away.

Sorry for the confusion...thanks for the help.