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unable to identify your browser

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Attempted to go to login page on Aetna and got a page that said "unable to identify your browser." It suggests that maybe javascript or cookies are disabled. Both are working. Aetna tech support was clueless.

Attempted to go to login page on Aetna and got a page that said "unable to identify your browser." It suggests that maybe javascript or cookies are disabled. Both are working. Aetna tech support was clueless.

All Replies (12)

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My guess would be one of two things:

Maybe you have a security/privacy program on your computer that is modifying your user agent (the information a website uses to determine what browser you are using). You could test this by temporarily disabling your security software and running Firefox in Safe Mode.

Or maybe the website you are logging into doesn't support Firefox 52. Although I can't say I've seen a website outright reject a user because they are running an outdated browser, it's certainly possible, especially since it sounds like they are gathering information when you login to ensure that you are connecting securely. Unfortunately, since you are running Windows XP, there isn't a whole lot that you can do to fix this short of upgrading your system.

I would strongly recommend upgrading your system anyway, since Windows XP hasn't been supported for a very long time and is plagued with security holes. See The Risk of Running Windows XP After Support Ends April 2014 and/or If You Still Use Windows XP, Prepare For the Worst for more information on why it's dangerous to run Windows XP.

Hope this helps.

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Thank you Wesley. I agree with your comments about XP. However, that does not solve my mystery. The website page is for Aetna members login. It was working fine with ff and XP for years until today. Was OK as recently as two days ago. Tried starting ff in safe mode. Same result.

The error page displayed suggests JavaScript or cookies may not be working or a plug-in is causing the problem These issues do not apply. I suspect something was changed on the Aetna server in the last day that is creating an incompatibility with ff 52 or XP. No problem with more recent versions on my other computers.

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No problem with accessing the login page with Firefox 52 and your user agent.


You can try these steps in case of issues with web pages:

You can reload web page(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.

  • hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
  • press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
  • press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)

Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies from websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Options/Preferences).

"Remove the Cookies" from websites that cause problems:

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data -> Manage Data

"Clear the Cache":

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data -> Clear Data -> Cached Web Content: Clear

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window
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If the first "no problem" comment means that you've tried https://www.aetna.com/about-us/login.html with no problem using a ff 52.

That page displays OK for me also. The problem I see is when I then click the member login button in the center of that page. That's when it goes to the error page.

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To be clear, I have tried all the suggestions so far with no success.

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Does not seem to address the issue I see with ff 52 as described before.

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I have an old installation of Firefox 52 ESR that gives the error page. There are various errors in the Web Console, but I don't know if they are significant or how to solve them. Did you try Internet Explorer 11?

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Other browsers and more recent FFs are fine. The problem is only with the old 52. As I said I never had the problem with this site for the last several years and yet it appeared suddenly.

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You can create a new profile to test if your current profile is causing the problem.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer files from a previously used profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

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Note that jescher2000 used a ff 52 and saw the same problem with this site. I have been using ff 52 with this site until recently without seeing the problem. Have not reconfigured my 52 browser. There is no problem with more current ff releases. Seems to be something the site has changed that now makes ff 52f not work. Since the error page suggests your JavaScript is not working, it is probably something they have changed in the server JavaScript that is failing for ff 52.

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I very much doubt that Aetna tests with or cares about Firefox 52. Since you can still use the site in another browser, I suggest doing that from now on.