Fix “Corrupted Content Error” or “Network Protocol Violation” Message on Websites in Mozilla Firefox

I just upgraded Mozilla Firefox web browser to the latest stable version in my primary working machine and after the successful upgrade, I started facing a strange problem.

I was already signed into various websites such as email websites like Gmail, Outlook and social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc and all websites were working fine before the upgrade.

After upgrading Mozilla Firefox, when I tried to open Gmail and Outlook websites to check my emails, I got following error message:

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Corrupted Content Error

The site at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/ has experienced a network protocol violation that cannot be repaired.

The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because an error in the data transmission was detected.

Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

[Try Again]

Corrupted_Content_Error_Message_Mozilla_Firefox.png

Same error messages was displayed for Outlook website: The site at https://outlook.live.com/mail/ has experienced a network protocol violation that cannot be repaired.

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All other websites were working fine. In fact other Google network websites such as Google+, YouTube, etc were opening without any issue. Only Gmail and Outlook websites were throwing the above mentioned error message in Mozilla Firefox web browser.

I tried to open Gmail and Outlook websites in other web browsers including Google Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge present in Windows 10 operating system and both the websites opened fine without any error message in all other web browsers.

So it was clear that the problem was occurring from my end not the website end. Gmail and Outlook websites were not down. It was my Mozilla Firefox web browser which was showing that error message while opening the websites.

So how did I solve the issue?

I tried following things:

  • Restarted Firefox
  • Restarted Firefox in Safe Mode with add-ons disabled
  • Restarted computer system

Nothing worked and the problem still persisted.

I tried to reload the page a few times and every time Firefox showed the same Corrupted Content Error message. Then I performed a hard refresh. I opened Gmail and Outlook websites and pressed Ctrl+F5 keys together to reload the webpages from scratch without using browser cache.

It fixed the issue temporarily. Both websites opened now but when I tried to open the websites again after some hours. Gmail again showed the same error message. Outlook opened without any problem.

So hard refresh fixed Outlook website issue but Gmail website issue was still present.

Then I tried to clear cache and cookies of google.com. I clicked on website information icon present before the website URL shown in Firefox address bar and clicked on “Clear Cookies and Site Data” option given at the bottom of the flyout.

Fix_Corrupted_Content_Error_Problem_Mozilla_Firefox.png

It opened “Removing Cookies and Site Data” dialog box containing all existing URLs of google.com such as accounts.google.com, etc. I clicked on OK button to clear the google.com site data from Firefox web browser.

It logged me out from all Google websites but it fixed the issue. Now Gmail website started opening fine in Mozilla Firefox web browser.

So if you also face this problem in Mozilla Firefox or any other web browser, first try to hard refresh the page using Ctrl+F5 hotkey. If it doesn’t solve the issue, then try to clear cache and cookies in your web browser. Remember clearing cookies will automatically sign you out from all websites.

To learn how to clear cache and cookies in all web browser, check out following tutorial:

[Tip] How to Clear / Delete Cache and Cookies in Your Web Browser

It’s still not clear why did this weird problem occur? Was it a bug/issue present in Mozilla Firefox new version or the upgrade process corrupted Firefox cache and cookies database files?

Also Check:

[Fix Twitter in Firefox] A Network Protocol Violation that cannot be Repaired Error Message

[Fix] Some Websites Fail to Load in Mozilla Firefox After Update

[Fix] HTTPS Errors and Warning Messages on Secure Websites in Mozilla Firefox

[Fix] “This Connection is Untrusted” Problem with HTTPS Websites in Mozilla Firefox

[Fix] Mozilla Firefox Keeps Crashing Constantly on Startup

Published in: Mozilla Firefox, Troubleshooting Guides

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

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  1. Thanks for the tip VG. I would also like to add that a 3rd party extension called Google Search Fixer also causes this error message. Disabling or uninstalling the addon and clearing cache fixes the issue.

  2. There is actually a much easier solution: You just hold the shift-key down and reload the page. At least that keeps working in Firefox (still using 55, sometimes 57) on MacOS (still using Sierra).

  3. None of the suggestions will work for me, so I have a totally useless PC! Fortunately, my iPad works well.
    (I do not seem to have Google Search Fixer.)

  4. Corrupted Content Error

    The site at mail.google.com/mail/u/0/ has experienced a network protocol violation that cannot be repaired.

    Typical error that can be easily fixed in LInux (Debian)
    1. From Gmail (in Firefox) CNTL SHIFT R will let you reload page but doesn’t fix problem.
    2. Try CNTL SHIFT E to get the editor, and select cache, then the top line (left side) and delete that entry. It will have the same date as the Firefox CRASH.
    3. Close editor with CNTL SHIFT E, and everything works correctly when loading Gmail

    Why don’t the Google folks know and support this SIMPLE FIX?

    Larry

  5. Thanks for the tip. I was having similar issues with gmail. Hard refreshing the page using Ctrl+F5 hotkey worked.

  6. I have a similar problem. After getting the latest Firefox update (70.0) I immediately found that Firefox would no longer open my hotmail email. It shows the hotmail blue envelope icon on the screen but does not then go on to open the emails. There is no error message.

    I can open hotmail as normal and without difficulty on the Chrome and Internet Explorer browsers.

    Another computer in the house which has not received the Firefox update also still opens hotmail without any problem.

  7. good morning all. I have a big issue here with uploading files on my system. I can’t attach files on whatsapp, all my mails, i used several browsers and its still the same. Some sites dont open at all. like my pinterest. i get this error message: The site at pinterest.com has experienced a network protocol violation that cannot be repaired.

    The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because an error in the data transmission was detected.

    Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem. Pls i will appreciate any solution feedbacks. Thanks. Adedoyin Adeleke

  8. thank you so much…..it worked…. grateful for putting it up here….

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