English Chess Forum

The SCCU website (https://sccu-chess.com/index.php/en/links) has been unavailable for the last couple of days, at least to me.

Does anyone know what the problem is? I'm sure I'm not alone in being an avid user of this excellent website and its archive of bulletins and county match results. It's the source of a huge amount of information that had fed into BritBase.

This link works for me
https://sccu-chess.com/index.php/en/

Brendan O'Gorman wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2025 2:30 pm

This link works for me
https://sccu-chess.com/index.php/en/

Not for me.

The URL is working fine for me and it is returning an https 200 OK status code also.

Still not working for me. Tried both Chrome and Edge browsers.

John Saunders wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2025 7:07 pm

Still not working for me. Tried both Chrome and Edge browsers.

What error message(s) are you seeing John?

I've tried Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Firefox and all working fine via Zen Internet.

Not tried any other providers.

"Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from sccu-chess.com"

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 03, 2025 7:17 pm

"Your connection is not private
Attackers might be trying to steal your information from sccu-chess.com"

Ah yes, an over-zealous security package. I've had that response myself lately when trying to access other sites, ones I've had no trouble with before. You aren't even given the option to bypass it. Tiresome nanny-knows-best stuff.

Tor Browser does not trust this site because it uses a certificate that is not valid for sccu-chess.com. The certificate is only valid for the following names: *.cloudaccess.net, cloudaccess.net

Error code: SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN

Thanks for the various comments. I've tried connecting with Chrome, Edge and an Android phone, all of which seem not to recognise the site's SSL certification which the SCCU webmaster Michael Flatt assures me is in place. So it probably comes down to my ISP, EE, which maybe doesn't like or recognise the site's security certification. The SCCU website uses 'Let's Encrypt' for its SSL certification. Thoughts?

Do you have another way of connecting that is not through your ISP (EE)? Does your Android phone use the same ISP as your 'landline' ISP (if you have one)? Does your Android phone connect if you use a different configuration or provider?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 06, 2025 3:02 pm

Do you have another way of connecting that is not through your ISP (EE)? Does your Android phone use the same ISP as your 'landline' ISP (if you have one)? Does your Android phone connect if you use a different configuration or provider?

I have tried using my Android phone and received similar error messages. But my phone was accessing via the same router and when I switched off the Wifi on my phone and went through 4G then the SCCU website magically reappeared. The SCCU webmaster has put up a message explaining what appears to have happened as regards the SSL certification - the domain name has been changed but the SSL certification hasn't yet followed it. It's beginning to look like my particular problem is down to the EE-supplied Smart Hub Plus router, which I'm beginning to think is Orwellian newspeak for Stupid Hub Minus.

The OP's issue may be related to the recent software upgrade to SCCU-chess.com which was accomplished by setting up a second website correctly configured for Joomla! 5, replicating the original website and swapping domain names.

My sites are hosted on cloudaccess.net who have proved very reliable since I started using them in 2016. The management of the sites, domain names and free email accounts is through a Cloud Control Panel (CCP).

Today, I checked activation of LetsEncrypt SSL and can confirm it correctly references www.sccu-chess.com and sccu-chess.com. It was activated on 27-Dec-2024 and expires on 16-Jan-2025, when it will automatically renew.

I have begun monitoring the website's performance using Google Search Console and have not identified any issues.

Having just seen John's latest post, I think the solution might simply be resetting the router.

Michael Flatt wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 06, 2025 4:06 pm

Having just seen John's latest post, I think the solution might simply be resetting the router.

Tried it - didn't work.

I've seen mention of this working for other people suffering similar problems using the same router, but not for me apparently. That said, at least one of them mentioned that it worked at first but soon reverted to not working.