php file downloads instead of being processed with ajax on apache

Question

I have a small website where some content is displayed within a HTML tag using AJAX. The content is simply taken from another page on the same web site. However, sometimes instead of loading the parsed PHP file, the browser displays a download box instead. I downloaded the file and this is what it looks like a text file mixed with binary or gzipped data. I can't paste the binary stuff here, but here are some of the headers:

Jul 2012 18:52:16 GMT
Server: Apache/2
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.3.10
Content-Encoding: gzip
Vary: Accept-Encoding,User-Agent
Keep-Alive: timeout=1, max=95
Connection: Keep-Alive
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html

HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified
Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2012 18:52:16 GMT
Server: Apache/2
Connection: Keep-Alive
Keep-Alive: timeout=1, max=93
ETag: "2fc857-409-4c39691c59b40"

HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified
Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2012 18:52:16 GMT
Server: Apache/2
Connection: Keep-Alive
Keep-Alive: timeout=1, max=92
ETag: "2fc854-3e5-4c39691b65900"

HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified
Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2012 18:52:16 GMT
Server: Apache/2
Connection: Keep-Alive
Keep-Alive: timeout=1, max=91
ETag: "2fc847-3e3-4c3969197d480"

and large blocks of stuff like this:

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Answer 1

The server thinks that your browser can handle the gzip format for over-the-wire compression (regardless of what's being set).

However, the browser doesn't understand the format, or you've used a crafty plugin that mangles the default handling of the gzip traffic.

Without knowing you setup, try to use a fresh browser installation, or a different browser.