Problem with fopen() timing out

[snidog]

I am attempting to use fopen() to open an external URL (one of our other servers). I can open the URL fine in a browser, and it returns 625K of XML data. When I try to use fopen() to grab that data, I get the following error:

Warning: fopen(http://255.255.255.255/fileName.asp) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Connection timed out in /var/www/server/file.php on line X

I use fopen() on the same server to open a different external URL and it worked fine. I also tested on a different external URL that was IP-based, and it worked fine. I have verified that allow_url_fopen is enabled (obviously, since the other tests worked fine). The only thing I can think of is that fopen is choking on the amount of data -- perhaps 625K of XML data is too much for it.

Does anyone know a way around this? Thanks in advance!

[Buyocat]

Well I don't know if this will solve the problem but you should specify how you want to handle the file you're opening. So:
fopen ($file); // should really be:
fopen ($file, "r"); // r for read

you can see what other letters work here:
[a href=\"http://us2.php.net/fopen\" target=\"_blank\"]http://us2.php.net/fopen[/a]