With the following code I buffer a layout file. 
On local server is works fine, but on the live server it keep buffering until php gives up. This results in a spinning progressbar and a delayed executing of al the javascript in the page. It looks like ob\_end\_clean() doensn't really quit the buffering.

```
ob_start();
require($layoutfile);
$return = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
return $return;

```

When I echo a space after flushing the buffers stops and every thing works normal. But in this context I won't print anything to the screen.

```
ob_start();
require($layoutfile);
$return = ob_get_contents();
if(ob_end_clean()) echo " ";
return $return;

```

anybody ran into this?