simple ajax not working in FF but works great in IE what am I doing wrong?

[Ron Mast]

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
// get faculty default A
$.ajax({
url: 'myvalidurl',
type: "post",
async: true,
dataType: "html",
contentType: "html",
error:function (XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) {
//alert(eval('(' + XMLHttpRequest.responseText + ')').Message);
console.log("textStatus: " + textStatus); // the options for this
ajax request
console.log("XMLHttpRequest: " + XMLHttpRequest.responseText); //
the options for this ajax request
console.log("errorThrown: " + errorThrown); // the options for
this ajax request
console.log(this); // the options for this ajax request
},
success: function(data) {
$('.result').html(data);
}
});
});
</script>

Firebug console shows:
textStatus: error
XMLHttpRequest:
errorThrown: undefined

how do I get a more distinct error?

Any help is greatly appreciated...I have googled and will continue to
hunt down this issue. I have used both jquery 1.3.2 and <script
src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3/jquery.min.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>

Thanks so much!