Prevent loading <link> ed CSS files in Internet Explorer 7

Question

Internet Explorer 7 (but not 8/9) blocks any download until the CSS file is completed on our site.

We do not use Internet Explorer tests around it <!--[if IE ]><![endif]-->, and we do not use a protocol-independent URI ( //instead http://). This is just a direct link /css/global/core.css, and yet the browser waits until it finishes downloading before starting.

Are there any methods to prevent this behavior?

PS: all JavaScript is at the bottom, all static content is hosted in a different domain (with the exception of CSS because it can reuse an existing connection after an HTML document, which leads to a faster experience for the user even with additional cookie headers) .

EDIT:

The problem is that profiling IE7 with DynaTrace causes CSS files to block further downloads, but it works with DynaTrace disabled. So this is a DynaTrace error, not IE7.

With DynaTrace:

WITHOUT DynaTrace:

Answer 1

Perhaps you click on the limit on the number of concurrent downloads per domain?

I believe that IE7 by default is 2 files per domain, while many new browsers support by default.

http://www.stevesouders.com/blog/2009/05/12/sharding-dominant-domains/