Why would .load() produce http OPTION requests rather than http GET requests on FF/Chrome?

Why would .load() produce http OPTION requests rather than http GET requests on FF/Chrome?

I have the following code:

  1. '#pageDirect': function() {
  2.     $('#pageDirect').html('<img src="images/8-0.gif" />').show();             $('#pageDirect').load('http://server/page/info.aspx?id=' + folderID + '&xID=' + xID + '&mode=direct');
  3. }

In IE it seems to produce valid requests but on FF/Chrome it creates http OPTION requests that results in 401 errors.Any theories on why it's not doing GETs as expected?