Why would a server not set a HTTP Response Code?
Question
I'm asking in generalities - why would any server not set and return headers and/or status codes? I can't think of a good reason for this. Perhaps I'm overlooking something.
Solution
The Status-Code is a required part of a HTTP Response.
By definition, the only reason for a server not to provide a Status-Line is that it is not a HTTP server.
RFC 2616, section 6: Response.
Or said in a slightly less pedant way: if it does this, the server is hopelessly buggy and you should run away from it screaming.
OTHER TIPS
Status codes were introduced in HTTP/1.0 - prior to this, things were much simpler - there were no headers in the request or the response.
A request was simply like this, with no indication of the protocol version
GET /
The response would be all body, with no headers.
So it looks like you are talking to some kind of antique webserver which only speaks HTTP/0.9!