Element 'X' is not a known element - Web Application

I converted a forms website into an application and everything has been working just fine until now. I keep getting the green squiggly lines and the error that Element 'X' is not a known element. This is on almost every element, Gridview, Label, Update Panel, Hyperlink Field, Bound Field, etc...

my web.config contains

<pages theme="basic">
        <controls>
            <add tagPrefix="ajax" assembly="AjaxControlToolkit" namespace="AjaxControlToolkit"/>
            <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
            <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
        </controls>
    </pages>

so ajax and asp are viable prefixes. The very odd thing is that it is only happening on a few user controls, all other user controls are fine and the errors never show up. I have tried rebooting and everything and nothing seems to fix it. All masterpages, web paages, and about 90% of the user controls are fine, its only on a few user controls and super annoying!

Solution

If the compilation element in your web.config file has the targetFramework="4.0" attribute, I don't think the references to the System.Web.Extensions assembly are required anymore. If you look at the root-level web.config file at %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Config, you will notice that the following lines are already in the <controls> section of the web.config file:

<add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
<add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
<add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls.Expressions" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

The System.Web.Extensions assembly is also referenced in the <compilation><assemblies> section

<add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />

and the following <httpHandlers> are added as well

<add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="False" />
<add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="False"/>
<add path="*.asmx" verb="*" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="False" />

Additionally, the following <httpModules> are registered by default

<add name="ScriptModule-4.0" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

In short, your web.config file probably should not contain any references to the System.Web.Extensions assembly because it is already referenced in almost every conceivable way in the root-level web.config file.

Additional References: How to: Upgrade an ASP.NET Web Application to ASP.NET 4