asked to download file when using ajax with ie. (AJAX/PHP) - php

Question

For some reason IE is asking us to download a file instead of running it as ajax. This works in all browsers except IE. I tried messing with the headers that it returns with no luck.
The function grabs form data then post's it the response is a can be an array of any number of items to be updated on the page.
Its not suppose to be file its suppose to be just a json response.
PHP
header('Content-type: application/json');
$error = "The Email and Password you entered could not be resolved.";
$elements[0]['target'] = '.error_report';
$elements[0]['action'] = 'inside';
$elements[0]['data'] = '<p>'.$error.'</p>';
$this->output->set_output(
json_encode(array("elements" => $elements))
);
Javascript
$(document).ready(function () {
jQuery.ajaxSetup({
cache: false,
dataType: 'json',
error: function () {
alert("Request was not successful. Please try again shortly.");
}
});
$(document).ajaxSuccess(function (e, xhr, settings) {
var response = xhr.responseText;
if (settings.dataType != 'json') {
return;
};
try {
response = jQuery.parseJSON(response);
} catch (e) {
alert(e);
return;
}
if (response.elements instanceof Array) {
var reqs = ['target', 'action'];
var valid = true;
for (var i=0;i<response.elements.length;i++) {
var cur = response.elements[i];
var sel;
for (var j=0;j<reqs.length;j++) {
if (typeof cur[reqs[j]] !== "string") {
valid = false;
break;
};
};
if (!valid) {
continue;
};
sel = $(cur.target);
switch (cur.action) {
case "inside":
sel.html(cur.data);
break;
case "instead":
sel.replaceWith(cur.data);
break;
case "remove":
sel.remove();
break;
case "refreshPage":
window.location.reload();
default:
if (typeof sel[cur.action] === "function") {
sel[cur.action](cur.data);
}; // else continue
break;
};
};
};
// Dispatch the AJAX request, and save it to the data object so that
// is can be referenced and cancelled if need be.
self.data('ajaxify.xhr', jQuery.ajax({
url: this.action,
type: 'post',
dataType: options.dataType,
data: (beforeSubmitIsJquery ? beforeSubmitResult.serialize()
: self.serialize()),
success: function (/**/) {
cleanup();
options.onSuccess.apply(that, arguments);
},
error: function (/**/) {
cleanup();
options.onError.apply(that, arguments);
},
complete: function (/**/) {
options.onComplete.apply(that, arguments);
}
}));