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If you're on this page, then you're most likely having a very specific and complex issue - you're able to get online, but there's a specific website that you're just unable to reach. From Error 404 to 502, here's a few things you can try to get to where you need to go! For a complete and specific list of HTTP status codes and error codes, click here
If you're on this page, then you're most likely having a very specific and complex issue - you're able to get online, but there's a specific website that you're just unable to reach. From Error 404 to 502, here's a few things you can try to get to where you need to go! For a complete and specific list of HTTP status codes and error codes, click here
Is the website down for everybody? Or is it just down for me?
See if the Website is down for just you, or everybody: Websites can sometimes go down for everybody, and the only people who can bring it back are the administrators of the site. To determine if the website is down for everybody, the most reliable method is to inquire to the owners of the site directly. Most businesses that utilize a corporate website will typically be aware of downtime and can be contacted either via their customer support or, nowadays, through social media. As a easier alternative, you can also utilize a website like downforeveryoneorjustme.com or isitup.org to see if a website is down for just you, or if there's a far larger issue at work.
If the website is down for everybody, then it's just a matter of being patient with the administrators of the site. The web server might've went down or the domain might've expired without being renewed. There's really no use troubleshooting a issue with a website if the website is down for everybody.
Investigate Device-Specific Issues: If you've now determined that the issue with the website you're trying to load isn't happening with everyone, then it's time to do a little bit more investigative work as to the cause. Try these steps:
Try using another browser: Is the issue with the site caused the browser that you're using? If the browser you were trying to load the webpage with happened to load a bad cookie from a previous website, that may explain the issue. Try clearing the cache from the browser and, if the issue persists, try using a completely new browser to see if the webpage loads. If you're unsure as to how to clear your browser cache, please refer to the instructions below or reach out to the software developer for the browser you are using.
CTRL + SHIFT + R or SHIFT + F5 can be used to clear the cache on most web browsers on Windows.
COMMAND + SHIFT + E or OPTION + COMMAND + E can be used to clear the cache on most web browsers on MacOS.
Try using another device: Is the issue with the site caused by the device that you have? A recent software update could've made it incompatible with the site you're trying to load, or your anti-virus or antivirus software has recently blacklisted the site. Try to use another device and see if that makes any difference.
Try using another network: Is the issue with the website possibly due to the specific network that you're currently connected to? Webpages can also be affected if there's an problem with your ISP's Domain Name System (DNS) or if they've blacklisted the site, so try connecting to another network and see if that fixes the problem.
Well, that pretty much sums up browser performance.
To learn how to analyse a traceroute, keep on reading below.
Complete a Traceroute: If investigating device-specific issues hasn't helped, short of simply using another network, and the issue is still only occurring for you, then we need to run a traceroute to figure out exactly what's causing the hang-up on this site.
A traceroute is a computer network diagnostic tool for displaying the route, or path, that your device takes to get to a webpage using the wider Internet. Running a traceroute can be done in a number of ways, most common of which being through a console such as the command prompt in Microsoft Windows. Another good tool to use for this is Monitis, a visual traceroute tool the allows you to visually see where your site requests are going and, if there's a issue, where they're being hung up.
If you've gotten to the point where you need to produce a traceroute, it's also a pretty good idea to contact your ISP for further help if you haven't already. Whether the issue is them or not, this isn't something you can fix on your own and their technical support is usually a big help with issues like this.
How to analyze a traceroute to diagnose website-specific issues
How to analyze a traceroute to diagnose website-specific issues
Example #1 - No Request Timeouts, no issues with accessing website.
Example #2 - Request Timeouts, issues with accessing website.
If you've made it so far as to having to run a traceroute, then you should also take the time to learn how to analyse the traceroute. Learning how to make sense of this report will help you to figure out where the issue is and how exactly it can be corrected.
To run a traceroute on a Windows operating system, the easiest method is to access your Command Prompt - you can do this on any PC by pressing Windows Key+R and, in your Run window, typing in the letters "CMD" before hitting OK. Once you've accessed the command prompt, you can type in the command "tracert", followed by a space and then the website domain or the IP address that you want to run a traceroute on, before pressing Enter to begin running the traceroute. For example, a traceroute on Google.com would be "tracert www.google.com"
To run a traceroute on a Macintosh operating system, the easiest method is to access your Terminal - you can do this on any Mac either by accessing the Utilities folder (/Applications/Utilities) in Finder or by using the Spotlight Search function by pressing Command and Space. Once you've accessed the terminal, you can type in the command "traceroute", followed by a space and then the website domain or the IP address that you want to run a traceroute on, before pressing Enter to begin running the traceroute. For example, a traceroute on Google.com would be "traceroute www.google.com"
Note: Running a traceroute using a newer version of the Macintosh operating system is also possible through the Network Utility - this is accessible by accessing the CoreServices folder (/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/) in Finder or by using the Spotlight Search function. If you're making use of this method, go to the Trace tab and enter in the website domain or IP address that you want to run a traceroute on, before pressing the Trace button to begin the Traceroute.
When the traceroute is run, we're specifically looking for where the request to access the website timed out as this will tell us when and where along the path the request failed. You'll also notice that the domain within the first few hops may look very familiar, and this is because it will typically be your ISP's domain.
In the first example above, "bellsouth.net" is a domain used by AT&T, a large ISP in the United States, however there are no request timeouts in the traceroute and presumably no issues with accessing the destination website.
In the second example above, "iburst.co.za" is a domain that had been used by iBurst, a former ISP in South Africa. There are persistent request timeouts in this example, however these timeouts occur with telia.net, another service provider domain related to the destination IP address, after passing through iBurst's network.
These won't always be so clear-cut, however your ISP's domain will typically be near the beginning of a traceroute and you can always throw the domain into a search engine to determine exactly who uses it. You may also see request time outs occur before the traceroute continues and gets to its destination, which can speak to a slower response time or issues with the webpage loading slowly. Once you've determined what domain is your ISP on the traceroute, look at where the path got interrupted by request time outs and determine if it happened either before your request passed through your ISP's network, or afterwards.
If your request made it past your ISP domain before it began timing out: then the issue isn't your ISP - it's some other domain, web server or access path that has failed between your ISP and the site. The internet is constantly changing - the web server could be having downtime, or the domain might've expired without being renewed. There's not much you can do, in this case, other than to simply wait for the current path to be restored or eventually be re-routed through another path.
If your request didn't make it past your ISP domain before it began timing out: then the issue is with your ISP and is possibly with their Domain Name System, or DNS. Report the problem to their technical support, and provide all other relevant information. They'll likely also have you forward the results of your traceroute to them, usually via e-mail or live chat, so that the issue can be diagnosed and corrected more easily by their Network Operations Center, or NOC.
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