Why is my website down?

How do I check what’s wrong?

1. Try a second device on a different network. Open the site on your phone with Wi-Fi turned off. If it loads, the site is up and the problem is local to you.
2. Try a private window. In Chrome, open the three-dot menu and choose New Incognito window, or press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+N (Mac), as Chrome’s help describes. This rules out an old saved copy or a browser add-on.
3. Type the address yourself. Try it with and without “www”. An old bookmark can point at an address that no longer exists.
4. Read the exact message. The wording tells you a lot (see the table below). Take a screenshot.
5. Check your email. Look for messages from your host, your domain company, or WordPress. WordPress emails the site’s admin address when a serious error happens.
6. Contact your host or web company with the screenshot, the time it started, and anything that changed.

Expected result: you know whether it’s down for everyone, and the person fixing it can start in the right place.

The short version

• Check it on your phone using mobile data. If it loads there, the problem is your computer or network.
• Down everywhere? Screenshot the error and call your host. E-3 sites: call 814-399-4655.

What does each error message mean?

What you see	What it usually means	Who usually fixes it
“This site can’t be reached” or “server IP address could not be found”	The domain isn’t pointing anywhere, often an expired domain or a DNS change	Whoever manages your domain
“Your connection is not private”	A certificate problem, not an outage	Your web host
500 Internal Server Error	Something broke on the server, often a plugin or settings file	Your host or developer
502, 503 or 504	The server is overloaded, restarting or answering too slowly	Your web host
521, 522 or 523 on a Cloudflare page	Cloudflare is working but can’t reach your web server	Your web host
“Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance”	An update didn’t finish	Your developer or host
“Error establishing a database connection”	The site can’t reach its database	Your web host
“There has been a critical error on this website”	A plugin or theme crashed	See critical error or white screen

The numbers are standard web status codes, which MDN lists in HTTP response status codes. Cloudflare’s guide to 5xx errors says most of these need the host or site administrator. WordPress covers its own messages in its common errors guide.

Why does it matter how fast it’s fixed?

Every hour offline means missed calls, missed forms and customers who try someone else. Google notices too. Its guide on how status codes affect Search says server errors make Google crawl your site more slowly. Pages already in Google are kept at first, but they can drop out if the errors go on.

What are the common causes and edge cases?

Common causes are a problem on the server itself, a site that has hit its memory or disk limits, and an update that went wrong. Expired domains and DNS changes made without a plan are next.

• Down just for you. Restart the browser, then the computer. Pause a VPN or security app for a moment. Some security tools also block an address after several wrong login tries, so ask your web company to check.
• Domain expired. An expired domain takes your website and your email down together. You may see a parking page full of ads, or a page from your domain company. Renew it straight away. See domain renewal notices.
• Down after a change. Tell your host exactly what changed and when. That often points straight to the cause. A backup lets them roll back while they find the real fix.
• Only “www” or only the bare address works. That’s usually a DNS or redirect setting, not a full outage.
• Down on and off. Note each time it fails. A pattern helps spot an overloaded server or a scheduled task gone wrong.

Avoid making more changes while it’s down. Reinstalling plugins or switching themes in a hurry makes the cause harder to trace.

What if this didn’t work?

• Still down after an hour? Ask your host for an update, and ask whether it’s their server or your site.
• Down and showing strange content? It may have been hacked. See I think my site was hacked.
• Email down too? That points to the domain or DNS. See why am I not receiving email.
• Loads, but crawls along? See why is my website slow.

How does E-3 handle this?

Every site E-3 hosts is checked every 5 minutes, and our team is alerted when one goes down. A person at E-3 then finds the cause and gets the site back up.

If your site is down, please call 814-399-4655 rather than waiting on email. It helps to tell us:

• the site address;
• what you see, with a screenshot if you can;
• when you first noticed it;
• anything that changed recently, such as a new plugin, a renewal or a DNS edit.

For anything less urgent, email support@e3help.me or use the Get support form. See website care for what ongoing care covers.

Related questions

• My site shows a critical error or a blank white screen
• Why does my site say “Not Secure”?
• Is my website backed up, and can you restore it?