Solve 500 Error– Website is Temporarily Unavailable
From yesterday evening, I was unable to browse the web because most of the websites were reporting a 500 error. Whatever site I tried to load from the browser, I was shown the following error message:
While the social sites like Facebook and Twitter worked fine, I was unable to open YouTube, Google.com, Wikipedia and other well known sites who rarely face any server downtimes. Whenever I tried to open any site I got the above error message and the URL redirected to something like the following:
I was quite sure that there must be some problem at my end and I must have done something really stupid which has caused this problem. Otherwise why on earth will every website start reporting a 500 error?
I tried the following things one by one but all of them failed:
1. First, I cleared the browser cache and deleted all the temporary internet files. Then I restarted the browser but the problem was still there.
2. Then I uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled the latest version to see if things come back to normal. Failed again.
3. Then I checked the Internet options from Windows Control Panel. Everything was fine and there were no settings which might have caused the 500 error on most of the websites.
4. Checked parental controls and Windows Firewall but the problem persisted.
5. Feeling miserable and out of my mind, I started installing a fresh Operating system in my computer. Spent an hour installing Windows XP, installed Firefox but the same page was up there again.
Now it was time for me to give up but I got an email from Debajyoti, one of my blogger friends. He was also facing the same problem and was unable to visit most of the websites.
This led me to the conclusion that there must be some problems with our ISP (Internet service provider). Both of us use BSNL’s broadband connection and were unable to visit any website.
When you see a 500 Error
The 500 error is a server side error which means the problem is not with your computer or Internet connection. Instead, it is a problem with the website’s server. The error is thrown when something goes wrong on the website’s server but the server is unable to determine the exact cause of the problem. Here is a complete list of all HTTP status codes with their meanings.
How to Solve 500 Error problem
The solution is quite simple – switch to Open DNS or Google’s public DNS. My router is preconfigured to automatically choose an IP address as well as DNS server while connecting to the internet. Here were the TCP/IP settings of my internet connection, before I switched to Google’s public DNS:
Then I changed the settings in “Obtain DNS Server address automatically” to
preferred DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Alternate DNS Server: 4.4.4.4
1. To change the DNS addresses, click “Network and Sharing center” from the system tray and select your Internet connection (Local Area Connection or Wireless Wifi)
2. Now click “Properties” and select the “Networking” tab. Select “Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and hit the “Properties” button again. This will open the IP Address and DNS properties of your Internet connection.
Select the radio button “Use the following DNS Server addresses” and enter the value of the preferred DNS server as 8.8.8.8. Then enter the value for Alternate DNS server as 4.4.4.4. Hit Ok and you are done.
You may have to restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
Now the 500 Error problem has been resolved, thanks to Google’s public DNS. I am able to browse all the websites and also experiencing an increase in my Internet connection speed. Hats off to Google and thanks to Nicholas Francis for the tip.
I too am on BSNL … Today afternoon I talked to one of the officials and they said some of their servers were down…
Anyways its fixed now… and everything is fine from afternoon. And the sites are accessible without the Google or Open DNS.
I tried Google DNS yesterday, It didn’t work for me.
@Debajyoti: But I will be sticking to Google’s DNS because of the speed. Thanks for the comment
*facepalm*
500 error means an error with server side, probably misconfiguration or web server’s down, unable to cope up with load. And to solve solve this.. you have suggested .. a change in DNS settings ? Huh ?
How on earth will changing DNS fix a *server* side error ? If you had a *DNS* problem, you wouldn’t even be able to access the server, let alone the server throwing back a server error. Please research before posting rubbish stuff like this.
May be it’s rubbish, Honestly I dont know what was the actual problem. I tried everything, but that didn’t got any successful result. Can you please share what you would have done in such a situation?
The point is that the moment I switched, the problem was resolved. To You it sounds rubbish, but to me It gave me the access back, anyway thanks for your comment
Yes,its the the problem @ BSNL Server end. We are facing the same problem here from yesterday. Even gmail and yahoomail are redirected to some Fraud looking pages.. :x :x
Problem not solved yet :( 11.30 PM IST
@Amit: I would not have done anything. Probably, try after few minutes. Maybe wait for an hour. If its still down – contact the sysadmins of the site if possible. SHort of that, there’s nothing that you can do to solve the problem – its not something which is wrong from your end – its the remote server is causing the problems.
If your friend’s car is not starting , how will repairing your car help his car start ? The analogy is similar to that.
You have mentioned what HTTP 500 error means, The 500 error is a server side error which means the problem is not with your computer or Internet connection. Instead, it is a problem with the website’s server. The error is thrown when something goes wrong on the website’s server but the server is unable to determine the exact cause of the problem and yet you suggest fixing your connection ? I’m truly surprised with that.
Yes, you are right with the example. As for the wait part, I waited the whole day but nothing happened. But how could the thing gets resolved as soon as I changed the DNS servers ? You may call it coincidence but no, switching back to the older settings still brings the problem back.
There is no doubt that the problem is with my ISP (BSNL). Even Google.com reported a 500 error
I know according to theory – this post is a bullshit, how on earth can changing the DNS server resolve some server side error. But One of my friends tipped me on Facebook that it worked for him, I tried and followed suit.
Your comment hits bang on and I am not just saying that, I mean it. But I think truth is stranger than fiction / theory, this is a perfect example, isn’t it ?
@ Sathya – You have misunderstood the situation I think… The fact is that BSNL (ISP) in West Bengal was hit by some downtimes. Hence most US based sites was opening at pages/error/error500.htm with a fake 500 error. Obviously pages/error/error500.htm don’t exist on those websites.
This post is targeted to people facing this particular “fake” 500 Errors.
Update : People at south seems to be affected Today… Plus Niranjan P’s comment confirms it.
Lets HOPE bsnl comes up with a better explanation … and there be peace :P
@Sathya: To my amusement, I found a forum where other BSNL broadband users are using the same DNS trick to get rid of the 500 errors. If I am wrong, so are they
To know about the problem, let’s understand it in detail. Whenever we open any website in the browser’s address bar, the address is converted into IP address with the help of DNS (domain name server). Then the browser sends the data to that IP address with the help of IP socket connection.
Now suppose, if DNS fails to convert the domain name into IP address then how the browser will connect to the server?
Now changing the DNS doesn’t do any magic. Google and Open DNS have the collection of maximum domain names IP addresses. When you type any domain name inside the address bar, it instantly sends the request to the IP address. No hassle involved and also it saves your time.
Few days back when undersea cable broken down and websites failed to open, then changing the DNS solved all the problems. http://goo.gl/Powh Can anyone tell me how the magic happened? It is true that 500 error is a related to server side, but there are too many things which is beyond our knowledge. Experimenting and finding the correct solution is the best way to tackle the problem.
According to me, the step by step tutorial written by Amit is an example of genuine blogging. He is not among one, who read some crappy articles and make it a blog post. He tried the things in actual and then wrote an article to solve the problems of people. I highly appreciate Amit for his attempt.
Cheers
Himanshu
@Himanshu really appreciate your support buddy.
Coincidental – perhaps. BSNL serving a fake 500 message – could be. Generalizing that a 500 error can be fixed by DNS changes ( which btw – the post clearly aims at given that there is no reference to a particular ISP/region) – definitely incorrect. That’s my point.
Google and Open DNS have the collection of maximum domain names IP addresses. When you type any domain name inside the address bar, it instantly sends the request to the IP address. No hassle involved and also it saves your time.
LOL! 2 questions:
1. How does this “instant name resolution” happen without making a trip to the DNS server ?
2. How does the computer/browser know you’re on Google/openDNS so that this “instant request” is sent ?
ew days back when undersea cable broken down and websites failed to open, then changing the DNS solved all the problems.
There is a difference betweeen website being unable to reach and hence failing to open and a website being accessible and throwing a 500 error. The latter is what the posts says can be fixed with a DNS change. When an IP has already been resolved and website been contacted and it sends a reply, how does changing DNS affect the reply of the website ?
@Amit – I am from bangalore and I was facing this 500 error problem since yesterday. I changed DNS settings as suggested by you and now it is working fine. Thankyou Amit for sharing this info.
@Ramlaal: I am Glad it worked for you as well.
I must sincerely thank Mr. Amit for giving the tip for solving Error500. I was not getting any site for the past two days but the problem solved instantly when I changed the DNS settings.
@Thomas: Thanks for your appreciation and I am glad the article was useful.
This site and few of its mirrors host that suspicious looking error page.
64.95.64.197 =>(64.95.64.197/pages/error/error500.htm)
Where as, Google (with No Country Redirect) has a network range of 66.102.0.0 – 66.102.15.255
It worked for me… Thanks a lot, bro! :D
and BSNL sucks.. :|
Thanx for the tips dude…..It really works, But BSNL Broadband sucks.
Still facing the 500 error..
Changed the DNS Entries.. working fine now…
Thanks a lot buddy :)
Thanks Amit Banerji.
The error 500 problem solved by changing DNS id. We suffer this problem for last 2 / 3 days.
Amitji,
I whish to know the reason of this Error 500 and how it solved by changing DNS id.
regards,
Praveen
perfect solution. works like a charm, surprisingly. i m not a geek. but what amit suggested does really work. tried reinstalling windows. error persisited, but changing dns does solve everything. Thankyou Amit. I wasted my 3 days on this problem. even went to bsnl office, but futile. thanks bro.
@Shibli, Praveen, Shashi,Vyomdeep, lavi: Thanks. I am glad it worked for you as well. Yes, BSNl is causing some serious problems here and the problem has not been resolved yet.
I to had the same problem in bsnl broadband connection. but i changed the prefered dns server address to 218.248.240.23, know its working fine
Thanks a lot. It really worked. And yes, instantaneously. but it took me some trouble to actually get a search page open to get to this page since even google wouldnot open. Thanks again amit.
@ Satya- Rubbish also works like a miracle sometimes :)
@Sunny: Thank You. I am glad it worked for you.
Where I could find the tutorial of AMit?
I’m also facing the same issue, I just change the DNS setting from 218.248.240.123 to 218.248.240.23. To my surprise I could able to open the sotes now.. I’m wondering if the problem is fixed completely or it will revert back. Could any one throw a light how this happens by just changing the DNS settings.
Hashim
@Amit…Thanks for the solution….
It worked for me too…
what is the procedure for wifi
@Ashok: The procedure is same for Wifi as well, I guess
Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!! It works quickly Thanks a Loooooottttttttttt!!!!!!
i use xp service pack, and I changed the dns from >Network Connections> Local Area Connection > tcp/ip, but it is not working for me. what wrong I did?
@sudipta: It’s not guaranteed that changing the DNS servers will work, this trick works for someone while at the same time fails for others
Didn’t work for me. Still getting the fake 500 Error problem. “500 Error – Web Site is Temporarily Unavailable” Hope BSNL will find a permanent solution to this weird issue.
Interestingly according to this forum-thread some other ISPs are also having same problem which is a bit surprising and not in line of what we think (that the problem is BSNL-specific) – http://www.exbii.com/showthread.php?t=865864&page=2
@Avay: Yes this trick works in some cases, some cases it doesn’t. You have to look for an alternative, well do post the method here and share with others.
This is the reason why being technically sound doesn’t solve all the problems in this world.
Theoretically changing dns should not help but practically it does.
I always used google dns, repaired my network few days back which turned the dns back to default. Didn’t noticed this and was very frustrated with 500 errors.
Changed it back to google dns and now every site is opening.
Thank you man.
This solution also worked for me. I plan to share it with our IT manager at my workplace as this problem occurs even now when I try to access the same website at work(It is not a restricted website) , all I can say is that when I followed th einstructions last night, this corrected the 500 error message IMMEDIATELY on my pc. I will have our IT experts here at work see if they can come up with any other explanations. I understand all the comments from Sathya and others, but this does freaking work for some reason…maybe by switching DNS servers an old cache is avoided that exists on the default server that one is ussing, who knows????
@Rob: Yes, I am glad you found it useful. Thanks for the comment.
hi amit
you are from east, i am from west,
as INDIA, your tweak is the best
thanks a lot friend.
actually i am from GUJARAT, i was also facing 500 error problem
but it resolved in seconds by your miraculous tweak
@espee: LOL…thanks , btw east or west – big G is the best. Thanks for the comment
@amit:-yea it worked for wifi too,thanks ya
@ashok: Yes, as I told it must work for Wifi connections as well. Thanks for the comment.
thanks a lot amit. worked well for me too.
@Vivek: I am glad the tutorial was useful. Thanks for the comment
its not the original 500 error, it seems to be a fake 500 error by a new malware/virus/rootkit. sometimes it shows this 500 error to microsoft, yahoo, google, msn websites also.surprizingly when it shows 500 error for http://www.google.com, it doesn’t show the error if the address typed as http://74.125.45.99 (IT is same for google).sometimes the probelm solves by changing the dns as mr.amit wrote. we should find a definite process to stop this fake 500 error.
@santanu: Strange, I tried the IP trick earlier but it did not worked. Basically, your ISP is responsible for this 500 error, there is nothing you or me can do to fix it “completely”. All I did is to find an alternative way to fix this problem and since then it’s working fine. Thanks for the comment
Ya the IP Address Technique doesn’t work either. I tried, but it does show some positive results the site starts loading in the browser… then the 500 problem comes.
Damn changing DNS doesn’t work for me… The 500 error stops but the site never loads. God knows when this issue will be solved coz it reappeared today after yesterday. Now this is a regular thing for me.
@Debajyoti: Yes, one of my friends from Garia, south calcutta reported that the problem is back again. Though I am not facing any problems when using the TATA photon connection. Using the IP technique is frustrating – how many IP’s are you going to remember and type ?
Fortunately, on my side this Google public DNS trick works like a charm. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks man !!!!
Really helpful article…I got frustated with this problem since few days…I am also using BSNL Broadband…With your solution now i am able to accessall sites…Thanks once again…
But we should report this problem to BSNL autohrity…Specially who knows this technical issue…We should look forward for permanant solution…
Can you please explain me How does it work??
Amit Bhai dhonnobad,for the past 4 days this problem was haunting me,changing dns worked like a charm,i’m not gonna use BSNL dns ever
@Pratik: yes, BSNL is giving all of us this weird trouble. I glad the tutorial was useful, thanks for the comment
Thanks a lot, I was facing this problem since an hour and it struck me to google for the same after popular sites threw this fake error. Though Google DNS did not work other DNS.218.248.240.23 worked.
I believe this is not a fake server problem else changing DNS should not solve it, as I too have worked in this area. BSNL DNS server is faking this error for some reason, I guess, and avoiding BSNL DNS solves problem.
Alternate DNS of google is now 8.8.4.4 instead of 4.4.4.4 as mentioned in this article.
Thanks
@ramram: Yes, in some cases Google’s DNS settings might not work. You can then try OpenDNS to see if things work out. Thanks for the comment
I had the same problem. Some pages were being redirected to pages/error/error500.htm. Changing the DNS server seems to have worked. I wonder why? I use Linux (Ubuntu 9.04) and Firefox. In fact I had the same problem connecting from other computers at home, and in other browsers too (IR, Google Chrome).
This is some kind of virus activity..
For google also i’m getting 500 Error. google.com opens as SN (Smartnames.com) and no search will work. will show some travel site. As soon as type any sitename and hit enter, My antivirus says that my computer is being attacked.. “An intrusion attempt by zz87jhfda88.com was blocked.” further it says Risk Name HTTPS Tidserv Request 2 / Attacking Computer zz87jhfda88.com (91.212.226.59, 443)..
Further..
“Network traffic from zz87jhfda88.com matches the signature of a known attack. The attack was resulted from DEVICEHARDDISKVOLUME1WINDOWSSYSTEM32SVCHOST.EXE….”
@naveen ; Which ISP you are using ?
its smartname.com
I try to search some videos in YouTube, a 500 internal server error always appears in my explorer. I would like some advice, since this is annoying me. However I can see videos from links or videos that show me 500 internal server errors.
Please help me, how can I solve this problem?
Regards
Recovery Data
@DRS: Have you checked your Firewall or browser preferences for an exception ?
Changing your DNS server setting can make a difference as the DNS cache is cleared when you make the change. I have had this happen on my LAN once in awhile, try this; Open command prompt (Run ‘CMD’), type IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS
Worked for me.
@IT Guy: Yes, I generally flush the DNS cache when I am moving my website to a different hosting provider.Thanks for the comment.
no my system is windows xp and i have an bsnl connection i tried googles dns but its not worhing for me kindly help
Even i had similar issue. when I type google.com, the page faked by SmartName web page. I accessed the bsnl modem. http://192.168.1.1-> Advanced-> cleared all DNS-> Apply Changes. Now I can acces all sites. Looks like BNSL DNS are hacked and mis-routed by SmartName spyware
Thanks a lot – it worked for me too although I had a different error message :”Temporarily unavailable” for sites like google,hotmail,youutbe but not yahoo.
I thought it was spyware.
During the problem,pinging google and hotmail gave the same ip address surprisingly:64.95.64.197
So I thought that this ip address was redirecting me.I still don’t know what the problem is – BSNL or spyware but it is solved.
Thanks again!
thank’s 4 z suggestion but still in trouble. Do u have another solution.
some times internet is working but few sites not woking…
what is a solution of this problem, if you solved this problem please inform me in my address…
Thank you very much
@Ashish: There is nothing you can do is your ISP serve you some fake DNS error pages. Try switching to OpwnDNS or Google’s public DNS and see whether it works. Thanks for the comment.
thank you Amit, hope it will b work:-)
I too have the same prob and i changed my DNS to google public but yet i cant able to open hotmail, msn…… :( :( :(
Thank you so much!
I had this problem since about a month and had to use workarounds (like proxys, but they are slow) to use the internet, but now it works :D
I don’t like this Sathya guy’s attitude.
Any how, Amit, thanks for this post. Although I haven’t even tried your advice (yet) to fix my problem that occurs only on 4 specific websites – all the ones that I own – but I appreciate your effort in writing this article and helping all that you already have and would in the future.
What Sathya failed to understand is that we are only looking for a solution to this problem – fake or genuine 500 errors. It doesn’t matter whatever logic he or anyone else might have studied in theory and learned in practicals.
The analogy: Let’s say your friend’s car crashes and so does yours. Now, your car is equipped with fire-prevention system, etc. but not your friend’s. Higher chances are that in a severe crash your friend’s car might blow up, and hence it would be wise for him or her to escape from the vehicle asap. You, however, must also escape from the vehicle to save your life in case of a severe crash because chances are that even your car might explode – even though you are equipped with the fire-prevention system. The idea is to save your own lives and/or minimize damage to life, with or without the help of cutting edge technology.
Similarly, Amit is just trying to help people get back on to happy surfing, with or without logic or theory.
Next time, before you decide to be bluntly rude to someone who is trying to help, move on to something else. You are not needed in the area of wrong help, which in fact might still help a few, so often as it does, that too without any logic or theory.
The ones who would simply decide to take the advice will end up with 4 probable results – 1). Their problem would be solved. 2). Their problem would be solved with added benefits. 3). Their problem would not be solved. 4). Their problem would not be solved with added problems.
Now, in the first 2 cases – Problem solved, hence the help seeker is happily on his or her way. In the last 2 cases – They were unable to solve their problem so far and may have to end up calling for professional help. Perhaps they should have done it sooner.
Peace and out.
thanks a lot bro it really helped me