Discover the errors of the most common browsers and it remains to be known. When accessing a site through a browser like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, etc., you may frequently see some error messages. After seeing these error messages, you may conclude that the site cannot be accessed and probably close the page.
However, a simple reading of these error messages thrown by the browser will help to better understand the problem and try to open the sites in another way or ignore it. Here we will discussThe most frequent browser error messages that are displayed in the browser to indicate what is really happening.
Most of the error messages displayed by the browser will have a three-digit code called “HTTP Status Code”. Whenever a PC or Mac browser tries to reach the site, the server that the site is hosted on will return a code indicating the status of the request.
Success codes are not displayed in the browser and only error codes are displayed to users.
Although there are many error-related server codes, the errors displayed in browsers are mostly related to the 4xx or 5xx series and we will discuss those error messages in detail.
4xx series
400 Incorrect Request
The “Bad Request” message in the browser indicates that the server received a bad or invalid URL request from the browser. It could be an incorrect URL when you typed, or a link you clicked could have special characters not recognized by the server.
Check the URL entered or the link clicked for any errors in that. If not, the easiest way is to find the IP address of the site you are trying to open from any IP lookup tool and enter the IP address in the browser’s address bar to open the site.
401 – Unauthorized
This is very simple to understand: you have no rights or authorization to the page you are trying to view. The page could have been password protected, normally a site member page that needs user id/password and anyone trying to access the page without proper access will get the “Unauthorized” error.
Check that you are supposed to see the page and that you have the required login credentials, if so, go to that site’s login page and try to login with your user id/password. If it still doesn’t work, follow the instructions on the login page to set up an account or contact the webmaster of that site.
404 Not found
You may see different types of “Not Found” errors as they can be customized by the site owner. The “Not Found” error essentially means that the page you are looking for is no longer available on the server. There could be several reasons for this, such as the owner removing the page or changing the URL without setting up the required redirect.
Most of the time, you will get alternative options such as viewing the site’s home page or a search box to search for the topic of interest on that site. Still, if you can’t find the page, you should assume the owner has removed it.
408 – Request timeout
When you try to open a site from the browser, you will have a waiting time to receive a response from the server. If the browser did not receive any response within the expected time, it displays a “Request Timeout” message indicating that no response was received from the server.
Here the problem could be on the server side and the page may not be accessible at the time. You can try to open the site again by refreshing your browser after a few minutes.
5xx series
The 5xx series errors are mainly related to server errors, which cannot be corrected from the local computer. If you can’t open the site after a few tries, it’s best to contact the site owner or support to resolve the issue.
Below are some of the most common 500 series errors in a browser.
Internal server error 500
This indicates the problem with the internal configuration of the server. It could be that the server is facing a momentary problem when trying to access the page or it could be a different problem, which needs to be resolved by the site owner.
You can refresh the page after some time and if the same error continues, contact the site support to resolve the 500 server error.
502 Bad Gateway
Generally, when a new page is opened that was not previously accessed from the browser, the request was sent to more than one server to get the exact location of the page on the web. The “Bad Gateway” message indicates that the servers between the browser and the actual location of the site are not interacting properly.
The solution here might be to change your browser’s DNS settings and use different DNS servers other than the default one so that the browser tries to get the location of the site via a different route.
503 Service Not Available
Another browser error is a short-term or temporary error message from the site owner to inform users that the website will be unavailable for some time. The 503 status message indicates that the site is down and you can access the site once it is up and running.
504 – Gateway Timeout
This is the same type of error as the 408 with the difference that the “Gateway Timeout” error indicates that the two servers cannot interact with each other to get the proper response for the requested URL within the expected time. One of the servers may be down or have a momentary problem and you may try to access the page after some time.
Don’t think browser errors are the same, error messages don’t always need to be relevant to server status codes. There are messages that are displayed not connected to status codes and generated by the browser itself. Below are the error messages that are frequently seen in the browser.
certificate errors
Sites with https protocol and that provide online transactions must have a digital certification from the required authorities. When trying to open such a site, the browser will look for digital certificates and validity to ensure that it is trustworthy to access.
If you see any errors related to the certificate, such as “Certificate not trusted”, it is better to stay away from the site and not access it. There could be several reasons for this message, such as the validity has expired or someone has hacked the site.
If you want to access the site, please contact the site administrator or helpdesk for an explanation of the browser message.
security warnings
Most modern browsers have built-in malware detection and display the message that accessing the site may harm your computer. It is strongly recommended not to open these sites even if you have the latest antivirus running.
The security alert may also appear when the link you clicked tries to access the application from your computer. If you are receiving security alerts more frequently even for sites you regularly visit without any problems, check your security level settings.
If it is set to “High”, the browser will show many alerts and change it to “Medium” or “Low” depending on your needs. In any case, when a browser displays a security warning, it’s best not to open the site.
Network problems
If you see a message related to connectivity, try opening some other sites and check if you are getting the same message or not. If you get the same message, it could be a network problem that your computer is not connected to the Internet or your Wi-Fi/LAN is not connected properly.
In this case, check your network connections and try to access the site again.
Plugins and add-ons
Sometimes browser plug-ins/add-ons can also block access to the site and display irrelevant error messages like security alerts. Use only trusted plugins and remove all unnecessary plugins from your computer.
If necessary, you can uninstall all existing plugins and install only the plugins you need.
parked domains
Do you see different content that shows a lot of ads and links that are not related to the site you opened? The possible cause is that it could be a domain parked by the hosting company, as the original domain registration might have expired.
Please verify that the URL you entered is correct and contact site support to see if the site can still be accessed using another URL. It is best not to click on any links or download content from parked domains.
In addition to knowing how to know the most common browser errorsbelow you can see more related topics of related to this article:
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