Sometimes, your website may experience issues after updates or seemingly out of the blue. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent and troubleshoot these problems on your own. This guide will walk you through the most common causes of website downtime and how to fix them. If you need further assistance, our Customer Support team can help.
If you encounter the error message “Your connection is not private” when trying to access a website, it means your browser couldn't establish a secure connection between your device and the site.
To fix this, first check for SSL certificate issues. Use an SSL Checker tool to verify that a valid certificate is installed and there are no SSL-related problems. If the checker doesn’t reveal any issues, or if the SSL certificate is correctly configured, the error could be caused by mixed content on the website. In that case, reach out to Customer Support for assistance.
This issue is often caused by PHP errors, which you can review in the error_log file located in your domain’s web root directory. The log file provides detailed information, such as the file path, database schema, and the specific file and line number where the error occurred.
Typically, these errors are related to a theme, template, plugin, component, or addon. Try changing or deactivating these elements to see if the problem resolves.
Another potential cause is incorrect file or folder permissions. Every file and directory in your account has specific permissions that control who can read, modify, or execute them. When you create a file or folder in cPanel, it comes with default permissions. While these settings usually don’t need to be changed, certain installations or updates may require you to modify them.
There are three types of access permissions:
Read – Allows the file to be viewed.
Write – Allows the file to be modified.
Execute – Allows the file to be run as a program.
These permissions apply to three categories of users:
Owner – The user who owns the file.
Group – Users who are in the same group or directory.
World - All other users.
Permission levels are represented by numbers:
0: No access
1: Execute only
2: Write only
3: Write and execute
4: Read only
5: Read and execute
6: Read and write
7: Read, write, and execute (full permissions)
To ensure your files display correctly in a web browser, use the following permissions settings:
HTML and image files – Set permissions to 644(or 0644). This allows them to be readable by everyone but writable only by the owner. These permissions are automatically set when the file is created.
Folders – Set permissions to 755 (or 0755). This makes them readable and executable by everyone but writable only by the owner. These permissions are automatically assigned when the folder is created.
CGI files – Set permissions to 755 (or 0755). This makes them readable and executable by everyone but writable only by the owner. Unlike other files, these permissions are not set automatically, so you will need to adjust them manually.
Here are the default permissions to set:
Files – 0644
Folders – 0755
Domain root folder – 0750
If you're still unsure what's causing the issue or need help checking or changing file and folder permissions, reach out to Customer Support. We’ll guide you through the troubleshooting process. Please have the following information ready:
The exact error message
The URL where the error appears (or steps to reproduce it).
Your external IP address
If you encounter a ‘Connection timed out’ or ‘Connection was reset’ error, it could mean that your external IP address has been blocked by the server firewall. To resolve this, please contact Customer Support so we can investigate the cause of the block and offer troubleshooting assistance.
When reaching out, make sure to provide your domain name and external IP address.
This error can occur for several reasons, including:
1. Incorrect .htaccess directives is the most common cause of incorrect syntax or problematic directives in the .htaccess file. To access it, follow these steps:
Go to your Spaceship account.
Choose Hosting Manager in the Launchpad.
Click the Manage button next to your hosting plan.
Select the Files and Storage option.
Click Manage Files near the website name.
To find out if the .htaccess file is causing the issue, try temporarily renaming it using the Rename option in cPanel File Manager. If this resolves the issue, the problem lies within the .htaccess file. In that case, you can start troubleshooting by commenting out lines. Add a # at the beginning of each line to disable it.
Note: If you're not familiar with .htaccess syntax, avoid making direct changes, and always keep a backup copy of the file.
If the error persists after modifying the .htaccess file, check the error_log file for the latest PHP error records for additional clues.
Finally, remember to change the .htaccess file back to its original name and uncomment the lines if necessary.
2. Incorrect file or folder permissions can also cause errors. You can adjust permissions in cPanel:
Go to File Manager.
Click Change Permissions.
To access your files:
Log in to your Spaceship account.
Select Hosting Manager in the Launchpad.
Choose Manage next to your hosting plan.
Go to Files and Storage.
Click Manage Files near the website name.
Here are the default permissions to set:
Files – 0644
Folders – 0755
Domain root folder – 0750
If you're unsure how to check or change file or folder permissions, please contact Customer Support.
3. Excessive use of account resources (RAM, CPU) which can be due to your hosting account exceeding its virtual resource limits.
If your account is reaching its LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) limits, review the error_log file and check the latest error messages to find out whether the issue is caused by a script, plugin, or something else.
You can check whether the account has reached its limits in the Hosting Manager of your Spaceship account. Select Manage next to hosting plan > Hosting Usage > Reports log. If you are overusing resources, the report will be here. You can also view your resource usage in cPanel under the Resource Usage menu.
Once identified, optimize your site or account performance to prevent exceeding your resource limits in the future.
4. 500 Internal Server Errors can sometimes occur due to a triggered ModSecurity rule. ModSecurity monitors all page requests, filtering out potentially harmful ones that could exploit your website’s vulnerabilities. While it typically blocks malicious activity, it may occasionally misidentify a legitimate request as a threat due to poor website coding, causing errors.
To manage ModSecurity, go to cPanel > ModSecurity. You can disable it by finding your domain name in the list and selecting Off. Keep in mind, this will not impact your subdomains, which will stay protected. You can re-activate it anytime by selecting On.
We recommend caution when using this option. If you think ModSecurity is causing issues with your site, please reach out to our Customer Support before making changes.
The 507 Insufficient Storage error, part of the 50x status code series, indicates problems with your database or file system. It can be caused by:
Outdated plugins or themes on your WordPress site.
Limited server resources, such as insufficient disk space.
RAM constraints
To resolve this issue:
Make sure all plugins and themes on your website are up-to-date.
Optimize your databases and check for sufficient disk space to accommodate temporary files.
This error means your website has exceeded its LVE (Lightweight Virtual Environment) resource limits. To check if your account is hitting its limits, go to your Spaceship account's Hosting Manager, select Manage next to your hosting plan, then navigate to Hosting Usage > Reports Log. If there's overuse, you'll see the details here. You can also view your resource usage in cPanel under the Resource Usage menu.
If you've recently made site updates, added new plugins or themes, or experienced a traffic spike, consider optimizing your website. For more guidance or a detailed investigation, please contact our Customer Support team for assistance.
A 404 error usually happens when content has been deleted or moved to a different URL. Common causes include:
The URL or its content was removed or relocated without updating internal links.
The URL was typed or linked incorrectly.
The domain name doesn’t exist.
Problems with the .htaccess file, such as missing default WordPress rules or issues in systems like Laravel.
In rare cases, ModSecurity could also be the cause.
1. Replace incorrect links with working ones.
2. Remove all links pointing to 404 pages and consider deindexing broken pages from search engines. Use tools like Google’s URL removal tool to permanently deindex these pages. Find out more in this deindexing guide.
3. Update your WordPress site's permalinks by going to Settings > Permalinks in the WordPress dashboard and select Save Changes (saving is sufficient, modifying is not needed).
A 403 Forbidden error may be caused by:
Incorrect file/folder permissions
Denied rules in the .htaccess file
Suspicious activity detected by ModSecurity, which could block access.
Temporary block of the /xmlrpc.php file.
Block due to phishing or malware concerns. Contact Customer Support to check if a block was applied.
Error 403 Forbidden Request forbidden by administrative rules indicates that the request was blocked by a security service on our server. If you encounter this error on your website, contact Customer Support for further investigation and assistance.
This error indicates that the server cannot process the request due to a client-side issue. Common causes include:
URL string syntax error
Corrupted browser cache and cookies
DNS Lookup cache issues
File size exceeding server limits
Conflicts with browser extensions
To resolve this issue:
1. Make sure that the domain name and URL are typed correctly. Ensure any special characters are properly encoded and are valid URL characters. For long URLs, consider using an online URL encoder/decoder to check for illegal characters.
2. Clear the cache in your browser.
3. If you’re uploading a file and encountering this error, it may be because the file size exceeds the server limit. Try uploading a smaller file, and if this works, reduce the size of the original file, then upload it again.
4. Clear your DNS cache.
5. Disable browser extensions that affect cookies or interfere with website functionality. Temporarily turning off these extensions will demonstrate if this is causing an issue.
If your website isn't accessible in certain browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.), try using tools like DNS Checker or proxy services:
If your website works in some browsers but not others, it could be due to a browser cache issue. Try clearing the cache in your browser and accessing the site again.
If your website loads in online proxies but not in your browser, it may be due to DNS propagation delays. This process, which can take 24-48 hours, updates DNS caches globally after changes to your domain’s DNS zone. Unfortunately, this process can't be sped up.
While waiting, you can clear your computer’s DNS cache and browser cache. To bypass DNS propagation, you can also edit your local hosts file. This file lets you manually associate domain names with IP addresses, allowing you to preview your website on a new server before DNS changes take effect. By adding specific entries to your hosts file, you can view your website using its domain name, directing your computer to resolve it to a specific IP address and bypassing the usual DNS lookup. This is helpful when you want to work on your website hosted on a new server, while others still access the live site on the old server.
If the website still doesn’t work across different browsers, proxies, or devices, verify that your domain is correctly pointed to the server. If DNS propagation is complete and your domain is configured correctly, there could be global issues with your hosting server, such as scheduled maintenance or technical problems.
Website downtime can be frustrating, but understanding common error messages and their causes can help you quickly identify and resolve issues. Whether it's a 404 error due to broken links, a 500 Internal Server Error from faulty .htaccess directives, or resource limits causing a 508 error, this guide provides actionable steps to troubleshoot and fix these problems. Always keep your plugins, themes, and software up-to-date, monitor your server resources, and use the tools available in your hosting account to maintain your site’s performance. For more complex issues or if you need additional help, don't hesitate to contact Customer Support for assistance.