Most common online errors and how to solve them

Most online errors are accompanied by an HTTP status code. Commonly, you’ll see a 4XX or 5XX error: a 4 or 5 followed by two additional digits, like 404.

Both 4XX and 5XX are errors, but they have a significant difference. 4XX errors are client errors while 5XX are server errors. If you see a 4XX error, it is likely to be something that you can fix.

The 5XX errors are server errors, which means that you did not do anything wrong, but the server you are trying to access has problems. Regardless of the error, you can perform some steps that might help solve the problem.

Below are the most common online errors and also mentioned a couple of useful solutions for each error. You can not solve all errors online; some occur on the server and there is not much you can do for them. However, it does not hurt to try.

400 Bad Request Error

Whenever you open a website by typing a URL or clicking on a link, your browser initiates a request and sends it to the server of the website you are trying to access. Error 400 occurs when the server is unable to understand the request. This can happen if the request itself is corrupt, but more often it is due to something as simple as requesting a URL that does not exist.

Here are some ways you might be able to solve the problem:

Refresh the page: pressing F5 refreshes the page in most browsers. If the problem is a corrupt request, sometimes the request can be postponed.
Verify the URL: Sometimes an incorrectly typed URL can cause an invalid 400 request error instead of a 404 not found error.
Searching the page on the site: It is possible that you or the site you clicked from has an incorrect URL, but that the page exists somewhere on the site. Try searching the article’s title on the site.
Clear cookies and browser cache: sometimes servers return 400 errors because they are trying to read cookies on your computer that are corrupt or obsolete. Clear the cache and cookies can help.

403 Forbidden

A 403 error occurs when you try to access a page or resource that you do not have permission to access. Most of the time, there is not much you can do to solve the problem. Or you do not have access to this resource on purpose, or you do not have access because someone has made a mistake in configuring permissions on the site.

However, there are some things you can try:

Refresh the page: pressing F5 refreshes the page in most browsers.
Check the URL: at times a bad typed URL may cause an error 403. Make sure that the URL leads to a page, not a directory. Most websites restrict access to their folders for security reasons and this could be the reason for the 403 error.
Verify your permissions: some websites restrict access to their content only to registered users or to users who have a certain level of access. If you are not logged in or do not have permission, you will probably see a 403 error.

404 Not Found

The 404 error not found is the most common that you will see online. It means that the server could not find the resource you were looking for. In most cases, you will receive a 404 error because the URL you typed or clicked in your browser does not exist on the server.

Here’s what you can try:

Refresh the page: pressing F5 refreshes the page in most browsers. It usually does not help with a 404 error, but it only takes a second to try it.
Double-check the URL: if you mistyped them or a webpage has an incorrect link, they are the most common cause of 404 errors.
Searching the page on the site: It is possible that the site you clicked from has an incorrect URL, but that the page exists somewhere on the site. Try searching the article’s title on the site.

500 Internal Server Error

If you see an internal 500 Error Internal Server error on a website, it usually means that there is something wrong with the website. This also means that it is not a problem with your computer, browser or internet connection.

Similar to other problems we’ve discussed, there are only a few things you can try to solve the problem:

Refresh the page: pressing F5 refreshes the page in most browsers. It usually does not help with a 500 error, but it only takes a second to try.
Try again later: server problems are often temporary. Try visiting the page again later in the day.
Contact the site: if the problem persists, try to contact the site and inform it about what is happening.

502 Bad Gateway Error

The Bad Gateway 502 error means that the server you are visiting has tried to retrieve some information from another server but has received a negative response. Although the error 502 is not directly related to your computer, there are some things you can try:

Refresh the page: pressing F5 refreshes the page in most browsers. It usually does not help with a 502 error, but it only takes a second to try it.
Check if it’s down to other people: visit a site like isitdownrightnow.com or downforeveryoneorjustme.com to see if other people have trouble accessing the site.
Try again later: server problems are often temporary. Try visiting the page again later in the day.
Clear cookies and browser cache: sometimes (though rarely), the servers return 502 errors because the browser has cached obsolete or corrupted files. Clear the cache and cookies can help.

503 Service Unavailable Error

A 503 Service Unavailable Error indicates that the server is unable to handle the request. The error may appear for many reasons, but the most common reason is that the server is overwhelmed by requests. Similar to the other 5XX errors, the 503 error also occurs on the server.