There are various reasons why this error might occur. But, before we dive into all available solutions, confirm first if the issue is within us to fix, by accessing the page on other devices.
If the other devices have no connection problems, this will indicate that the issue is at our end of the device.
Restart Your Internet Connection
Even if you have a working internet connection, this error can still appear if there’s any type of error with it. Restarting your router or modem can often resolve this issue quickly.
It usually takes about a minute or two, though, most internet service providers (ISPs) will recommend disconnecting your router’s power cable and waiting a full minute before reconnecting it. Once it’s back on, wait for your internet connection to reset, and then try re-accessing the internet.
Check the internet connection if it is working.
Checking the Ping of your connection can measure the time between a “sent request” and a received packet of data. This is used to determine faults in the internet connection, as servers normally close the connection if the requests are lengthy, or take longer to respond than usual.
Use the command prompt for performing this task.
- On Windows, open up the command prompt, and Run as an Administrator.
- Type the following command “ping (web-address)” e.g., ping google.com or ping 8.8.8.8, and press Enter. Wait until the command executes and the response is received.
- If the results do not show an error and display statistics, your internet connection has no issues.
Change IP and DNS settings:
Normally, the setting options are always in default. If you had made deliberate changes or antivirus software has misconfigured it, then you can just revert the changes.
- Right-click on the network icon on the taskbar and then click on Network and internet settings.
- On the Status menu, click on Change adapter settings.
- When the control panel launch, right-click on the network adapter through which you’ve connected to the internet, be it Wi-Fi, LAN, or any active connection available on the list.
- Select Properties sub-menu.
- On the following page, click on Internet protocol (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties, then press OK.
- On the IPv4 properties tab, change the selection to “Obtain an IP automatically” and “Obtain DNS server address automatically” respectfully.
Press the OK button to save the recent changes, then go back and reconnect again to check if the issue is now back to normal.
Flush the DNS Resolver Cache to Re-initialize DNS
Sometimes, the local DNS resolver cache intervenes with its cloud counterpart and makes it difficult for new websites to load. The local database of frequently resolved websites prevents the online cache from storing new data on the computer. Go on and clear the DNS cache to fix the issue.
- Open the Command Prompt and run as an admin.
- Input the “ipconfig /flushdns” command and press Enter.
- If the DNS cache flushed successfully, the message displayed will be: Successfully fetched DNS Resolver cache.
Now reboot your computer and check if the error got fixed.
Run Network Diagnostics
- Right-click on the Wi-Fi button located in the bottom right corner of the desktop.
- Click on the “Troubleshoot problems” options.
- Give it some time as the windows try to internally diagnose the issue.
The Troubleshooter will automatically solve the network problem and shows if the network issue gets solved. Go to the website to confirm if it is back to normal surfing.
Update Network Drivers
In some cases, the network adapters cannot be updated with the direct Windows update process. This will prompt the update to be done manually.
An integrated device manager will help to automatically find the new update for the components and update your network driver easily.
Go to the Windows key options and then press R. The Run window will open up.
- Type in “devmgmt.msc” without the quotation marks and press ENTER to open the Device Manager.
- Click on the Network adapters section to open a sub-menu. Then, right-click on the network adapter driver and select Update Driver.
- Click on Search “automatically for updated driver software“.
- Now, Windows will automatically try to find the suitable and supported software for your device, download, and install it on your computer.
- After the installation is complete, restart your computer and check if the error is still there or solved.
Reinstall the browser
- It could so happen that the problem might be coming from the browser itself. Uninstalling the browser and then reinstalling it from its official download website might prove to be the solution to the issue at hand.
- Before beginning the uninstallation, close all your browser tabs and windows.
- In Windows, go to the Start menu and type Remove program. The Add or Remove program option will pop up. Click on the Open option.
- Now search for the browser you’re using and click on it.
- Using Chrome as an example below, click on the “Uninstall” option.
- Now, go to C:\Users\AppData\Local\Google\ and delete all the files inside that folder.
- Go to the browser’s main site and download the latest version of Google Chrome and install it.
- Finally, restart your computer to take effect, and then try re-visiting that website once again.
Removing Extension From Google Chrome
After re-installing the browser, you might want to restore your previous settings from the backup. This is a good practice, but the pre-installed extensions might be the cause that does interrupt the network connection.
- Open the main menu, then navigate to the Extensions/ Add-ons, depending on the kind of browser you are using.
- Now disable the extension one by one, while checking whether the website is able to open.
- If the website opens, remove that extension causing the issue, and again turn on all the extensions that you had disabled.
Summary
This error can at times be annoying when you are doing critical things on the internet. The good news is that it’s not that difficult to troubleshoot and diagnose the issue. In most cases, the error comes from problems with your internet connection or DNS and caching settings.
Follow the steps above and most likely it will solve in one way or the other. If the error persists, then it is likely that the issue lies in the website’s internal server configuration.
If the issue was with your computer, these methods would likely fix it and get your computer to connect again. The concern is that this error occurs randomly and may be due to the fault of the system or the server or both combined.
Keep in mind that troubleshooting can take some time, but you can always reach out for support from your hosting provider if the issue persists.