The moment we start browsing the Internet we can find various types of errors. Some of these failures are related to network protocols, others have to do with problems with our Internet connection, and we also have them generated directly by the web server we are trying to connect to. For this reason, so that we can act and solve them, the browser returns an error code with which we can deduce the origin of the problem. Sometimes these failures come from the server side and not from our PC or Internet connection. In this tutorial we are going to talk about what Error 500 Internal Server Error is and how we can fix it.
The first thing we are going to know is what is 500 Internal Server Error and the different messages that may appear on the screen. We will also look at its possible causes and show a series of solutions.
What does this “error 500” mean?
The 500 Internal Server Error is part of the errors that begin with the number 5. It should be noted that these types of errors usually occur on the server that hosts the web and that in most situations we have nothing to do.
This fault is a status code that includes various server faults. Therefore, in the first instance we will not know the exact problem that we have. Ultimately, the only information the user receives is that the server reports an unforeseen failure that prevents us from loading that website normally. This would be an example of the 500 Internal Server Error, although web administrators can customize it to their liking if they want:
As for the messages that can appear more frequently indicating that we have a 500 Internal Server Error are:
500 Internal Server error.
- HTTP 500 Internal error.
- HTTP 500 – Internal Server error.
- HTTP Error 500.
- Temporary error (500).
This error is usually generated on websites that have a lot of traffic when a problem has occurred with the server configuration and, although it is not possible to identify the specific cause of it, it is possible to guess what factors can trigger this failure.
Causes of error 500
The 500 Internal Server Error is a failure that will bring together all those unplanned events on the server that cause a website to not display correctly. As we have already mentioned before, the failure occurs due to an internal server error because it has something wrong with its configuration. Some causes that can produce it are:
- An error in assigning the access permissions to the main files and folders required for the database or the web to load.
- Too long timeouts on PHP requests. This can happen when you have a lot of traffic on the page.
- A misconfiguration of the .htaccess file that is causing errors with the URL.
- Website programming errors.
- Scripting issues, such as form errors.
This failure is common, especially on web pages with high traffic where many users are on that site loading different pages at the same time. A good example of this could be YouTube. On many occasions, this 500 error can be solved only at the moment when the server workload is released. When this happens, it returns to normal relatively quickly and there is usually no loss of information.
What can I do to resolve the failure
If a user encounters this error code, there is little you will be able to do, since the problem lies in a faulty server configuration. Here the problem is not in the configuration of our computer nor in that of our Internet connection. In this case, the simplest solution is usually to wait a few minutes to see if the problem is solved.
If it is that the servers have a lot of workload after a more or less short wait, we end up accessing the contents. All we have to do is click on the circular arrow in the address bar or press the F5 key to refresh the web page .
Another thing that we can try is to eliminate the cache together with the cookies of our browser.
In this case we are going to offer you an example with Google Chrome, but in other browsers it is usually done in a very similar way. We are going to start by going to the upper right corner where we will see a button with three vertical dots. Next we will go to Settings , in other browsers it is usually called Settings . Then we go to the Privacy and security section on the left and click on Clear browsing data . Then in the Basic tab we configure like this and press the Clear data button .
At the top in Settings or Configuration of your browser there is generally a search engine that you have indicated with a red box and that has the icon of a magnifying glass. There putting ” cache ” and pressing will take you directly to this option.
On the other hand, if after this you continue to have access problems, you will have to be patient and wait for the server managers to solve the problem.
What should web administrators do
This 500 error, in addition to causing serious annoyance to your users, could have a negative effect on the PageRank of your website, so you have to take it very seriously. The first step we must take is to check if our web server is up and running . In the event that this is not the case, we should immediately contact our web hosting provider.
If it is an internal error, the next thing we are going to do is carefully review the log files . Then we will proceed to review and perform the following actions:
- That the permissions of the important files are correctly defined .
- Perform a check of the .htaccess file as a small syntax error can generate an internal error on the server.
- Review waiting times or timeouts .
- Observe the memory limit , if we do not have enough RAM available it can cause this failure.
As you have seen, the 500 Internal Server Error error is not something that we can solve, but we may need to clear cache or cookies so that when it is available again, we can see the web correctly.
