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Windows
Tips &Tricks
ERROR - ERROR & Other Terrors
This month I thought we would explore some common errors
and what to do about them when you get one. One thing to remember about most of
your online errors is that they are not fatal, they are merely a means of
letting you know that for some reason the page or destination you requested is
unreachable at the moment. Retrying the link or address a second time will
usually bring the document or site up.
- "Unable to Connect with Server"
- This error could be due to any one of several different things. The
server could have simply lost your request in which case you could
simply try connecting again, many times this will take you directly
where you wanted to go.
- The DNS database may be old, (DNS databases
are maintained by each ISP, at the point where you log in. These
should be refreshed daily, however some ISP's choose to update only
once or twice a week). This should only affect sites that are
new or recently moved.
- The server you are trying to contact may be offline for maintenance
or repairs, in which case all you can do is to try again at a later
time.
- HTTP: 400 - Bad Request
- Usually caused by an invalid URL or a non-existent site name. You
may have typed the name or another part of the path incorrectly. Try
retyping the address again being careful to check the spelling and
the full path to the document you want.
- HTTP: 401 - UNAUTHORIZED
- This error is caused by accessing a site that 1) either has no
default document, 2) requires a username and password, or you
attempted entry into a secured server without using a secure
protocol, (for example - you may have typed http:\\www.whatever.htm
instead of the required https:\\www.whatever.htm
- notice the "s" in the second example, the "s"
tells the server that you are requesting a secure connection and
that your browser is in a secure mode, therefore the server must use
the secure protocol)
- HTTP: 402 - PAYMENT REQUIRED
- This is a throwback to the days of the BBS, where you were required
to pay subscription fees for the use of the service. Today the vast
majority of these type errors come from adult oriented sites, and a
few other subscription based web sites. Basically it is telling you
that you need to go to the main or home page of the affected site
and either 1) apply for access and establish an account for billing,
or 2) your account has been closed or held for some reason, you will
need to contact the administrator or billing department for the site
to determine your account status.
- HTTP: 404 - File Not Found.
Sorry, the file you have requested cannot be found on any of our servers.
Please check the file name and try again.
- This could be caused by a bad path, improper spelling or the file
itself may not exist.
- If you got this error from a bookmark or a favorites link, then the
file has been either moved, renamed or deleted.
- If you get this error trying to access a page within a site from a
link within that site, then the navigational structure has an error.
Please notify the webmaster of the affected site, he/she may not
even know that the error exists.
In all cases, when you get an error on the first attempt
to access a page or site, always go back one page and try again. Some errors are
caused simply by the amount of traffic on the network at the time of your
request. With millions of information packets flowing around the net at any
given time, it is inconceivable that all would be error free.
For further information or to answer other questions log
into the Webopedia - The online
encyclopedia of the internet.
DNS - Directory Name Server, The server that maintains the
directory of site names translated to the actual port numbers where that site is
located. For example, our DNS would translate www.ovayonda.com to
65.254.76.83


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Last Revised:
August 31, 2015 02:48 AM. |