B
elow are a list of the most common and some uncommon error messages with definitions included. As we find more, we constantly update this list. We also have all the error messages in a convenient ZIP file in a notepad version if you would like to have them.
[ Error Messages In ZIP Format 5.10K Download ]
Three Rules Of Thumb
1) If you get a message saying the domain name server (DNS) can't find your page and you're sure you've typed it in correctly or clicked on a valid link, try it again - TWO more times! (Sometimes packets don't get there!)
2) If you get a "Not found" message, the page may be temporarily missing because of miscoding at the target site. Try it again tomorrow...or try the home page for the site and send e-mail asking them to restore the page.
3) Be aware that sometimes a page you've visited recently may be coming from your cache (or the cache on a proxy server within your company). To get the "fresh" version of the page, click on "Reload" in your tool bar.
400 Bad File Request: Usually means the syntax used in the url is incorrect (e.g. uppercase letter should be lowercase letter; wrong punctuation marks).
HTTP 400 Error: This error indicates insufficient memory due to one or more of the following:
1) Not enough physical Random Access Memory (RAM).
2) Insufficient free space on your hard disk drive.
3) Not enough virtual memory.
4) Invalid or no Temp directory.
Error 401 Unauthorized: Server is looking for some encryption key from the client and is not getting it. Also, wrong password may have been entered. Try it again, paying close attention to case sensitivity.
Error 402 Payment Required: This is intended to return acceptable payment options. Not presently used.
403 Forbidden/Access Denied: Similar to 401, special permission needed to access the site -- a password and/or username if it is a registration issue. Other times you may not have the proper permissions set up on the server.
Error 404 File Not Found: Server cannot find the file you requested. File has either been moved or deleted, or you entered the wrong url or document name. Look at the url. If a word looks misspelled, then correct it and try it again. If that doesn't work backtrack by deleting information between each backslash, until you come to a page on that site that isn't a 404. From there you may be able to find the page you're looking for.
Error 405 Method Not Allowed: When you open or publish a Web in Microsoft FrontPage 2000, you may receive the following error message:
"The server could not complete your request. Contact your Internet Service provider or Web server administrator to make sure that the server has the FrontPage Server Extensions installed".
Error 406 Run Time Error: Non-modal forms cannot be displayed in this host application from an ActiveX DLL, ActiveX Control, or Property Page. This message appears only when the compiled EXE is used. If the client application is run from the Visual Basic IDE, the problem does not manifest itself. The problem may also be detected as a changing App.NonModalAllowed property in the client EXE project.
Error 407 Proxy Authentication Required: This error is returned when you try to access a Web site through a proxy server that has access control turned on while using Basic Authentication.
*) The Web Proxy, through a 407 HTTP response, requests credentials from the browser client (or downstream Proxy Server). The client provides the credentials, or in the case of a downstream Web proxy, the proxy server may provide the credentials itself.
*) If the credentials used by the client or by the downstream proxy server are not allowed by the upstream proxy server, this error will be displayed.
RESOLUTION: This can be resolved by passing the correct credentials to the proxy server. Contact the administrator of the proxy server and verify that the account has permission to use the proxy server.
408 Request Timeout: Client stopped the request before the server finished retrieving it. A user will either hit the stop button, close the browser, or click on a link before the page loads. Usually occurs when servers are slow or file sizes are large.
408 In The Access Log File: Access to httpd fails from clients other than the local machines.
Error 409 Conflict: this error appears when the personal website has exceeded the maximum bandwith allocated.
Error 410 Document Removed: This error is reserved for use by the server administrator to let you know that the resource that you have requested will no longer be available at the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) used. This error should be used in instances where a typical "HTTP 404 - Page Not Found" is not entirely correct because it is known that the resource will never be available at the specified URL again.
Error 411 Length Required: Your client did not define the length of the requested content in the request header.
Error 412 Precondition Failed: The header of the request specified information about acceptable files that is not applicable to the requested file.
Error 413 Request Entity Too Large: The content of the request is more than the server can process. The request may have included a message body, which is not always permissible.
Error 414 Request URL Too Large: Since a POST request allows for an unlimited amount of data to be sent to a server by tagging it on to the request, if the request were converted to a GET request this error could result. Additionally, since a GET request allows for appending of search or form data in the header, the URL created could be longer than acceptable.
Error 415 Unsupported Media Type: There may have been an error in the MIME type indicated in the request header, i.e., your browser might have requested an image file, when in fact the requested file is an application.
Error 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable: Your browser, which sends information on acceptable file size as part of its request, may have requested a file that does not fit these parameters. See the HTTP protocol for more information.
Error 417 Expectation Failed: The Expect request-header field is used to indicate that particular server behaviors are required by the client. The server could not execute these expectations.
Error 500 Internal Error: Couldn't retrieve the HTML document because of server-configuration problems. Contact site administrator.
Error 501 Not Implemented: Web server doesn't support a requested feature.
Error 502 Service Temporarily Overloaded: Server congestion; too many connections; high traffic. Keep trying until the page loads.
Error 503 Service Unavailable: Server busy, site may have moved ,or you lost your dial-up Internet connection.
Error 504 Gateway Timeout: The service did not respond within the time frame that the gateway was willing to wait.
Error 505 HTTP Version Not Supported: Your browser may have made a request using HTTP 1.1, whereas the server you made the request to supports only up to HTTP 1.0. This may occur when a proxy server sends along a request with a different version number.
Error 505 Gateway Timeout: The connection between the Web server and the browser has timed out due to server problems Internet problems or browser problems.
Error 550 - xxxxxxxxx is not a known user Using e-mail: You sent a note to an e-mail address that isn't recognized at the mail server you've specified. The e-mail note got all the way to the mail server (so that part's right), but you may have entered the user part of the e-mail address incorrectly or the user may no longer have an account on that server.
Connection Refused by Host: Either you do not have permission to access the site or your password is incorrect.
File Contains No Data: Page is there but is not showing anything. Error occurs in the document. Attributed to bad table formatting, or stripped header information.
Failed DNS Lookup: The Domain Name Server can't translate your domain request into a valid Internet address. Server may be busy or down, or incorrect url was entered.
Host Unavailable: Host server down. Hit reload or go to the site later.
Unable to Locate Host: Host server is down, Internet connection is lost, or url typed incorrectly.
Network Connection Refused by the Server: The Web server is busy.
Unable to Connect to <Web Address>: Means your Web browser cannot get to the Web site you want. There are a variety of reasons why this might happen. The Web address you typed may be incorrect. The Web site may have moved or may no longer exist. The Web server may be shut down or busy. Or there might even be network problems on the Internet.
Too Much Network Traffic: Means that the Web page you are trying to see has too many other people already connected to it. Occasionally, you'll get this message when there's a problem with your cache (temporary files your Web browser keeps to speed things up).
The Requested URL Was Not Found: This is a message that your Web browser will give you if it can't find a Web site to connect to at the address you specified. Depending on your Web browser, the message might read "Cannot open" or "Cannot retrieve" followed by the Web address.
Can't Parse HTTP: Occurs because your Web browser can't figure out the Web address (the URL) you typed. While most browsers allow you to leave off the "http://" before a Web address, some browsers require it.
No Helper Application Defined: Error message means you have run into a file that requires a helper application, and you either don't have the helper application or your Web browser doesn't know where to find it.
Error Message Too Many Connections: Like a busy signal. Try clicking the Refresh/Reload button, or wait a while and try again.
Failed DNS lookup: This common error means that the Domain Name System (the way in which domain names, like earthlink.net, are translated into official Internet addresses, or IP numbers) could not find an IP address for the URL you entered. Hitting Reload/Refresh sometimes resolves this problem; if not, check to see if you entered the correct URL.
Bad File Request: The form or the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) code for an online form has an error. Or in easier terms, "Browser may not support the form or other coding you're trying to access".
This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down: This message just means that your computer got confused. Try emptying your cache or restarting your browser.
Cannot Add Form Submission Result to Bookmark List: The results of a form (such as a WebCrawler search) cannot be saved as a bookmark. A bookmark can only be a document or an address.
HTTP Server at Compressed xxx .com:8080 Replies:HTTP/1.0 500 Error from Proxy: This error is common with proxy servers (a server on a local area network that lets you connect to the Internet without using a modem). The proxy is either down, busy, or cannot interpret the command that was sent to it. You may want to wait for 30 seconds or more then try viewing the page again. If the problem persists, contact the network administrator of that proxy. Whatever is shown instead of xxx .com is usually your Internet service provider.
TCP Error Encountered While Sending Request to Server: This error is caused by erroneous data on the line between you and the requested site. This may be hardware related. Report the error to your network administrator and try again later.
FTP Errors: Because there are many FTP programs available, error messages may vary.
Unable to Connect to <FTP site>: Means your FTP program or Web browser cannot get to the FTP site you want. There are a variety of reasons why this might happen. The FTP site address you typed may be incorrect. The FTP site may have moved or may no longer exist. The FTP server may be shut down or busy. There might even be network problems on the Internet. Or, the FTP server may not be allowing anonymous logins.
Invalid Host or Unable to Resolve This is the FTP equivalent of the Web browser's 404 error. The FTP program cannot find the site requested. This can also be caused by a URL syntax error.
Permission
Denied: This error occurs when you are connected with an FTP site and you are either uploading or downloading. Sometimes the site administrator doesn't want you to upload to the site, download a certain file, or access a certain directory. The site may also be too busy.
Your FTP program connects then suddenly stops responding:
NOTE: This is not an error message. If this occurs shortly after you log on, try using a dash (-) as the first character of your password. This turns off the site's informational messages, which may be causing a conflict with the FTP program.
Too many consecutive transmit errors :
NOTE: This is not an error message. This indicates that line noise has prevented the FTP program from continuing. This could be a hardware problem, the command string sent to your modem may be incorrect, or the modem may not be properly configured.
