Website down? What to check first
When your website won't load, first check whether it's down for everyone or just for you, then read the error message: it usually points straight to the cause. The common causes are an expired domain, a DNS change, a hosting problem, or a broken plugin or update.
Is it down for everyone?
- Open the site on your phone with Wi-Fi turned off, so it uses mobile data.
- Try a private (incognito) window on your computer.
- Ask someone elsewhere to try it.
If it loads everywhere except your own network or computer, the site is fine. Restart your router, or see Fix WordPress changes not showing on your site for clearing your browser's saved copy.
What the error message means
| What you see | Likely cause | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| "This site can't be reached", "DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN", or "server IP address could not be found" | The domain expired, or its DNS records changed or were deleted | Your domain registrar |
| "Your connection is not private" or a certificate error | The SSL certificate expired or doesn't cover this address | Fix the "Not secure" warning |
| "There has been a critical error on this website" | A PHP error, usually from a plugin, theme, or update | Fix "There has been a critical error" |
| "Error establishing a database connection" | The database server is down or its login changed | Your host |
| 500, 502, 503, or 504 error | The server is overloaded, misconfigured, or down | Your host's status page and support |
| A host's "account suspended" page | Unpaid bill, too much resource use, or malware | Your hosting account |
| Your home page works but other pages show "not found" | Permalinks need refreshing | Fix 404 errors by refreshing permalinks |
| Strange pages, redirects, or a "Deceptive site ahead" warning | The site may have been hacked | My WordPress site was hacked |
Check the domain
Look up your domain at ICANN Lookup to see its expiry date and which registrar holds it. If it has expired, renew it at that registrar straight away: most registrars hold an expired domain for a short grace period before anyone else can register it. After renewing, the site can take a few hours to come back.
Check the hosting account
Sign in to your hosting dashboard. Look for a suspension notice, an expired card, or a status page reporting an outage.
Think about what changed
Sites rarely break on their own. Did anything change in the last day or two?
- A plugin, theme, or WordPress update
- A DNS change, a domain transfer, or a new email provider
- A move to a new host or server
Undoing that change, or asking whoever made it, is often the fastest fix.
If your site runs on Dirigible
While Dirigible updates the theme or a plugin, a visitor who arrives at that moment can see "This site is updating. Please refresh in a minute." That's expected and lasts seconds. If it's still there after a few minutes, treat it like any other error.
If you've checked the domain and hosting and the site is still down, or it keeps going down, contact your host or web team with the error message and the time it started: those two details shorten the fix a lot.