404 & 500 Errors – Why They Occur?

To begin with, error 404 and 500 occur only when you are trying to work online. Error 404 pops up when your Internet browser assumes that you have committed some mistake, such as entered a wrong URL and as a result the browser could not find the page. It could also occur if the page is no more there. Even though in this case it is none of your fault, but since the browser is a type of program that is installed on your computer, HTML Error 404 will be considered as an error at your end – a Local Error. Error 500, on the other hand, occurs or rather pops up, when the server you are trying to connect to is not functioning properly and so it is known as Server Side Error. Meanwhile, we might as well get a bit more familiar with Internet Browsers and Servers to better understand how Internet communication actually works.

Internet Browsers and Servers

When you sit down at the computer to work online, you open Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or maybe Google Chrome. These, incidentally, are Web Browsers, i.e., programs created for translating digital information and displaying the same in the form of text, images, etc – to be precise, Web Pages.

However, after opening your browser, you are likely to type in an ‘URL’ which is short for universal resource locater, such as www.google.com. But perhaps you haven’t observed the ‘communicative technique’ of the World Wide Web which communicates data through HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) as also how it works.  For instance, if you type in the URL (as above), your browser would promptly correct it from www.google.com to http://www.google.com In other words, it would tell you that it has translated your order into converting what you know as a name in English language to a pre-set numerical designation that your Internet Service Provider will be able to identify or recognize.

So, what really happens is that as you type in the URL, it is translated to HTTP by Firefox or good old Internet Explorer. The entreaty thereafter is routed to Google’s servers while they send back the data you have asked for. In other words, your Browser receives the information and turns it into something you will be able to recognize – displaying the page you wanted. However, when something goes out of gear in relation to the flow of information, you get Web Errors.

Error 404 – Causes and Remedies

When something goes wrong with the URL you have typed in, the message does not go through the right way. This could be due to some of the following reasons:

• You have wrongly spelled the website’s name or have encountered an error while entering it.

• You spelled it alright, but the web page is no more there; its server is not running.

• You spelled it correctly, but some malware has disrupted the communication protocol.

In order to get rid of the Error 404, we might as well see what was wrong with the URL that you had entered, though usually no fault on your part would be found. However, let us see what happens when you have typed in:

www.examplewebsite.com/teachablemoment.htm.The screen promptly displays some variation of “404” with the following remarks:

• File Not Found
• Directory Not Found
• Webpage Not Found

And now the remedy:

• Check the spelling as also the make sure that you have typed in the full web address and then try again.If you get the error message once again, reload the page by clicking on the refresh button. Alternatively, you can type CTRL+R when the browser is open.
• Search for the page that you want directly in a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or Bing. Also, type in only the relevant part, that is “examplewebsite + teachable moment”, instead of the full URL. In this case, Google or Bing is likely to do the hard work for you by showing the correct pathway to click on.
• Cut short the URL to locate the problem. For instance: http://www.examplewebsite.com/teachablemoment.htm could be shortened to
  http://www.examplewebsite.com, cutting off the text after the slash /.When this technique will work well, you are likely to find yourself on the website’s main page. This will give you the opportunity to look for a search option or check the site to find a link (or a pathway) to the page you are looking for, which in this case is teachablemoment.htm. But then, perhaps the information you are after was moved while none cared to let users know about it! 
• Clear your Internet cache if you are still assailed by that blasted “404” error message. However, to clear cache, go to Start >> Control Panel and then select Internet Options. On the General Tab of the Internet Options menu, click on Delete under the message about deleting temporary files. Then hit OK to exit the menu.
• If everything fails, try to contact the site owner. First of all, try the URL once again; maybe clearing the cache will help. If it doesn’t, it is a clear case of downed server, where the only option lies in using old-fashioned communication. Try emailing the webmaster of the site to see if you can get help finding the right page. Usually something like webmaster@examplewebsite.com or support@examplewebsite.com will reach the webmaster if that is the site you’re trying to access.

Error 500 – Causes and Remedies

Error 500 is a server side error that is manifest in some of the following forms

• Server error
• Internal Sever Error
• HTTP Error 500

Nevertheless, they all boil down to the same issue – the server you are trying to reach is not functioning correctly. However, getting a server error may mean two things – good and bad. The good part of it is that it is not due to your fault, while the bad part is that the problem is difficult to locate. However, here are a few tips that may work for you.

•  Refresh the webpage. Perhaps it was just a snag and so refreshing the page will solve the problem.

• Try again a little later. Maybe the webmaster will fix the issue if there was a minor fault that may take some time.

• Try to contact the site owner. The owner most likely knows about the problem. Also, try the webmaster@examplewebsite.com , or you can look for more detailed search engine on working pages of the website or through a WHOIS search on this site. WHOIS is a service run by several web hosts, dedicated to providing physical contact information for websites.  Just search for the URL or website address of the site you’re trying to reach. You may find a phone number or email address.