SMF Server suddenly times out for some members, cannot log on

[spitfire80]

Hello, Just wanted to post this query here to see if others have experienced this same issue. Our forum is version 1.1.21

Recently a number of members, myself included (and I am an Admin), would have try to post to a thread or create a new topic, and get a screen that indicated a 500 server error. But after refreshing this page to try a 2nd or 3rd attempt to post, suddenly the page would hang, until finally a message window appears, saying that the "the server is taking too long to respond. It may be busy, check the url" etc.

The thing is, this time out issue is ONLY for our SMF forum url. Any other website, email sites, etc are all able to be logged on to.

I have one member now who has been trying to log on, for almost a week without success. He in unable and has the same time out issue happen.

Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, is there a reason, a fix known, or something else he (and others that have also had this happen) can do, to correct this?

Thanks much!!!

[Kindred]

500 errors are server side errors

your best bet would be to talk with your host -- if nothing else, they should be able to tell you what is triggering the 500 error, based on the server logs.

[spitfire80]

500 errors are server side errors

your best bet would be to talk with your host -- if nothing else, they should be able to tell you what is triggering the 500 error, based on the server logs.

Thanks for the quick reply. Can i ask.. as i dont know the term. What are server "side errors?"

best again.

[Illori]

they are errors caused by something on the server. something that you have little to no control over unless you have full access to the server.

[spitfire80]

Thank you.

There have also been "400 error" messages that many members have gotten, when trying to post a simple text response. Is this also due to one of these side server errors?

[Kindred]

the term is server-side (sorry, I added a space) - meaning that the error happens on the server side of things, not the script side or the browser side....

400 is a "bad request" and it probably caused by something similar to the 500 (they seem to be related in several pieces of documentation)

So yes...   your host would be the best one to help -- at least to determine the cause.

Given your description, however, I suspect that you have an overseller host...

[spitfire80]

I will need to ask to forum co-owners the server name and password, it sounds like, in order to look at the log and see what might be going on. I was asked to be an Admin but did not set our forum up initially, so dont have that information. Thanks again.

And one last question .. or rather, to define a term. What is an "overseller host?"

[spitfire80]

And as another side note, this log in problem has only happened to a very few members. The vast majority (98-99%) have not had any issue at all.

[Kindred]

overseller ----   http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=117303.0

[spitfire80]

overseller ----   http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=117303.0

thanks again. I will check out what server company out site is hosted on.

And i appreciate the info, too, so far, that has been posted.