The 500 Internal Server Error is a very general HTTP status code that means something has gone wrong on the website’s server, but the server couldn’t be more specific about what the exact problem is.
Are you the Webmaster? See Fixing 500 Internal Server Error Problems on Your Own Site towards the bottom of the page for better advice if you’re seeing the 500 Internal Server Error on one or more of your own pages.
How can you see a 500 error
The 500 internal server error message can be seen in many ways because each website can customize the message.
Below are several common ways you might see the HTTP 500 error:
500 Internal Server Error
HTTP 500 - Internal Server Error
Temporary error (500)
InternalServerError
HTTP 500 Internal Error
500 errors
HTTP Error 500
500. That's a mistake
Since the website you are visiting generates a 500 internal server error, you may see one in the browser and in and in the operating system (any ), even on your smartphone.
Most of the time, a 500 Internal Server Error is displayed within the Internet browser window, just like web pages.
Cause of HTTP 500 errors
As we mentioned earlier, Internal Server Error messages indicate that something, in general, is wrong.
Most of the time, “wrong” means a problem with the programming of the page or site, but there’s certainly a chance that the problem is on your end, something we’ll look into later.
More specific information about the cause of a particular HTTP 500 error is often provided when it occurs on a server running Microsoft IIS software. Look for numbers after 500 , as in HTTP Error 500.19 – Internal Server Error , which means Invalid Configuration Data .
How to fix internal server error 500
As we mentioned earlier, the 500 Internal Server Error is a server-side error , which means that the problem is probably not with your computer or Internet connection, but with the website’s server.
While not likely, it’s possible there was something wrong on your end, in which case we’ll look at a few things you can try:
- Reload the web page. You can do this by clicking the refresh/load button, pressing F5 or Ctrl + R , or by trying the URL again from the address bar.
Even if the 500 internal server error is a web server problem, the problem may be temporary. Trying the page again will often be successful.
If the 500 internal server error message appears during checkout at an online merchant, be aware that duplicate checkout attempts can end up creating multiple orders and multiple charges. Most traders have automatic protections against this type of action, but it’s still something to be aware of.
- Clear your browser’s cache. If there’s a problem with the cached version of the page you’re viewing, it could be causing HTTP 500 issues.
Internal server errors are not usually caused by cache issues, but I have occasionally seen the error go away after clearing the cache. It’s such an easy and harmless thing to try, so don’t skip it.
- Delete cookies from your browser. About 500 internal server errors can be corrected by deleting the cookies associated with the site on which the error is found.
After deleting the cookie(s), please restart your browser and try again.
- Troubleshooting such as a 504 gateway timeout error instead. It’s not very common, but some servers produce a 500 Internal Server Error when in fact the 504 Gateway Timeout is a more appropriate message based on the cause of the problem.
- Another option is to contact the website directly. There’s a good chance the site administrators already know about the 500 error, but if you suspect they don’t, letting them know helps both you and them (and everyone else).
See our website contact information list article for contact information for the most popular websites. Most of the sites have support based social media accounts and some even have email and phone numbers.
If it looks like the site is completely down and you can’t figure out how to report the 500 internal server error message to the website, it might help your sanity to keep up with the outage on Twitter. You can usually do this by searching for #websitedown on Twitter, such as #gmaildown or #facebookdown.
- Come back later. Unfortunately, at this point, the 500 internal server error is most certainly a problem beyond your control that will eventually be fixed by someone else.
If the 500 internal server error message appears at checkout during an online purchase, it can help to realize that sales are probably being interrupted – usually a great incentive for the online store to fix the problem very quickly!
Even if you’re getting the 500 error on a site that doesn’t sell anything, like YouTube or Twitter, as long as you’ve reported the problem to them, or at least tried, there’s little more you can do than wait for it to be resolved. .
Fixing 500 internal server error issues on your own site
A 500 internal server error on your own website requires a completely different course of action. As we mentioned earlier, most of the 500 errors are server-side errors, which means your problem is likely to be fixed if it’s your website.
There are many reasons why your site may be serving a 500 error to your users, but here are the most common:
- A permissions error. In most cases, a 500 internal server error is caused by incorrect permission on one or more files or folders. In most cases , incorrect permission in a PHP and CGI script is to blame. Typically these should be set to 0755 (-rwxr-xr-x).
- A PHP Timeout. If your script connects to external resources and those resources time out, an HTTP 500 error may occur. Timeout rules, or better error handling in your script, should help if this is the cause of the 500 error.
- An encoding error in .htaccess. Although not as common, be sure to check that your site’s .htaccess file is properly structured.
If you’re running WordPress, Joomla, or another CMS or content management system, be sure to search their support centers for more specific help troubleshooting a 500 internal server error.
If you’re not using a commercially available content management tool, your web host, like InMotion, Dreamhost, 1&1, etc., probably has a 500 error guide that might be more specific to your situation.
More ways to see an internal server error
In Internet Explorer, the message The website cannot display the page often indicates an internal HTTP 500 server error. A 405 Method Not Allowed error is another possibility but you can be sure by looking for either 500 or 405 in the title bar from IE.
When Google services like Gmail or Google+ experience a 500 internal server error, they often report a temporary (500) error , or simply 500 .
When Windows Update reports an internal server error, it appears as a WU_E_PT_HTTP_STATUS_SERVER_ERROR message or as the error code 0x8024401F .
If the website reporting the 500 error is running Microsoft IIS, you might get a more specific error message:
500 Internal server error list Code Explanation An ISAPI or module error 500.0 has occurred. 500.11 The application is shutting down on the web server. 500.12 The application is busy restarting the web server. 500.13 The web server is too busy. 500.15 Direct requests to Global.asax are not allowed. 500.19 The configuration data is invalid. 500.21 Module not recognized. 500.22 An ASP.NET httpModules setting does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode. 500.23 An ASP.NET httpHandlers setting is not applied in Managed Pipeline mode. 500.24 An ASP.NET Impersonation setting does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode. 500.50 A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. An inbound rule configuration or execution error has occurred. 500. 51 A rewrite error occurred during notification handling GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST. A global configuration or global rule execution error has occurred. 500.52 A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification handling. An outbound rule execution has occurred. 500.53 A rewrite error occurred during notification handling RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE. An outbound rule execution error has occurred. The rule is configured to run before the output user cache is updated. 500100 ASP internal error. An outbound rule execution has occurred. 500.53 A rewrite error occurred during notification handling RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE. An outbound rule execution error has occurred. The rule is configured to run before the output user cache is updated. 500100 ASP internal error. An outbound rule execution has occurred. 500.53 A rewrite error occurred during notification handling RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE. An outbound rule execution error has occurred. The rule is configured to run before the output user cache is updated. 500100 ASP internal error.
More information about these IIS-specific codes can be found on Microsoft’s page The HTTP Status Code in IIS 7.0, IIS 7.5, and IIS 8.0.
Errors like the HTTP 500 error
Many browser error messages are similar to the 500 internal server error message because they are all server-side errors, such as 502 Bad Gateway, 503 Service Unavailable, and 504 Gateway Timeout.
There are also many client-side HTTP status codes, such as the popular 404 Not Found error, among others. You can see all of them in our list of HTTP Status Code Errors.
