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Troubleshooting

If you are having trouble accessing your website using your browser, here is a step-by-step list which will help discover the problem and find a solution.

1) Ping your website
Try pinging your site. Ping is a program that "bounces" a request off of another computer/server over the internet to see if the remote computer is responding. To ping your site, click Start>Run and enter command. Click OK. Then type ping otherdomain.net (where otherdomain.net is your actual domain). Hit Enter on your keyboard. The results will show 4 attempts to send a packet to your site. If your site is reachable, it will show no lost packets.

2) Try surfing other sites
Try pointing to other sites in your browser. It's entirely possible your ISP is experiencing connectivity problems, in which case the issue is with your Internet connection rather than your site's connectivity.

3) Do a traceroute
Perform a traceroute on your site. A traceroute is a utility which allows you to literally trace your connection to a server/computer. It measures the time it takes to reach each point needed for the connection. There are many online tools which will allow you to perform the traceroute. Alternatively, you can do it yourself. To traceroute your site, click Start>Run and enter command. Click OK. Then type tracert otherdomain.net (where otherdomain.net is your actual domain). Hit Enter on your keyboard. The results will show you the number of hops between your local computer and your site server. It can give you a good indication of any connectivity disruption along the way.

4) Check that your DNS has fully propagated
If you have just recently set up your hosting account with us, your site DNS records may not have fully propagated yet. It generally takes 24-72 hours for all the root servers around the world to update any changes in your DNS records. If you have a name based hosting account, try pointing to http://yourIP/~username using the IP and username provided in your Welcome Email. Assuming you have uploaded your site files to the server properly, you should be able to see your site. If so, it just means you will have to wait a bit longer for DNS to fully propagate.

5) Make sure your nameservers are configured properly
Ensure that you have properly configured your nameservers at your domain register. You can perform a whois online to check the nameserver records attached to your domain. If you registered your domain with us, you can change your nameservers here. If you registered your domain with another register, please click here.

6) Check our blog for announcements
If there is interruption in connectivity on our network, whether it is unexpected or scheduled, we will make an announcement on our blog. We will also keep the information current with frequent updates so that you know what is going on with your site, the server and the network.

7) Open a support ticket
Our helpdesk will be happy to help. Our typical response time is 20-40 minutes.

8) Call us by telephone
If all else fails, call us and we will assist you.
Note: If you have opened a support ticket, please allow adequate time before calling us.