500 Internal Server error explained

Internet is the buzz word for today's rapidly changing world. Initially, it was a kind of luxury for the rich and famous, but today, it has become a necessity. It has spread like a forest fire from the booming cities in developed countries, to interiors of the third world nations. Isn't it amazing, that you didn't even notice how quickly the cafes in and around your locality, became cyber-cafes. And with the passing of every single day, more and more people are getting hooked to this addiction called Internet.

More and more websites are being developed every second which caters to the needs of billions around the world. All one has to do is think of what he wants, google it, and there you go, thousands of web sites pop up, answering your questions or solving your problems. Web sites are like a global phenomenon, providing answers, services, goods and everything that you have ever desired in your wildest dreams.

However, as the saying goes, "A mind only sees what it wants to see". Similarly, when we browse through this jungle of web sites, we only remember things we want to see, do we ever think about the errors we see? I don't think so. Most of us, I am sure click Back button on the browser window and move on to some other web site that satisfies our itch. With so much of browsing that we do, I am sure we all must have come across this 500 Internal Server error, but what exactly is it.

I personally consider error are like sorrows, they are ugly to look at, but they tell us something, which we ignore in the first place. So what does 500 Internal Server say to us? It says that something has gone wrong on the server-side of that particular web site, but the server could not explain in specific. It tells you that nothing is wrong with your PC, or your internet connection, so you have nothing to worry about.

Normally, the error does not last for a long period of time, because it is a generic message, so at times even refreshing the web page in your browser may resolved the problem. Also, when you are buying something online and going through the checkout process, you might face this error, mainly because of the web traffic on that site. Also, you may experience this error when yur browser fails to process the ASP script in the web site. For this to resolve you can simply turn off the "Friendly HTTP error messages" option on your browser and that should resolve and give you full error messages, rather than this generic 500 internal server error.

No doubt, errors are irritating, but that is because, we don't want to learn about why they happen in first place. Puzzles are always easy when you know the answers, same applies with errors too.



Posted by James on 2009-08-20 in the category " webhosting "