A website that suddenly stops loading is stressful, especially when customers are phoning to ask what happened. The good news is that most outages have one of a handful of causes, and you can narrow them down in a few minutes without being a developer. Work through the checks below in order: each one rules out a layer, from your own connection to the domain, DNS, certificate, hosting account and finally the site itself.
1. Is it down for everyone, or just you?
Before anything else, make sure the problem is the website and not your device or network.
- Open the site on your phone with Wi-Fi turned off, so it uses mobile data instead of your office connection.
- Try a different browser, or a private window, to rule out an old cached page or a misbehaving extension.
- Ask someone in another location to try.
If the site works on mobile data but not in the office, the problem is likely your office network, router or a local DNS cache. Restarting the router often fixes it. If it fails everywhere, carry on.
2. Read the error message
The browser's error tells you which layer is failing. Note the exact wording before you start changing things.
| What you see | What it usually means | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| "This site can't be reached" / "Server not found" | The domain name doesn't resolve to a server | Domain expiry, nameservers, DNS records |
| "Your connection is not private" / certificate error | The SSL certificate is missing, expired or for another name | SSL certificate |
| 403 Forbidden | The server is answering but refusing the request | File permissions, a suspended account, security rules |
| 404 Not Found on every page | The server answers but can't find the site's files | Document root, a failed upload or deployment |
| 500 Internal Server Error | The site's code crashed | Error logs, recent changes, plugins |
| 502 / 503 / 504 | The web server can't reach the app behind it, or it is overloaded | App process, deployment, resources |
| A parking page or someone else's site | DNS points somewhere else | DNS records, domain ownership |
3. Check the domain hasn't expired
An expired domain is one of the most common reasons a whole website and its email disappear at the same time. Renewal reminders often go to an old address that nobody reads anymore.
- Log in where you registered the domain and look at its status and expiry date.
- Look in your email for unpaid renewal invoices.
If it has expired, renew it immediately. Most domains have a grace period during which the owner can still renew, but the rules differ per extension. Our guide on what happens when a domain expires explains the stages and how to recover.
4. Check the nameservers and DNS records
If the domain is active but the browser can't find a server, the DNS is the next suspect. Recent changes are the usual cause: a new website, moving email, or someone "tidying up" records.
- Check which nameservers the domain uses. They must point at the DNS provider where your records actually live.
- Check the A record for the bare domain and the A or CNAME record for
www. They must point at your current hosting. - If you changed something recently, allow time for the change to spread. Old answers can stay cached until the record's TTL expires.
What are nameservers and when should you change them and DNS records explained cover how these fit together. If the A record points at an old server, that is probably your outage.
5. Check the SSL certificate
A certificate error stops most visitors as effectively as an outage. Click the warning in the browser to see the certificate's details:
- Expired: the certificate wasn't renewed. Free Let's Encrypt certificates renew automatically only if the domain still points at the server that issued them.
- Wrong name: the certificate covers
example.co.zabut notwww.example.co.za, or the other way round. - Self-signed or unknown issuer: the server is showing a default certificate, often because the site isn't set up for that domain name.
Our guide to fixing a "Not secure" warning goes through each case.
6. Check your hosting account
Log in to your hosting dashboard and look for anything out of the ordinary:
- Unpaid invoices or a suspended service. Hosts suspend services after a renewal goes unpaid. Paying the invoice usually brings the site back.
- Disk full. A full disk can stop a site from writing sessions, caches or uploads, and it may then fail with errors.
- Resource limits. Hitting a memory or CPU limit can make an app slow or make it restart.
- Status notices from your host about maintenance or an incident.
If you can't find a cause, contact your host's support with the details you have collected so far: the exact error, the time it started and anything you changed.
7. Check what changed on the site
When the domain, DNS, certificate and hosting all look fine, the problem is usually in the site itself, and usually linked to a recent change.
WordPress and other CMS sites
- Was a plugin or theme updated just before the outage? Disable the most recent one by renaming its folder.
- Check the PHP error log for the actual error.
- If you can't find it quickly, restore the most recent backup from before the problem began.
Node.js and Next.js apps
- Look at the latest deployment's log. A failed build or a missing environment variable is a frequent cause.
- Check the app's runtime logs for crashes at start-up.
- Roll back to the previous successful deployment to get the site up, then fix the problem calmly.
Our deploy troubleshooting checklist covers the most common build and start-up errors.
Prevent the next outage
Most outages are preventable with a few habits:
- Turn on auto-renew for your domains and keep the account's contact address current.
- Keep a written record of where your domain, DNS, hosting and email are, and who has access.
- Take regular backups you know how to restore. See a website backup strategy that works.
- Use an uptime monitor that checks your site every few minutes and alerts you when it fails.
- Make changes during quiet hours, one at a time, so you know what to undo.
Power cuts are a South African reality too, but they affect your hosting provider's data centre differently from your office. Our article on load shedding and website uptime explains the difference.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my website work on my phone but not on my computer?
Usually because of a cached DNS answer or a network-level block on your office connection. Try the computer on another network, flush its DNS cache or restart the router.
How long does it take for DNS changes to fix my site?
It depends on the TTL of the old record. Many changes are visible within minutes to an hour, but some networks keep old answers for longer.
Will my email stop working if my website is down?
Not necessarily. Email depends on the domain and its MX records, not the website. If the domain has expired, though, both stop.
Who should I contact first?
Whoever controls the layer that is failing: your domain registrar for expiry, your DNS provider for records, and your host for hosting or server errors.
With NewHost, your domains, DNS, SSL and web hosting are in one dashboard, so you can check each layer in one place and our South African support team can help when you get stuck.