Why Is My Website Down? How to Check and Fix It

If your website is down, the cause is usually one of a few common issues: a local caching problem, a resource limit on shared hosting, a WordPress database error, or a DNS or SSL issue. Most of these can be checked and often fixed without contacting support. This article walks through how to tell if the problem is on your end or on the server, and what to do next.

Step 1: Check if the problem is local to your device

First, check your device and internet connection, as the problem is often caused by cached data. Devices store some website data locally to speed up loading, but outdated or incorrect files can make your site appear broken even when it's working properly.

To rule out cache issues, try these steps:

• Open your site in an incognito/private window or a different browser.
• Test on another device or network, e.g. use mobile data instead of Wi-Fi.
• Use a proxy site like kproxy.com or proxysite.site.
• Check your site from other locations using GeoPeeker.
• Restart your modem/router.

If your website works with any of these methods, the issue is local to your device. To fix it, start by clearing your browser cache. If the problem continues, try flushing your DNS or switching to Google Public DNS.

Step 2: Check the exact error message

If the site is down on every device and network, the error message shown in the browser usually points to the cause. Common ones include:

• "508 Resource Limit Is Reached" – the site has used up its allowed server resources.
• "Error establishing a database connection" – a WordPress site cannot reach its database.
• A browser security warning about the certificate – usually an expired or misconfigured SSL certificate.
• "This site can't be reached" or a DNS error – the domain isn't pointing to the right server, or a recent DNS change hasn't finished propagating.
• A blank white screen – often caused by a fatal PHP error after a plugin, theme or core update.
• 500 Internal Server Error – often caused by incorrect file/folder permissions or a corrupted .htaccess file.

508 Resource Limit Is Reached

Shared hosting accounts run inside CloudLinux, which isolates each website using a system called LVE (Lightweight Virtualized Environment). Each account is given a limit on how many visitors it can serve at the same time, plus limits on CPU, memory and I/O. If a site tries to go over one of these limits, CloudLinux blocks the extra connections and shows a 508 error instead of letting the whole server slow down.

This error only affects the one account that hit its limit — it does not mean the server itself is down. Common causes include a sudden traffic spike, a denial-of-service style attack, or repeated automated requests to login pages (on WordPress sites this is often aimed at wp-login.php or xmlrpc.php).

To check which resource is being hit:

• In cPanel, go to Logs > Resource Usage to see which limit (processes, CPU, memory or I/O) is being reached.
• Check the site's access log for a burst of requests from the same IP address or user agent, which can indicate an attack or bot activity.

If the account is regularly hitting its process or memory limit under normal traffic, contact Hostking support so the resource usage can be reviewed.

Error establishing a database connection (WordPress)

This error means WordPress cannot communicate with its MySQL database, so both the front end and the admin area become inaccessible. Your content is not lost — it is still stored in the database, WordPress simply can't reach it.

Common causes:

• Incorrect database credentials, especially after moving the site to a new host or restoring a backup. WordPress stores these credentials in the wp-config.php file.
• A corrupted database, caused by a faulty plugin, a server crash, or an update that didn't complete.
• The database server being temporarily unresponsive or overloaded.
• A sudden spike in traffic overwhelming the server, which is more likely on shared hosting.

How to check it:

1. Back up your site first before making any changes, even if you feel confident about the fix.
2. In cPanel, go to MySQL Databases and confirm that a database exists with the exact name specified in wp-config.php.
3. Confirm the database username in wp-config.php matches an existing MySQL user, and that its password is correct.
4. Check that this user has full privileges on the database.
5. If the credentials all match, try opening phpMyAdmin from your client area. If phpMyAdmin also cannot connect, the problem is on the server side and you'll need to raise a support request.

Step 3: Check your site's error logs

Error logs record the exact error behind a 500 error, a white screen, or other server-side faults, and are the fastest way to identify what's actually wrong.

cPanel

• Go to Metrics > Errors to see the last 300 errors recorded for your site, which is useful for spotting broken links or missing files.
• For PHP-specific errors, open Select PHP Version under Software, then edit php.ini and check that both display_errors and log_errors are set to On.
• You can also open the raw log directly: in File Manager, go to the public_html folder and open the error_log file.

DirectAdmin

• Log in to DirectAdmin and go to Error Logs (or Site Logs). Choose Error Log for web server errors or Access Log to see all visitor requests.
• Logs are also stored per domain at /domains/yourdomain.com/logs/, with error.log and access.log as separate files.
• These logs typically reveal PHP errors and warnings, web server errors, access problems (403, 404, 500) and database connection issues.

Step 4: Check for other common causes

• Domain or DNS issue – confirm your domain's nameservers are set correctly in the client area. A recent DNS change can take time to propagate fully.
• Expired or misconfigured SSL certificate – if visitors see a browser security warning rather than a "site not found" message, check the certificate's expiry date and renew or reissue it if needed.
• Account suspension – check your email address on file and the client area for any suspension notice related to resource use, billing or a security issue.
• Recent plugin, theme or core update – if the site broke right after an update, try disabling the most recently changed plugin or theme.
• File or folder permission changes – if you recently used FTP to upload files, incorrect permissions can cause a 500 error.
• Corrupted .htaccess file – rename or temporarily remove this file to see if the site loads again.
• Malware detection – Hostking's security systems can isolate an account automatically if malware is found; check for a related notice in your email or client area.

Step 5: Check the status page and contact support

If the issue persists across multiple devices and networks and none of the above explains it, visit our Status Page to check for ongoing server maintenance or a known outage.

If the status page shows no issue, contact Hostking via live chat on the website or by opening a support ticket from the client area. Include the exact error message, when it started, and any troubleshooting steps you've already tried — this helps support diagnose server-side causes such as resource limits or database faults more quickly.