Before attempting to give meaningful solutions on the 500 internal server error, let’s first discuss what is it, what causes it, before finally checking what devs can do to solve such a problem. 

What is the 500 internal server error?

The 500 internal server error is a vague HTTP status code notification that indicates that something has gone wrong on the website’s server, but the server could not be more precise on what the problem is. This means that all visitors loading your website won’t be able to check your content, but will be only greeted by a web page containing a general server error message. This is a huge problem for corporations since in case the developing team doesn’t manage to quickly locate the problem, they will lose customers and therefore money.

What causes the 500 internal server error

The fact that there are myriad potential reasons why your server might send a 500 internal server error message is also one of the main challenges that it poses. As briefly mentioned above, this report neither specifies the exact problem nor suggests any solutions or tools that devs might use. Developers who have access to the error log of the website should consult it to find out more about the nature of the problem. Nevertheless, some of the most common reasons for a 500 internal server error are:

• Corrupted or broken .htaccess file.
• Wrong file and folder permissions.
• Issues with third-party plugins and themes.
• Corrupted WordPress core files.
• Errors in CGI and Perl script.
• Browser Cache.
• Incorrect database login credentials.
• Corrupted database.

Bear in mind that multiple problems can occur at the same time making the advent of solutions much harder.

Solutions to the 500 internal server error

I am sure that every dev reading this article couldn’t wait to reach this point and find out more about the ways he or she can solve the 500 internal server error. Here are some simple steps that developers can make to find solutions for 500 internal server error messages.

Refresh your page

Thanks captain obvious, I hear you screaming, but we must make sure that we have a problem before attempting to solve it. To be sure that it wasn’t just a temporary miss-hup on behalf of the server or the browser, devs must wait a minute and then reload their page. The problem will be solved immediately if the reason behind it is something simple like overloading. If you want to get sure you can also click HERE to get access to a tool that will tell you immediately if your page is down. 

Many devs have also mentioned that sometimes, a brief appearance of the 500 internal error message, can occur immediately after they update a plugin or theme on their WordPress site. What happens is they encounter a brief error right then. Still, things regularly resolve themselves in a couple of seconds, and therefore refreshing is all you have to do.

Clear the browser’s cache

A common source of problems that sometimes produce the 500 internal server error message is the browser’s cache memory. Devs must try and clear the cache to possibly find a solution. Check the following page to find out how you can do that on all browsers. How to clear the browser’s cache memory

Check the logs of your server

Many tools allow you to easily check your errors log and find the exact problem. One of the most commonly used tools of this nature is WordPress. Developers simply have to load the debugging mode to locate and fix any issues producing a 500 internal server error and then find a solution. There are many more tools that developers can use to not only find issues with their servers but also have a deeper understanding of their web pages since some of them even have analytics tools. 

Check your PHP memory status

It is not uncommon for the 500 internal server error issue to be related to a PHP timeout. Devs should consider creating timeout rules or error handling in their script to resolve this issue. Another issue that they could also face is that this memory might have been exhausted leading to an error. To resolve this problem, devs should attempt to increase the limit on the PHP memory. 

Make sure that your .htaccess files don’t have any errors

Sometimes, an error in the coding of a .htaccess file may cause a 500 internal server error that devs must find a solution for. The .htaccess on your webpage might conflict with the website that you are attempting to load. Always make sure to double-check the .htaccess configuration for any potential syntax error that could provide a 500 Internal Server Error. To make sure that this is the source of the problem try to rename, or just remove, the .htaccess file temporarily and then try to reload the page. This process is really simple and thus can save you precious time.

Also, check on Ginbits.com

Contact your web host

Here comes the last possible solution for a 500 internal server error. If anything you tried failed to yield any results, then you should contact your web host and see whether they can find what is causing the error. If you are using a commercial web hosting company their customer support services should be able to provide information on how to fix the error and in many cases, they will apply the fix for you at no cost.

Tags: 500 internal error, cache memory, Developers, Devs, error, how to fix, server problem, solutions, tools