Why does this site crap out so often? Nearly every time I'm here the site freezes up and I have to log on again. Is this a server problem?

I get a "timed out" error frequently. Probably 25% of the time. Frustrating.

I've only noticed the problem in the last couple days, hopefully Saruman will offer some insight. Traffic hasn't really been that heavy, possibly their is some sort of problem with the provider.

MM

Do you find that it times out all the time or only at certain times of the day ?

I have had this problem at random times. It seems to last only for a minute or two, but I get the error message that the site may be down or the address I am using may be wrong.

As no one else had said anything I had put it down to my ISP, who can be a bit of a pain at times.

It's a bit frustrating as it usually happens when I'm trying to preview a post. Fortunately the data isn't lost with Firefox as sometimes used to happen when I used IE.

The last couple times for me once was early in the evening (I'm in the Central time zone) around 6 - 7pm and the last time was right around midnight. This occurred just in the last 4-5 days.

No problems for me and I am running on a network that can get busy at times.

something wiered also happens to me when I log in. the first time i log in the page seems to refresh but i'm still 'guest', so i have to log in again, and it seems to work...
it's not bothering me much at all...

I've experienced this problem for several weeks now. I've resolved the timed out problem by choosing the 'remember me' option when I sign on.

The problem I have is sometimes when I click on a forum I get a Page Not Found message. Neither refreshing the page nor clicking the link in my favorites helps and I've had to wait nearly half an hour before the site reopens. When this has happened I've clicked on several other sites and they all open up without a problem.

BTW, this mostly happen in the morning from around 8-10 AM MST (my time zone).

9:32pm-9:34pm est here. It always times out and takes forever loading at those times. Never fails...Myself along with someone else noticed it at the same time.

I'm not sure yet what's causing the timeout issues, unfortunately these sort of problems can be notoriously difficult to track down to any specific cause, but I am looking in to it.


I think this will be down to the backup system which runs for about two minutes at the same time every day, due to the load generated by the backup process it can cause the site to slow down and become inaccessable while it's running.


This is likely to be something to do with your browser as oppose to a server issue, it sounds like you are seeing a cached copy of the 'guest' version of the page even though you are actually logged in. Try clearing your temporary internet files, also try refreshing the page when this happens and see if that fixes it.

Cheers saru...

I don' t know if any actions have been taken, but I've not experienced the problem very much, the last few days. There's been times there were delays, and I feared the connection would time out, but then the internet gods kicked in and the connection continued.

7:21 am this morning I received my first timing out since this thread started.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The connection has timed out


The server at www.unexplained-mysteries.com is taking too long to respond.

* The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few
moments.

* If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
connection.

* If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

From the looks of it this is most likely to be a general routing issue rather than a problem with our server.

What this means is that a network or service somewhere between your ISP and our service provider is experiencing problems which are resulting in your inability to access the site. Since this has only recently been an issue and as the number of timeouts appear to be decreasing it looks like the problem is being worked on.


This sounds like a different issue to the one above, are still experiencing this problem ?

This is the problem I have. I last experienced it, albeit for less than a minute, at around 02.30 BST this morning.

I wish to make clear that I'm not complaining, and just how much I appreciate this forum and the dedication and hard work that must enable it to exist!

I experienced this problem yesterday morning (didn't note the exact time).

Like Waspie the page loaded after a couple minutes or so.

I don't think this has been interpreted as a complaint. Pointing out problems such as this is helpful as it alerts Saru to the situation. I wish I had said something sooner.


Sometimes it can last for 5 minutes or longer. I will try and keep a note of problems over the next few days.

Yes, I get that experience myself! I try to open a page then it says "Page Not Found". It often takes UM a bit of time to come back up.

I've just had a "Connection timed out" error which lasted close to 10 minutes. Time 22:35 BST. No other sites that I tried were affected during this time.

This has happened to me as well. This site will be working fine, and then it will freeze up.

I can immediately type in an unrelated website, and I can connect just fine.

Just to let you know, it just now happened to me at 7:47 PM MST and took 14 minutes before the main paged loaded.

FWIW, I was browsing the forum, had spent ten minutes or so, and just experienced timing out for four minutes, just now.

same here, it'll freeze and I get 'can't display this page' messages, lasts a few minutes... other websites work normally

I get the same problem - time out. yet can get into other sites no problem.

I've been looking in to this issue however I still believe the "connection has timed out" error is down to routing/ISP issues and is not actually a problem with our server.

If you find yourself unable to access the site due to a timed out error try the following:

- Open the Windows Command Prompt
- Type "tracert unexplained-mysteries.com"

What this tool does is trace the route from your computer to our server, if there is a routing problem somewhere then the trace will get stuck and be unable to reach us, showing where along the way this is happening. This has to be done from the computer of someone experiencing the timeout problem at that moment in order to produce any results relevant to the problem.

If you get a result doing this please forward it along to me via PM. Thanks.

I've only just been able to access the site after at least 20 minutes of error messages. I will PM the results of the trace to you when I get in from work. If I don't leave now. I'll miss the bus.

Ok thanks Waspie.

From the traceroute Waspie provided it appears that the timeouts are down to a routing issue, the packets aren't reaching our server or even our provider and are instead being dropped in this case by a network called 'NTT'.

Hopefully the cause of this issue will be resolved quickly.

From another forum I inhabit, the board's proprietor posts today:

"Just to let you guys know, the server that hosts BFF was targeted by a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack in the past week, which is why we experienced some very slow load times.

The good news is that the server did withstand the attack and suffered no lasting damage.


I guess someone doesn't like this forum very much."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial-of-service_attack

Interesting two boards with at least a couple similar forums have had issues with slowness/timing out.


BTW, how does one Open the Windows Command Prompt?

A denial of service attack would cripple the server for everyone so I don't think that's what's happening here.

To open the command prompt click the Windows Start button >> Accessories >> Command Prompt

I've noticed It happens with me like clockwork around 8:30 pm (central) and again around 10:00 pm.. ( the timed out error)
This has been a while now.