How to Resolve a 500 Internal Server Error
A 500 Internal Server Error—commonly known as a generic server error—means something went wrong on the server, but it couldn’t provide specific details about the issue. It's a broad error message indicating that the server encountered an unexpected condition and couldn’t complete the request.
There are a number of common causes for a 500 Internal Server Error to display in a web browser. Here are some possibilities.
Permissions Errors
In many cases, a 500 error occurs due to incorrect file or folder permissions—especially on PHP or CGI scripts. Fortunately, this is often easy to fix. Make sure the permissions are set to 0775, which is typically the correct configuration.
Syntax or Coding Errors in Your CGI/Perl Script
This error occurs when a CGI script fails or shows an error message before it can generate valid HTML—often due to a syntax error in a Perl CGI script.
To help avoid this, follow these best practices when working with CGI scripts:
- Use a plain text editor. Avoid using Microsoft Word or similar programs, as they do not save files in pure ASCII format. Instead, use a plain text editor like Notepad.
- Upload scripts in ASCII mode. When transferring your CGI scripts to the server, ensure they are uploaded in ASCII mode and placed in the cgi-bin directory.
- Set correct file permissions. CGI script files and directories should have permissions set to 755. If you're using an FTP client, you can usually set this by right-clicking the file and selecting "Change File Attributes" or similar.
- Verify Perl module support. Ensure all required Perl modules used in your script are supported and installed on the server.
Error With an .htaccess File
If your site uses an .htaccess file, it could be interfering with how your pages load. Even a small syntax error in the file can trigger a 500 Internal Server Error, preventing your website from displaying properly. Be sure to carefully review your .htaccess configuration for any mistakes.
Solutions to Fix 500 Internal Server Error
A 500 Internal Server Error typically indicates a problem on the server side—meaning the issue isn't with your computer, but with the website's hosting server.
However, there’s a small chance the error could be related to something on your end. Here are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:
- Reload the web page. Sometimes, it only takes a page refresh to fix 500 internal server error. You can do that by selecting the refresh/reload button, pressing F5 or Ctrl+R on your keyboard, or re-enter the URL again from the address bar. Even if the 500 Internal Server Error is a problem on the webserver, the issue might just be temporary. Trying the page again will often be successful.
- Clear your browser's cache. If there's a problem with the cached version of the page you're viewing, it could be causing HTTP 500 issues.
- Delete your browser's cookies. 500 Internal Server Error issues can be corrected by deleting the cookies associated with the site you're getting the error on.
- Contact the website admin directly. Reaching out to the website administrators helps both you and them, and everyone else visiting the web page.
If none of these steps resolve the issue and you're still encountering a 500 Internal Server Error, feel free to contact us for further assistance — we're here to help!