Troubleshoot Website Errors: 403, 500, 503 and Wrong Site Over HTTPS

Most site errors have a short list of causes. Start with the symptom you see. In almost every case the error log tells you the exact cause, so open it first.

The site doesn't load at all, or shows the old site

Usually DNS: the domain still points somewhere else, or the change hasn't spread yet.

1. Check where the domain points with a DNS checker such as whatsmydns.net (look up the A record).
2. If it shows the old server's IP, update the DNS (see Point your .cr domain to CR Servers or Manage DNS records).
3. DNS changes can take up to 24–48 hours to reach everyone. Meanwhile, test your site with temporary domain access.
4. Clear your browser cache or try a private window; your computer may remember the old address.

Another website shows up over HTTPS

You open https://yourdomain.com and see a different site, or a certificate warning that names another domain.

Cause: your domain has no SSL certificate yet. Many sites share the same IP address, and when one domain has no certificate, the web server answers with another one that does.

Fix:

1. Issue a certificate for the domain; see SSL and dedicated IP. It only works once the domain points to us.
2. Until it's issued, remove any HTTPS redirect you added, so visitors land on http://.

403 Forbidden

Cause	Fix
Only over https://, and the domain has no certificate	Same as above: issue the certificate.
No index.php or index.html in the folder	Upload your site, or check that the files are in html, not a subfolder.
Wrong file permissions	Folders 755, files 644. Change them in the file manager.
A rule in .htaccess (deny, IP block, password protection)	Rename .htaccess for a moment to test; see Edit the .htaccess file.
Our firewall blocked a request (often when saving in WordPress or a page builder)	The error log shows ModSecurity. Open a ticket with the time and the page. Don't disable security plugins to work around it.

500 Internal Server Error or a blank page

• A bad line in .htaccess: if you just edited it, restore your copy.
• A PHP error: the error log shows PHP Fatal error. Common causes are a plugin or theme update, a PHP version that's too new or too old for your code, or a low memory_limit. See Change your PHP version.
• WordPress: rename the plugin folder that was last updated (wp-content/plugins/<name>) in the file manager to disable it, and reload.

503 Service Unavailable

The PHP service for your site didn't answer.

1. Reload after a minute. A traffic spike or a long script can cause a short 503.
2. In the panel, switch the domain to another PHP version, save, and then switch it back. That restarts its PHP setup. See Change your PHP version.
3. If it keeps happening, open a ticket. We may need to restart services on the server.

When you open a ticket

Include:

• the exact address that fails (https://yourdomain.com/page),
• what you see (error code or a screenshot),
• when it started and what changed (plugin update, DNS change, new .htaccess),
• the last lines of the error log.

That lets us go straight to the cause.