The warning message, ‘This site can’t be reached,’ is the generic message displayed by the browser. This message, on its own, is rudimentary in that it does not show the immediate cause. Usually, it is always directing you to either the DNS failure or the server is not responding, or the SSL/HTTPS is configured wrongly, or the site is banned within the local networks. To troubleshoot this issue, you have to move past the large title message to the error number message displayed below.
Step 1: Identify the Specific Error Code
The ‘fix’ is entirely dependent upon the technical code that your browser reveals:
· DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN/ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED: “Your browser can’t find the IP address for your domain.” – DNS problem
· ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT: The connection to the server has taken too long. This could be a network routing error or the server could be unavailable.
· ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED: There is nothing wrong with connecting to the server, and refusal of connection might be the result of a firewall, the wrong port, or be server-side related.
· SSL/Certificate Errors: It means that your website is accessible; however, a conflict or expiration issue with the certificate exists.
Step 2: Isolate the Connection
Check if the problem is global or just with you. Turn the Wi-Fi off and try to access the site via mobile data. Also, try accessing the site via the Incognito or Private window. If the site opens via mobile data but not via Wi-Fi, the problem lies with the DNS settings with your router or the filter with your ISP.
Step 3: Test HTTP vs. HTTPS
One of the most common mistakes is thinking that the site is actually “down” when it is experiencing only an SSL issue. One way to troubleshoot the issue is to manually type the URL using http://yourdomain.com instead of https://yourdomain.com, without the ‘s’. This ensures that the files on the website are not the issue, only the SSL certificate, which may either not exist or be stuck in a redirect loop.
Step 4: Fix DNS and Cache (The “Quick Reset”)
As DNS issues are among the most common causes, a manual reset in most cases solves the issue:
1. DNS-switching: Configure your computer or router to utilize the DNS of either Cloudflare (1.1.1.
2. Flush DNS: In Windows, go to the command prompt and enter the following: ipconfig /flushdns. In Chrome, go to chrome://net-internals/#dns and click the "Clear host cache
3. Power Cycle the router by turning it off for 30 seconds to refresh its connection with the ISP.
Step 5: Check for Hosting and Software Issues
Also, if you recently updated your nameservers or switched to Cloudflare, this is probably just propagation time and can take anywhere from a few hours to two days. And if your free subdomain is hosted elsewhere and you’re checking if other websites within that domain are accessible as well, if they’re not, then this is likely a site-wide downtime on the part of the providers. And lastly, if you’re running WordPress and encountering an error saying that your “site is unreachable,” this is most likely a malfunctioning plugin and/or an “.htaccess” file problem. And if you do have FTP access to your site, you can rename the “.htaccess” file and/or rename the “plugins” file to see if your site miraculously corrects itself.