Fix the HTTP Error 503 Service Unavailable error
The HTTP Error 503 Service Unavailable indicates a website is unable to handle a load request because the hosting account has exceeded the allocated server resources on its hosting plan.
The error is temporary, however by following the steps provided below, you can see why it’s happening and take measures to avoid encountering it again going forward.
A. Check your hosting account resource usage
1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the Resource Usage button
3. Click on the Current Usage tab
4. Locate the CPU Usage, Physical Memory Usage and Faults graphs. If you see the usage going above the limit line, this means your hosting account is exhausting its server resources, and triggering the 503 error on your website.
5. Allow some time to pass in order for your resource usage to stabilize. Once resource usage has stabilized, reload your website and you will see it.
6. Review both the CPU Usage and Memory Usage to better understand them along with the action steps listed in each guide.
As additional steps to clear the HTTP Error 503 Service Unavailable, follow the steps below.
B. Check your website error log report
1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the Account Usage button
3. Locate your website’s domain name under the Domain column
4. On your domain’s row, click on Error Log under the Logs column
5. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the report and locate the most recent date and time (timestamps are in EST- Eastern Standard Time) – this is your most recent error log entry
6. On the most recent error log entry, scroll all the way to the right (horizontally) to view the full error, here is an example:
7. The error log will indicate what component of your WordPress website is triggering the error. Normally, it will be a plugin or theme triggering the error, see the examples below:
If there is a plugin triggering the error, you will see it indicated like the format below. The name of the plugin triggering the error will be indicated after the / forward slash in front of the word plugins.
2023-11-09 19:37:32.076020 [NOTICE] [1681121] [T0] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function hello_world() in /home/domains/skystrahelp/public_html/wp-content/plugins/helloplugin/functions.php:50If there is a theme triggering the error, you will see it indicated like the format below. The name of the theme triggering the error will be indicated after the / forward slash in front of the word themes.
2023-11-09 19:37:32.076020 [NOTICE] [1681121] [T0] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function hello_world() in /home/domains/skystrahelp/public_html/wp-content/themes/hellotheme/functions.php:508. Take note of the name of the plugin or theme causing the error. From our examples above, for the plugin error, the name of the plugin causing the error is helloplugin, and for the theme error, it is hellotheme.
9. Now that you’ve identified the component triggering the error, you need to disable it. Move to the steps below to disable the plugin or theme triggering the error.
C. Disable the plugin or theme causing the error
The next step is to disable the plugin or theme causing the 500 internal server error on your website.
1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the File Manager button
3. Double click on the domains folder
4. Locate your website folder and double click on it
5. Locate the public_html folder and double click on it
6. Locate the wp-content folder and double click on it
7. In the wp-content folder, you will see a plugins and themes folder. If you are trying to disable a plugin, double click on the plugins folder. If you are trying to disable a theme, double click on the themes folder.
8. Inside the plugins or themes folder, locate the folder for the plugin or theme you are trying to disable (it will have the exact same name as from your error log).
9. Right click on the folder to reveal a dropdown and select Rename, we’ll use a plugin called akismet as an example:
10. In the Rename popup, in front of the existing name of your plugin or theme, put – old as its suffix. For example, if your plugin folder name is akismet, then you would rename is to akismet-old
11. Once you’ve added – old to the plugin or theme folder name, click the Rename button to save it
12. Now, log in to your WordPress admin dashboard – it should now be loading
13. You can also reload your website and you should now see it loading
If the error is still happening, continue to the next solutions below.
D. Increase PHP memory threshold
The ‘500 Internal Server Error’ can be triggered when your website has exhausted its PHP memory threshold. Follow the steps below to increase the threshold.
1. Open this guide: Manage PHP options
2. Locate the memory_limit dropdown
3. On the dropdown, select the highest threshold value available
4. Re-attempt to load your website
E. Refresh your browser page
1. Locate the circular arrow icon near the address bar and click it
2. Press F5 or Ctrl + R on Windows, or Cmd + R on a Mac to refresh using keyboard shortcuts.
F. Clear your browser cache and cookies
Google chrome:
1. Click on the three vertical dots on the top-right corner of the browser
2. Navigate to More Tools > Clear Browsing Data
3. Make sure Cached images and files and Cookies and other site data are checked
4. Click on Clear Data
Safari:
1. Click on Safari in the top menu and then select Preferences
2. Navigate to the Privacy tab and click on Manage Website Data
3. Click on Remove All and then confirm your decision
4. Close the preferences window and refresh the page you were trying to access
Mozilla Firefox:
1. Click on the three horizontal lines at the top-right corner, then select Settings
2. Select the Privacy & Security tab on the left
3. Scroll down to the Cookies and Site Data section and click on Clear Data
4. Make sure Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content are both selected, then click Clear
G. Restart your computer or device
A simple restart can sometimes solve many problems. If after performing the steps above, you are still seeing the HTTP Error 503 Service Unavailable error, try restarting your device.