Are you seeing the "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" error in your browser? Not a very helpful mistake bulletin, is it? If y'all are a daily WordPress user, and then it's always adept to be aware of common errors like these that might preclude you from getting access to your website.

In today'south post, we're going to accept a deep dive into the "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" error and examine why you might see this and what you can practice to set up information technology chop-chop. Only put, information technology's an indication that the organization is unavailable and the time given for i to connect has elapsed, and now the request has timed out. But what does that actually mean?

Let'southward find out!

Nosotros've taken our knowledge of constructive website direction at scale, and turned information technology into an ebook and video class. Click here to download the The 2020 Guide to Managing twoscore+ WordPress Sites!

What is the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT Error?

An ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error typically means there is something wrong with your local network connexion. However, that's not ever the example.

According to the WordPress support documentation, a connection timed out error appears when your website is trying to do more your server can manage. It'due south particularly common on shared hosting where your memory limit is restricted.

When yous visit a website and information technology doesn't load, your browser will try for effectually thirty seconds or so until it terminates the connection. Later which it will return an "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" error, indicating a advice problem. In Google Chrome you might see this every bit "This site can't exist reached. Domain.com took also long to reply."

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error in Chrome
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT fault in Chrome

Due to all the different web browsers, operating systems, and servers, the error can present itself in a number of different ways. But most of them have the aforementioned or similar meaning. "ERR_NETWORK_CHANGED" and "ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED" are ii very closely related errors that can usually be solved with the same troubleshooting steps below.

Another common error code that appears under 'This site can't be reached' is the DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN, which is a DNS fault that essentially means the domain that was requested doesn't exist.

Below are a few examples of how the mistake might present itself in different browsers.

Mozilla Firefox

In Mozilla Firefox the error volition bear witness as "The connectedness has timed out." The server at domain.com is taking too long to answer.

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error in Firefox
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error in Firefox

Microsoft Border

In Microsoft Edge, the error will show as "Hmmm… tin can't achieve this page. Domain.com took too long to respond." In Edge, however, it does as well incorporate the "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" error.

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error in Edge
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT mistake in Edge

Safari

In Safari, the fault will show equally "Safari Can't Open up the Page. Safari tin can't open up the page domain.com considering the server where this page is located isn't responding."

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error in Safari
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error in Safari

How to Fix the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT Fault

Where should yous start troubleshooting if you see this error on your WordPress site? Without a great deal of context, it tin can sometimes exist frustrating and overwhelming where to even brainstorm. Typically these are either client-side bug (issues with your network connection or firewall) or an effect with the server at which the site is hosted (memory limits, execution times, etc.).

1. Check Your Connection

Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all recommend that yous should check your network connection. While this might sound obvious, they all point to checking your connection first as it's ane of the most common reasons for the mistake. Hither are a few things we recommend:

  • Restart your home or role router. This only takes a few minutes and solves more problems than a lot of people would like to admit. To completely power bike it, disconnect the power supply and and so await thirty seconds before plugging information technology back in.
  • Check to see if you're on a bad or slow wifi connection. This is a common occurrence on busy public wifi hotspots such equally java shops or airports.

2. Disable Firewall and Antivirus Software Temporarily

Firewalls and antivirus software are intended to protect users and their systems. They browse your device regularly and automatically block whatever suspicious activity. Nevertheless, this type of security can at times lead to connection issues.

This is considering firewalls can often block pages they don't need to or refuse content that is completely safety. We've seen this happen many times with software like AVG. To bank check whether this is the case for you, attempt disabling your firewall and antivirus programs. Of course, this is only advised if you know for sure that the site you're intending to visit is safety.

Additionally, you should only disable this kind of software temporarily. Switch it back on after yous've finished checking to see whether the fault has been resolved, then you don't get vulnerable to attacks. If you repeatedly encounter errors because of your firewall or antivirus software, you lot may desire to consider irresolute what yous're using.

These types of tools also accept what is called a "false-positive" report you lot can fill out. If you lot're 100% positive that a site your visiting is blocked and shouldn't be, you can let the software developer know. Here are a few quick links:

  • AVG false positive grade
  • Norton false positive form
  • Sophos fake positive grade

iii. Disable Proxy Settings

Sometimes you might meet the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error if you are utilizing a proxy service. This is usually pretty rare, especially on the client-side. However, one might have been fix without you even knowing it. To disable or check to ensure no proxy settings are enabled, follow these steps.

Access the Settings menu in your Chrome browser. This will open up the complete menu of options. Under the System department (you'll need to click Advanced at the lesser to run into this), you should find an entry titled Open proxy settings. By selecting it, you'll be taken to the corresponding card:

Open Proxy Settings in Chrome
Open Proxy Settings in Chrome

Your next step depends on the organization you're currently using. Windows users will want to click on LAN Settings and uncheck the Employ proxy server for LAN pick. If yous're a Mac user, you lot should immediately find yourself in the relevant menu. You'll so have to uncheck all selectable proxy protocols and check to see if the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT bulletin has been resolved.

Uncheck proxies on Mac
Uncheck proxies on Mac

If you're on Windows, y'all will see a "Local Expanse Network (LAN) Settings" window appear. Yous will want to ostend that the "Use a proxy server for your LAN" choice is unchecked.

Disable Chrome proxy settings in Windows
Disable Chrome proxy settings in Windows

The same goes if you lot're using a VPN like ExpressVPN or TunnelBear. Brand sure y'all're not connected by accident.

4. Alter DNS Servers

The next thing you can try is irresolute your DNS servers. By default, DNS servers are automatically assigned by your ISP. Just yous could endeavour temporarily irresolute these to a public DNS server, such as Google or Cloudflare.

  • Some adopt to use Google's public DNS (viii.viii.8.8 and 8.8.four.4) long-term due to them sometimes being more reliable.
  • Cloudflare also offers secure and blazing fast costless DNS (one.1.i.1 and one.0.0.ane) which we will be using in this example. If yous want to use Google's the steps are the aforementioned, yous simply replace the DNS server addresses with Googles.

Tip: If you're already using a free DNS server and having bug, removing it and defaulting back to your Internet access provider's DNS servers as well sometimes fix things.

Google and Cloudflare aren't perfect 100% of the time and in that location have been a few instances where we've noticed switching back has resolved the issue. This is especially truthful if you're using a Wifi hotspot in an airport or java store.

Windows

In Windows only open upward Control Prompt past pressing the Windows logo key and R. Then type "control panel" and striking Enter.

Run Control Panel Windows
Run Command Panel Windows

Click on "Network and Internet" and then "Network and Sharing Center." On the left-hand side, click on "Change Adapter Settings."

Change adapter settings
Change adapter settings

Correct click on your current connectedness, this will either be Local Surface area Connection or Wireless Network Connection based on how you're connecting. Then click on "Properties."

Subscribe Now

Wireless connection properties
Wireless connectedness properties

Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (or Version 6 if desired) and click on "Properties."

IPV 4 properties
IPV 4 properties

Make a annotation of any existing settings in example you lot need to revert back. Click "Use the following DNS server addresses." Enter the following, or supplant the existing with these:

For IPv4:1.i.1.ane and1.0.0.1
For IPv6:2606:4700:4700::1111 and2606:4700:4700::1001

DNS server addresses
DNS server addresses

Click OK, then Close. Restart your browser.

Mac

To change DNS servers on a Mac, go to System Preferences…

Mac system preferences
Mac system preferences

Click on the network icon so click "Advanced."

Mac network advanced
Mac network advanced

Click on the "DNS" tab.

Mac DNS
Mac DNS

Then add Cloudflare'due south DNS server addresses.

For IPv4:ane.1.1.1 and1.0.0.1
For IPv6:2606:4700:4700::1111 and2606:4700:4700::1001

v. Affluent/Renew DNS

Y'all can also try flushing your local DNS cache. This is similar to clearing your browser enshroud. Information technology could be that the site y'all're trying to visit isn't resolving to the correct IP address. If you've but migrated your WordPress site to a new host, it's important to wait for things to fully propagate. This tin sometimes take up to 24 hours, although information technology tin can be as footling as a few minutes. This depends on your DNS provider and the TTL value of your DNS records.

Windows

In Windows simply open Command Prompt and enter the following:

ipconfig /flushdns
Command prompt - flush DNS
Command prompt – affluent DNS

You should see a "Successfully flushed the DNS resolver Cache" if information technology worked.

Mac

For macOS users, you tin enter the following in the terminal:

dscacheutil -flushcache
dscacheutil -flushcache
Mac flush cache

Note: There is no success message on Macs.

half dozen. Check Your Hosts File

Every computer has what they phone call a local hosts file. This is a file that contains manual DNS entries which are mapped to specific IP addresses. Typically this is only edited when y'all want to preview your DNS earlier switching over domains to a new host. Or perhaps you have a local evolution site running using a tool like DevKinsta, Vagrant or Docker.

In that location is a multitude of unlike means this file could accept been changed or edited. Therefore, information technology's e'er proficient to cheque to ensure the website you lot're trying to access isn't in there. Just follow the steps below.

Windows

The hosts file typically requires additional access. Then the kickoff footstep is to open up your text editor as an ambassador. Merely click on your start menu, search for your text editor, correct-click on information technology and select "Run as administrator." This can be washed in whatsoever text editor such as Notepad, Notepad++, Atom, etc. We are using Sublime in our case below.

Run text editor as administrator
Run text editor equally ambassador

Inside your text editor click File → Open up and scan to the following location:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\

Click on the hosts file and "Open."

open hosts file
Open hosts file

Double-check and brand certain the website y'all're trying to visit isn't listed in there. If it is, remove it.

Mac

To bank check your hosts file on a Mac, we recommend getting Gas Mask. It'southward a free awarding which tin can be used as hosts file manager, hosts files editor, and switch betwixt them. It makes everything quick and easy! Otherwise, you lot can follow the steps below to edit your hosts file on Mac manually.

Go to Utilities and then click on "Terminal."

Mac utilities terminal
Mac utilities terminal

Enter in the following command and press Enter (you lot will most likely be prompted for your administrator password every bit well).

sudo nano /private/etc/hosts

Double-cheque and brand sure the website y'all're trying to visit isn't listed in your hosts file. If information technology is, remove it.

Edit hosts file on Mac
Edit hosts file on Mac

7. Bank check the DNS of Your Domain

You should also verify that the DNS of your domain is correctly pointed to your hosting provider. If you're a Kinsta customer nosotros have an in-depth postal service on how to point your domain and or DNS to Kinsta. If you recently migrated your WordPress website to a new host, it could be the DNS was cached incorrectly on your figurer. In which case, step 5 above should resolve that. Or information technology may only exist as well soon and y'all demand to await a few hours for the DNS to fully propagate.

8. Clear Browser Cache

Web browsers store information in cache on your computer. This includes your browsing history, saved login information, and cookies – all of which are recorded in social club to load the relevant pages more quickly the next time they're visited.

Although they're useful, caches can crusade numerous issues when they become outdated. Fortunately, this problem is easily solved by clearing your cache.

But before you lot do that, you can easily check to encounter if it'south a browser cache issue past first opening up your browser in incognito mode. Or you tin can try a different browser. If yous're still seeing the fault, then you will want to go along with clearing your enshroud.

In this example, nosotros'll be using Google Chrome. Begin by opening upwardly the primary carte du jour (in the peak-right corner of your browser window). From in that location, select More Tools: Y'all can then click on Clear browser data.

Chrome clear browsing data
Chrome clear browsing data

On the resulting page, yous'll demand to make sure that all listed file categories are selected. If they aren't, Chrome won't be able to empty the entire cache. Instead, it will simply remove the nearly recent entries, which won't effect in the desired effect:

Clear browsing data
Clear browsing information

An culling method of completing this process is to enter the following URL into your address bar:

chrome://settings/clearBrowserData

The resulting screen should grant you access to the same options nosotros've outlined above. Hither are some other helpful links for immigration cache.

  • How to Force Refresh a Single Page for All Browsers
  • How to Clear Cache for Google Chrome
  • How to Clear Enshroud for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Clear Cache on Mac (Safari)
  • How to Articulate Cache for Internet Explorer
  • How to Articulate Cache for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Clear Cache for Opera

9. Look at The Maximum Execution Time

The residual of the troubleshooting steps nosotros'll exist diving into are those that have to do with the configuration of your WordPress site or server that may assist fix the "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" error.

The showtime is the maximum execution time set for your site. On most servers, the default fourth dimension is set to 30 seconds. This is the amount of fourth dimension a PHP script is allowed to run (after which information technology times out). On shared hosts, this is typically set low or left at the default.

You can't easily modify this from WordPress as the php.ini file is located on your server. To change this, we recommend reaching out to your hosting provider to see if they tin can help. At Kinsta, we set the default maximum execution time to 300 seconds.

If you want to effort and alter this yourself, it tin can ordinarily exist washed with 1 of the following options. Both will depend on how your hosting provider configures their servers.

Option one – Modify Max Execution Fourth dimension in php.ini File

If you have a php.ini file in your habitation directory, find the max_execution_time parameter and change it. For example, if it'due south set to thirty seconds, you can increment it to 300 seconds.

max_execution_time = 300

Option 2 – Alter Max Execution Time in .htacess File

If the above option doesn't piece of work, you might be able to alter information technology inside your .htaccess file. But similar with the php.ini file, this is typically located within your home directory. Identify the post-obit in the tiptop of your .htaccess file:

php_value max_execution_time 300

10. Temporarily Disable Your Plugins

Every bit with most WordPress errors, a plugin can definitely be the root of the problem. To make up one's mind if that's what'south happening, y'all'll need to disable all of your site'southward plugins. However, if you're getting the "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" mistake it means you don't have access to your WordPress admin area. This means yous will need to SFTP into your site. We recommend using FileZilla.

Once your SFTP client is set, connect to your website through it and navigate to your WordPress root folder. In case you tin't find it, it'southward commonly called public_html, html, public, www, or your site's name. If you're a Kinsta customer, it's your public folder.

WordPress root folder SFTP
WordPress root folder SFTP

Open that folder, and navigate to the wp-content directory. Inside, you'll meet a folder chosenplugins, which contains private subdirectories for each of the plugins installed on your site (both active and inactive).

What you're going to do now is right-click on the plugins folder, and rename it to something else. We recommendplugins.old orplugins.deactivated, and so you tin easily recognize information technology afterwards.

WordPress plugins folder renamed
WordPress plugins folder renamed

WordPress will now not exist able to find whatsoever of your plugins. When that happens, it will automatically disable those plugins.

Now, try accessing your WordPress dashboard. If the timeout error is gone, then you can assume that one of your plugins was the culprit. All you lot have to do is figure out which one was at fault.

Render to thewp-content directory, and rename your original plugins binder correctly. So, you'll need to disable each of your plugins ane past one, until you discover the culprit.

To do this, open thewp-content/plugins directory. Inside, you'll find one folder for each of your plugins. The process you're going to follow is much the same as before:

  1. Start with the first folder, and rename information technology to anything y'all like.
  2. Cheque your website to see if the fault is gone.
  3. If it isn't, return the plugin folder from the previous step to its original proper noun.
  4. Move on to the next plugin on your listing, repeating the higher up steps.

This process can take a while if you have a lot of plugins, but it's vital to check each plugin in plough. If at any point y'all identify the plugin that's causing the fault, yous can uninstall it or replace it with another tool.

If yous make it to the end of these steps without finding a solution, you tin can move on to the next stage of troubleshooting.

11. Temporarily Revert to Default Theme

At present that you've ruled out your plugins every bit the crusade of the timeout mistake, it's time to do the same with your active theme. In fact, your theme could also exist creating compatibility issues.

Unfortunately, the procedure doesn't work the same as in a higher place. WordPress won't revert to the default theme if just rename the theme folder, you would cease up with an error like "The theme directory "theme name" does not exist." Or if yous endeavour to rename the entire theme directory folder, you end upwardly with "Mistake: The themes directory is either empty or doesn't exist. Please check your installation."

Therefore, you lot need to access your WordPress database by logging into phpMyAdmin. If you're a Kinsta client, this can be establish within the "Info" section of the MyKinsta dashboard.

MyKinsta phpMyAdmin
MyKinsta phpMyAdmin

Click into the "wp_options" tabular array, then click on the "Search" tab. Y'all will want to search under the "option_name" fortemplate.

phpMyAdmin wp_options table
phpMyAdmin wp_options table

Under the "option_value" column you will come across the current name of your theme. Modify this to ane of the default themes, such every bit "twentynineteen."

wp_options template name
wp_options template name

Check your website again to encounter if this has fixed the error. If it did, it simply means it's a problem with your WordPress theme and you might desire to try reinstalling it or reverting to your most recent backup.

12. Increase the Retentivity Limit

The WP_MEMORY_LIMIT parameter allows yous to specify the maximum corporeality of retentiveness that can be consumed by PHP. If you are using shared hosting, it'south about likely set to a low value such as 64M. At Kinsta, we prepare the default memory limit to 256M.

Y'all can increase the memory limit by adding the post-obit to your wp-config.php file. This must be placed above the wp-settings.php inclusion.

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );
WP_MEMORY_LIMIT in wp-config.php
WP_MEMORY_LIMIT in wp-config.php

Not sure what your current PHP memory limit is set to? If you take access to your WordPress dashboard and are running WordPress 5.2 or above, you tin can come across the PHP retentiveness limit under the "Site Health" tool.

WordPress site health PHP memory limit
WordPress site health PHP memory limit

Tin't reach your site considering of the *ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT* fault message? Here are 12 possible ways to set up it! 💻😱 Click to Tweet

Summary

Connexion and timeout errors are never fun to troubleshoot, but hopefully, you have a little more than knowledge in your toolbelt at present to assist resolve it speedily.

It's important to think that the "ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT" error be a upshot of a client-side trouble such as your network connexion, or an consequence with the server where your WordPress site is hosted. Have any other tips to resolve this error? Let the states know below in the comments.

(Suggested reading: Acquire how to fix the ERR_CACHE_MISS error in Chrome)


Save time, costs and maximize site functioning with:

  • Instant help from WordPress hosting experts, 24/7.
  • Cloudflare Enterprise integration.
  • Global audition achieve with 29 information centers worldwide.
  • Optimization with our congenital-in Application Functioning Monitoring.

All of that and much more, in one program with no long-term contracts, assisted migrations, and a thirty-24-hour interval-money-back-guarantee. Check out our plans or talk to sales to find the plan that'due south right for you.