What is HTTP 500 Internal Server Error Code on web browsers

Above you see all the varient of a 500 server error, the most common HTTP error code after 404 (Page Not Found) that someone encounters while trying access websites - be it banking, high school, college, Wordpress blog, redddit or even at times while browsing videos on Youtube or doing a Google Search.

What is "500 Internal Server Error"?

500 code implies that the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) server has encountered an unexpected issue that has caused it to fail to cater to your request.

It is a generic HTTP error message, the server sends this message code when an unexpected condition has been encountered and no more specific message is suitable, i.e. there can be many reasons that can cause this error 5XX, but the server was unable to identify what the specific issue was and has thrown a generic error 500.

This is a "server-side" error and as a end user you cannot do anything apart from reading to the admin or support.

What are specific 5XX Errors

1. Server Error 501: Not Implemented
2. Server Error 502: Bad Gateway
3. Server Error 503: Service Unavailable
4. Server Error 504: Gateway Timeout
5. Server Error 505: HTTP Version Not Supported
6. Server Error 506: Variant Also Negotiates (RFC 2295)
7. Server Error 507: Insufficient Storage (WebDAV; RFC 4918)
8. Server Error 508: Loop Detected (WebDAV; RFC 5842)
9. Server Error 510: Not Extended (RFC 2774)
10. Server Error 511: Network Authentication Required (RFC 6585)

What could be the reason of 500 Internal Server Error?

As we discussed 500 error response is a generic "catch-all" response. In order to know what the root cause of the issue was, the server admin would need to investigate the logs and get more specific details. It could be one of the below,

• Sever being overloaded with requests.
• Server out of memory.
• Server under maintenance.