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FAQ: Common mistakes
Please read through this entire document carefully. 70% of all tech support
issues are due to the mistakes mentioned below.
I can't see my website! I can't reach it! Or other similar reports
Definitely the most common tech support issue we receive. More than half of
all new customers will report that they can't reach their website, sometimes
within minutes of opening an account.
There can be many reasons for this, but we'll talk about the most common
ones here.
- First, the most common reply to this problem: *new domains don't always work*. If you
just registered a new domain with someone other then us (yourdomain.com for example), it *won't*
always work right away. Once a domain is registered, information on this new domain starts
to slowly spread throughout the Internet. It can take anywhere from
24-72 hours before you can actually reach your domain by just typing
"yourdomain.com" on your browser. If you let us register your domain this doenn't happen.
This also means that you *can't* use the domain name for any "connection"
purposes. That is, you can't use the domain name to connect to your
account via FTP, you can't check your email by using the domain name as
POP3/SMTP servers, and you can't publish via FrontPage by using the domain name.
You must *always* use the IP number to connect to your site or account
(this number is provided on your welcome email). That is, instead
of typing this into your browser:
You must type this:
That is, just type "http://" followed by your account's IP number.
-
If you are transferring a domain to Lowcountry Hosting, then, in a way, the
domain won't work either. Your domain is still configured to "point" to
your previous web host. So, if you try to reach your site via the domain
name (http://www.mydomain.com), you will actually be reaching your
previous web host. To reach your website on Lowcountry Hosting, use the IP number,
as explained above. The transfer can take up to a week depending on how long it takes your previous registar to release it. Once we get it we will change the DNS and it will take a few hours to propagate the web.
NOTE: once your site is ready on our servers, then some
modifications to your domain are required to "point" your domain to
your site on our servers. This is *not* done automatically when you sign
up. You must contact our tech support staff to do this.
-
Still, if you have tried reaching your site via your IP number and
you still can't reach it, do a "traceroute" or a "ping" on it. More on that
below. If that doesn't work, contact tech support.
I have uploaded my page, but I don't see it! I still see your "Welcome" page!
I have uploaded a new page but I still see the old one!
Those two tech issues are quite common. The solutions to them are quite easy too:
- You are uploading your website to the wrong place. When you connect to your
account via FTP to upload your site, you will see a directory called /public_html/.
Go to that directory (double click on it if you are using a graphical FTP
client) and upload your files *there*. If you don't put your files inside
/public_html/, they won't be accessible via the web.
NOTE if you are using FrontPage, just follow the instructions
on our FrontPage FAQ.
FrontPage will automatically upload to /public_html/, so you don't need to
worry about it.
- You did not call your main page "index.html". Your site's main page,
that is, the one that appears when someone goes to your site by typing
your domain name or IP into their browser, *must* be called either
index.html or index.htm. When the web server receives a visitor
to "yourdomain.com" or "123.45.67.89", the file the web server will display is
a file called "index.html" or "index.htm" on your /public_html/ directory.
In fact, when you connect to your account for the first time and enter the
directory /public_html/, you'll see that there is a "index.html" file in there.
That's the default page Lowcountry Hosting puts on your account.
NOTE: "yourdomain.com" and "yourdomain.com/index.htm" (if your
main page is called index.htm" is the same. If you want to display a different
page (like "anotherpage.html"), just go to "yourdomain.com/anotherpage.html".
NOTE: if your site is made up of a scripting language, like
PHP or ASP, then the index page can be called "index.php" or "index.asp",
respectively. Some other extensions are ".mv" or ".jsp".
- If you have uploaded a new index page, or you have replaced any other page,
and you still see the old one, then there can be two reasons to this:
- You have a "caching" problem. When you go to a page on any website, your
browser will store that page (and its images) on your computer's hard drive. The next time
you go to that same page, the browser will just pull out the copy on your
hard drive instead of pulling it out of the server. If you replaced
a file on the server and you still see the old one, you are actually
seeing the local copy. To solve this on Netscape, press the SHIFT key and
click on "RELOAD" while leaving the SHIFT key pressed. On Internet Explorer,
it's a bit more complex. First, try SHIFT + REFRESH. If you still see the
old copy, then empty IE's cache: go to the "Tools" menu, then "Internet Options",
then click on "Delete Files" on the "Temporary Internet Files"
section of the "General tab".
NOTE: your ISP (Internet Service Provider) might also have a caching server. The most
frequently accessed sites are stored on a local cache server to speed
up delivery of websites. Sometimes, it's just impossible to clear or
refresh the files on that cache server. The only solution is just to wait
for them to instruct the cache server to update all local copies with
new ones. This problem is very common on "big name" ISPs, like AOL,
EarthLink, WorldNet, etc.
- You did not replaced the file. If you are uploading a new index page
to replace an older one (or the one Lowcountry Hosting places on your account),
you must upload it to the same place where the old one is. That is,
to replace your site's main page, you must upload your "index" page to the
same place the previous one is so that it gets replaced.
What's wrong?
Either two things happened: you deleted your /public_html/ directory and all
its contents (404 not found), or, there is no index page on /public_html/ (403 Forbidden). Your site's main
page must be called "index.html" or "index.htm" and must be inside /public_html/.
See the question above this one for more information.
Diagnosing your web site: usage of traceroute, ping and WHOIS
For the following instructions, we'll assume that you are using either Windows© or a UNIX OS.
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WHOIS: a very common tool on the net to find out more information about a domain.
In UNIX, the command for WHOIS is simply "whois" with the domain name as parameter. Windows©
has no WHOIS tool, but you can access one anywhere on the net. Try Better WHOIS.
-
PING: this tool "pings" a IP number (like a sonar pings ships) to see if the IP is responding
and thus, the server is operational. On Windows©, click on "Start", "Programs", "Accessories","Command Prompt".
Once there, enter the command "ping _your_ip_number" (or "ping yourdomain.com") and hit the ENTER key. If you get the
message "request timed out" constantly, then there's either wrong with the IP number or your connection.
Traceroute can be used to determine which of the two is correct.
On UNIX, the command is just "ping", followed by the IP number or domain name as parameter.
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TRACEROUTE: this command shows the path data sent by your computer reaches a destination.
On Windows©, click on "Start", "Programs", "MS-DOS Prompt". Once there, enter the command
"tracert _your_ip_number" (or "tracert yourdomain.com") and hit the ENTER key. The output of the
command will be something like this:
3 ibr02-pbnap.sntc03.exodus.net (198.32.128.22) 1.1 ms 1.16 ms 1.8 ms
4 bbr01-g3-0.sntc03.exodus.net (216.33.153.65) 2.0 ms 1.6 ms 1.45 ms
5 bbr02-p5-0-0.sntc04.exodus.net (216.32.132.217) 2.4 ms 2.6 ms 2.3 ms
6 bbr02-p3-0.okbr01.exodus.net (216.32.132.149) 57.5 ms 58.9 ms 61.3 ms
7 bbr01-g4-0.okbr01.exodus.net (216.34.183.97) 63.3 ms 54.2 ms 58.0 ms
8 bbr02-p0-1.trnt01.exodus.net (216.32.173.33) 96.9 ms 120.5 ms 97.9 ms
9 64.39.64.65 (64.39.64.65) 67.84 ms 68.63 ms 96.22 ms
10 64.39.64.3 (64.39.64.3) 99.39 ms 80.88 ms 68.49 ms
11 64.39.68.242 (64.39.68.242) 71.021 ms 69.266 ms 68.405 ms
12 www.opensrs.org (216.40.33.61) 77.609 ms 73.312 ms 77.831 ms
Each of those entries are the systems data from your computer will go through before
reaching a website (or vice versa), in this example, opensrs.org. The "ms" numbers
are response times on that location. If you see locations with numbers much higher than
the rest, then that's a slow link in the chain. It might explain, for example, why
one site is faster than another from your location, or why your website is slow
from your location.
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