I get the, 'site cannot be reached' message now for the last few days.

Ian P

Working for me right now.

**LINK**

Dave

And me

This site can’t be reached

www.homeworkshop.org.uk took too long to respond.

Try:

• Checking the connection
• Checking the proxy and the firewall
• Running Windows Network Diagnostics

ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

--------------------------------------------------------------------

This Is all I get with Dave's link. I have cleared the Cache and deleted cookies. Oddly I get the same when I try on my phone.

Ian P

OK for me

Emgee

Comes up for me too and my connection is rather slow over GPO lines.

Try resetting your router. Taking too long to respond suggests a DNS error, whereby the system that translates www.homeworkshop.org.uk into the digital number address actually used by the network gets its knickers in a twist. Your phone and computer are probably getting the same dud address from the router.

If a cached address is mangled packets roam the internet looking for the dud address until the time taken exceeds a limit.

Cached addresses should time-out and refresh automatically but it could take days, maybe never if the cause is memory corruption. Home routers often cause this fault because they're rarely rebooted, and rebooting always forces the cache to be completely rebuilt.

Dave

Opened it on the iPad, about 10 minutes ago

… almost instantaneous, and it’s responsive.

I do note, however that there are a lot of ‘other’ adverts on the pages now

[ more than I remember seeing previously, but I hadn’t looked for a while]

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 01/09/2023 06:53:59

Dave nailed it, thanks.

I should have twigged when I wrote that I could not access the site from my phone (which uses the same BT Hub router). I just cycled the power on/off this morning and its all back to normal.

Ian P

Hurrah!

The router isn't something we think of because they're highly reliable, often running for years without bother. A shortcoming is they don't have error correcting memory, so there's a risk something exotic like an alpha particle might flip a bit and cause temporary havoc. Pretty good technology, but not perfect.

Dave

Highlly unlikely that an alpha particle could flip a bit. Their range in air is pretty short! More likely a gamma ray!

Andrew.

I've had this "took too long to respond" message from several USA sites recently (I'm in the UK), all on sites that I subsequently accessed without difficulty. I suspect the problem may be with general internet traffic rather than the individual sites themselves.

... and yet, if you put: alpha particles memory into a Google search .....

When I was a computer operator (In the early 70's) on an enormous mainframe with ferrite-core memory (Univac 418 III), the 'alpha-particle' was the standard excuse for anything going inexplicably wrong.

Management believed it every time...

Edited By Bob Unitt 1 on 02/09/2023 11:26:42