One of the different errors that we can find on a day-to-day basis while browsing the internet from a computer is ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT, a rather annoying error but which, if you follow the instructions that we show you in this article, has a very simple solution .
This error is displayed when there is a problem with the internet connection and the web page does not load. At that moment, the browser will show us that message on the screen. To solve it, we must, first of all, work with our browser. If that doesn't work, it's time to get your hands on the operating system.
In this article we show you different methods, the most effective, to eliminate this error from your browser so that you can continue browsing without problems.
You don't have to be a technician to solve this problem, like the one we showed you a few days ago to fix ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED error.
What is the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error?
No matter how little English we have, we can deduce that this error means that the connection time has expired, as a warning message in which we are informed that the connection time established by the browser to display a web, that is, to connect to a server, it has expired.
It is not about any virus, malware, spyware and others, so you can rest easy in that regard. When a user types the URL of a website, the system makes a request to the server to provide access to the content of the website.
That connection is created after the server verifies the request and grants access to the system and information packets begin to be shared between the system and the server. This is how the internet really works roughly.
At that moment, a countdown begins and if the request is not able to reach the user before the end of the established period, the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT occurs. That time is set at 30 seconds.
Behind the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT we can find different reasons, although unfortunately, browsers do not detail it. Other errors whose origin is the same as this one, can be found in this way:
- DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN
- ERROR_CONNECTION_CLOSED
- ERROR_CONNECTION_REFUSED
- Cannot find domain
- Server not found ERR_CONECTION_RESET
- The DNS address of the server could not be found
- Connection was unexpectedly closed
- The server took too long to respond
Causes of the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error
Server does not exist
Server timeouts and error messages occur when the server hosting the web page has stopped working or the address we have entered does not exist.
Disconnect from ISP
If we are not connected to a WI-FI network or through the ethernet cable to our computer, we do not have internet, so we will never be able to access the page we plan to visit.
It is also advisable to check if the internet cable that goes to our router is connected correctly.
Service waiting times
If the time previously set to communicate with a server has expired, it will be shown in this message. It is likely that we are trying to connect to a server that does not have a good internet connection.
Network infrastructure overload
A request for data usually passes numerous access points before reaching the corresponding server. The link may be broken along the way. If this happens, the error message ERROR_CONNECTION_REFUSED will be displayed
Interference in connection
WI-FI networks struggle daily with a large number of interferences to be able to offer the signal. If in our environment we have a large number of other signals of this type, electrical appliances or any other electrical device, the quality of the internet signal will slow down or will not directly offer a connection. The solution to this problem is to get closer to the router.
How to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT problem
Restart your internet connection
The first thing to do is check that we have an internet connection. We can do this with any other device that has an internet connection, such as a smartphone, tablet or smart TV.
If the rest of the device works correctly, we can now download the internet connection.
Disable firewall and antivirus
Both the antivirus and the Windows firewall are responsible for keeping both our system and our internet connection safe.
It is advisable to regularly scan our computer for viruses, although most of them do so periodically without our having to do anything on our part.
The problem is that both the antivirus and the Windows firewall can, sometimes, be the culprits of restricting or not allowing us to visit certain web pages, even if they are completely safe.
If your browser shows the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT error, you should try disabling both the antivirus and the firewall. If the web page to which you did not have access, is available again, remember to activate the antivirus and firewall again.
To avoid having problems of this type again, you should update to the latest version of Windows and your antivirus to find a solution. If still, it is not solved, you should send an incident report to the manufacturer of your antivirus for review.
But, first of all, you should make sure that the web page you are trying to visit does not include any type of malware, since sometimes the reason for blocking its access by the firewall or antivirus is due to the fact that they are potential sources of danger. for the team.
Disable proxy or VPN server settings
Proxy servers act as intermediaries between your computer and the website you are viewing. Its purpose is to secure the user's IP address, control which websites can be accessed, and cache site data to speed up page loading.
Some proxies, mainly in companies, can block access to certain websites such as social networks, download pages ... which causes the ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT message to be displayed.
If you work in a large company and cannot access certain pages, the only solution is to speak to your system administrator to unlock it. Home users, in 99% of cases, do not use any proxy beyond the one established by the internet provider.
Clear the browser cache
All browsers on the market store a cache of the pages you visit in order to speed up the loading of the pages when you visit them again. This cache includes browser cookies, history and saved access information.
But the cache is not only beneficial for browsing as it reduces load times considerably, but it can also cause a lot of problems and emptying the cache can be the simplest solution.
Change DNS server
A DNS server helps the browser find the website you want to visit by converting domain names to IP addresses.
Many users choose to use third-party DNS servers from Google or Cloudflare, which are free and reliable for the common user instead of those offered by internet providers.
To make DNS a problem, we should consider changing it to the ones offered by Google or Cloudfare.
Change DNS in Windows:
- We access the Control Panel - Network and Internet -> Center of networks and shared resources.
- In the upper left, click on Change adapter settings.
- Next, click on Properties in the contextual menu that is displayed when you right-click.
- Then we choose if we want to use IPv4 or IPv6 addresses (the result will be the same) and click on properties.
- Replace the IP addresses with the following:
- For IPv4, use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4
- For IPv6, use 2001: 4860: 4860 :: 8888 and 2001: 4860: 4860 :: 8844
- Finally we click OK and restart the browser.
Change DNS on Mac:
- We access Advanced System Preferences
- In the DNS Servers section of the DNS tab, click on the + sign.
- To use the Google DNS, we will use the following IPs:
- Primary 8.8.8.8 and Secondary: 8.8.8.4 to use Google's
- If we want to use the Cloudfare DNS, we will use the following IPs:
- Primary 1.1.1.1 Secondary 1.0.0.1
- Primary 1.1.1.2 Secondary 1.0.0.2
- Primary 1.1.1.3 Secondary 1.0.0.3
- Click the OK button
Clean and renew DNS
The DNS cache stores information about the IP addresses of the websites you visit, just like the browser does. In this way, every time we enter a web page, the team will not have to translate the URL to the corresponding IP address.
The DNS cache, like the browser data, can become outdated and affect performance. The best we can do is completely renovate them.
Renew DNS on Windows
To renew the DNS in Windows, we must access the command line through the CMD application that we must enter in the Windows search box and press enter.
Next, we need to write the following lines independently and wait until they finish their work.
- ipconfig / flushdns
- ipconfig / registerdns
- ipconfig / release
- ipconfig / renew
- netsh winsock reset
Renew DNS on Mac
Unlike Windows, to renew the DNS on Mac we only have to write a line, a line that we must enter through the Terminal application.
- decacheutil -flushcache
Check the maximum execution time
The maximum execution time of a PHP script is the maximum amount of time it can run on a website. Generally, this type is set to 30 seconds, as I have mentioned above.
To change the maximum execution time, we have to contact our internet provider.