How to Fix HTTP 502 Bad Gateway Error?

Are you frustrated with the error message”502 bad gateway” displaying on your computer again and again? And you are looking for a 502 bad gateway fix? Then you landed on the right page.

Since 502 bad gateway errors can be triggered due to plenty of reasons, it would be very difficult for anyone to figure out the exact root cause. It is because the problem can range from user-level i.e. browser settings to your CDN to the server level.

So in this article, we tried to cover all the possible root causes and different methods by which you can easily fix 502 bad Gateway errors. But before that, let us understand what the error “502 bad gateway” means.



How To Fix The 502 Bad Gateway Error?

There are numerous things that you can try to resolve this problem. Mostly, the 502 errors are the result of bugs in the PHP or the Server configuration or network errors among servers. There is nothing wrong with your computer or your internet connectivity.

Nonetheless, in some cases, there might be a problem at your end with the browser, or your ISP or local IP might be blocked as mentioned earlier. With these fixes, you can try and resolve the 502 error.

Common Fixes Of 502 Bad Gateway Error (For Users)

Check out the below-listed solutions for 502 Bad Gateway Error for users.

1. Refresh the webpage

When experiencing a 502 error, there are chances that the server of the website might be overloaded with a higher amount of traffic than it cannot handle. If this is the case, you can try to fix this by simply refreshing the webpage.

Alternatively, you can also press the keys Ctrl + R or F5 to refresh/reload the page. This error means there is a networking error that is beyond your control, so it can be a temporary error while the server is getting a large amount of traffic or the server could be under a DDOS attack. By trying again in a while, you might not see this again.

Reloading webpage to fix 502 bad gateway
Reloading the web page

2. Try in Incognito Mode

Fixing 502 bad gateway error in Incognito mode
Incognito mode

Another way to fix this error is by starting a new Private or Incognito session in your browser. All you have to do is just close the existing tabs and open a new Private or Incognito window. If you experienced this error because of an issue on your browser, then starting your browser again in private mode should resolve the issue.

3. Clear the Cache Memory of your Browser

There is a chance that the corrupted files stored on your browser might be causing a 502 bad gateway error. So, if you clear the cache of your browser, you might resolve this error. Moreover, you should remove the cookies from your browser. It can also help in resolving this error.

Clearing browser data in chrome
Clearing Browsing data

4. Try Another Browser

You can try to use another browser such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. If you don’t see this error when you change your browser, this indicates that the problem was in the browser. You can even reinstall the browser to check if this resolves the problem.

5. Check Your DNS

Another solution for this error is by checking your domains’ DNS records. Sometimes the Bad Gateway error is caused by problems associated with DNS records. If you have not changed the DNS records, then you can also check if the IP in the records is set correctly and if there is no typo there.

6. Restart Your Network Device

First of all, You need to switch off the power supply of your internet modem. To do this, Unplug your internet modem and hold it up for 10 seconds. When its indicators are completely turned off,  You need to plug it in again turn on the power on button, and Wait for your computer to establish a connection again.


Read: 🚩 How to fix HTTP 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress?


Common Fixes For 502 Bad Gateway Error (Developers)

fixes of 502 Bad Gateway error (Developers)
Fixes of 502 Bad Gateway error (Developers)

If you are a developer or a server manager and you are facing this error, there are chances that you might be facing this error because of other factors. You can try these solutions to eliminate the problem.

  • Check your server: You can determine whether your server is reachable or not by conducting a traceroute or ping test on the server IP.
  • Check DNS: Another way to resolve this error is by checking if your fully qualified domain name is resolving properly or not, as mentioned above. You can use the DNS test tool for this purpose.
  • Clear Local DNS cache: You can also try to clear the DNS cache to see if this issue resolves or not. To do this you need to open your cmd prompt for Windows users. 
  • Open the command prompt on your Windows PC and type ipconfig / flushdns then press Enter:
502 bad gateway
Command prompt
  • Check Error Logs: You can also check the server or site error logs created on the server to check if there is any particular error being thrown on the server. Using this error you can then try and resolve the issue. If you are a WordPress user you need to add the following codes in your  wp-config.php
  • By doing this you will get all the information regarding the errors that have occurred due to any recently added application. And you will get all the causes of the errors which are produced by your website.

define('WP_DEBUG', ture);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', ture);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

  • Check Plugins and themes on your WordPress: For WordPress sites, you can temporarily rename the wp-content/plugins folder to rule out any error due to any plugin on the site. In case the issue is not due to the plugins, you can also check for the theme by downloading the default WordPress theme and switching over to that. In case the site loads fine after activating the default theme, then the issue might be due to your theme.
  • Check your firewall: It is advised to check the firewall logs for an unusual block. Sometimes Firewalls also prevent or block sites. To overcome this issue you need to temporarily disable your firewalls and check whether the issue persists or is resolved.
  • Disable CDN Temporarily: Another reason could be that the server is being targeted by a DDOS attack. In such cases, you may use services like Fail2ban to try and block the attacking IPs or you can use CDN providers like Cloudflare, to mitigate any DDOS attacks on the server. On the other hand, sometimes the 502 bad gateway error also triggers due to an issue with your CDN or firewall itself. These CDN providers or fully proxy services have extra firewalls between them, that help to protect against DDOS attacks.
  • Contact your hosting provider: If none of the above-mentioned methods work, you have the last and most important step to take, to contact your hosting service provider for assistance. Like with the best support of WPOven.

Therefore, you should not panic if you see 502 error Bad Gateway. It is an error that is related to a communication problem between the servers. By trying these solutions, you can get rid of this problem. In case this error continues for days, you can record the time and the version of your browser to submit a report to your hosting provider. You can get to know more about HTTP error codes by reading online.


What is a 502 Bad Gateway Error?

The HyperText Transfer Protocol HTTP 502 Bad Gateway error usually comes from the server end and doesn’t have anything to do with your computer locally. This error states there has been an inadequate response from the other server. You can see this error on any device, browser, and operating system.

This error page can be modified by every website, in which case you will see a custom error page instead of the default error page above. Some other common server-side errors that you see are 504 Gateway Timeout Error, Error 500 internal server error, and dns_probe_finished_nxdomain.

502 bad gateway
502 bad gateway error Nginx

Read: 🚩 How to Fix 500 Internal Server Error Nginx? [9 Solutions]


Different Variations You Might See In The 502 Bad Gateway Error

There are different ways in which you might see 502 errors. Let’s have a look at the various messages that you might face due to the 502 error.

If you are experiencing a Server Error or 502 error when trying to access a site, it means that you are seeing a 502 Bad Gateway error. This error is also sometimes shown as :

  • HTTP Error 502- Bad Gateway
  • 502 Proxy Error
  • 502 Bad Gateway
  • 502 Service Temporarily Overloaded
  • HTTP 502
  • 502 Bad Gateway NGINX
  • Error 502

Impact of 502 Bad Gateway Errors on the SEO of Your Website

If this error displays on your computer screen, again and again, it will have a bad impact on your website’s reputation as well as on the Search Engines. In the end, it leads to a poor experience for the clients on a clear basis that, nobody needs to manage a site that as often as possible shows errors.

If this error remains too long on your website, probably your website will be completely deindexed on the search engines as your website will not show any data to people leading to high bounce rates and dropping ranks.


Server failure and poor server management are two major reasons for triggering 502 bad gateway errors. You can stop this in the future by simply hosting or migrating your website to the most reliable and reputed Fully Dedicated WordPress host, WPOven.


Too many 502 error issues
WPOven

5 Main Reasons that Cause 502 Bad Gateway Error

It is an error that you might see because the server was not able to provide a valid response to the request. Several other reasons might lead to a 502 error. Here are the most common reasons.

1. Origin Server Is Not Working

One of the reasons you might experience this error is that the server is not working properly. This means the server is not accessible; there can be many explanations for this, like, either the server is down or there is a connectivity problem or there might be a very high amount of traffic on the server.

2. Domain Name

Another reason for seeing a 502 Bad Gateway error is that the domain is not determining the right IP address. This usually occurs due to incorrect DNS records being set at the Domain hosting level. In case you have the correct DNS records set,  you also have to keep in mind that changes in DNS can take time to propagate globally. This relies on various factors including time to live or TTL.

3. Block Request By Firewall

The firewall is used to block the transmission between the servers. It is another common reason to face the 502 error. There is the possibility that your WordPress security plugins might block the communication between the servers or can even block your local or ISP IP. To rule this out, you can try accessing the site from a different Internet connection. Moreover, a few DDOS protection systems are over-sensitive and start blocking the requests from servers.

4. Failure Of The Server

You might experience a 502 error if the server has completely failed. It can be due to a system crash or sometimes the server is taken offline for maintenance or similar reasons. This can also be because the content of the server might be violating the server provider’s terms and conditions.

5. Error In Browser

Sometimes, some browser extensions can also lead to errors while rendering the website, particularly AdBlock extensions. Apart from this, rare cases might cause the error due to the browser version being outdated.


Summary

As you can see from the above post, there are sufficient methods available combining both user and developer-friendly available, With the help of which you can troubleshoot and try to fix a 502 bad gateway error on your WordPress site.

Since this error triggers from the server side rather than the client side. It means the problem is not coming from either your website, computer, or internet connection. However, you should not forget to check out your third-party plugins or themes for bad codes or misconfigured files.

We hope the methods mentioned in this post to fix 502 bad gateway errors will help you to bring your website to normal just like it was before the error. If you have any more methods or solutions, that we haven’t covered in this post, feel free to let us know in the comment section below.


General FAQ

How do I fix Error 502?

You can fix Error 502 by doing the following methods:
Refresh your browser and reopen it: First, you need to close your current browser hold up a couple of moments, and reopen it. It is because Sometimes your browser may stop responding due to accessing the heavy traffic of data at the same time or maybe an error page is inserted in between the pages which are loading. Even try on another browser as well.
Reset Internet configuration: You need to restart your Internet modem. to do this, Unplug your internet modem and hold it up for 5 seconds, after it completely turns off, Plug it in again and Wait for your computer to establish a connection again.
Disable CDN temporarily: The Content Delivery Network commonly known as CDN improves the loading speed of a website but it can generate error 502 as well due to the firewalls. To overcome this issue, you can disable the CDN temporarily.

What does a 502 error mean?

Error 502 is an HTTP status code that defines The server as a passage or proxy and gets a not valid response from the server. It is classified as a server error. This kind of error shows a communication problem between the two servers. It happens when the user’s PC interfaces with a server that works as a gateway or as a proxy and that requires getting to a server that is in a higher hierarchy and that gives extra support.

What causes 502 Bad Gateway Nginx?

A 502 error happens when one web server gets a response that is not valid from another web server. The servers that communicate do not agree on the protocol for exchanging information. This sort of error is normally for a short period, so we can later attempt to enter the web once more. More often, the issue is on the website itself, and there’s very little you can do. But, this 502 Bad Gateway Nginx error can happen due to an issue on your PC or your internet hotspot device.
The following are some reasons:
1. Browser configuration problem
2. Server overloaded
3. not correctly configured servers
4. Error in communication between two servers

What causes a 502 Bad Gateway error?

Error 502 commonly known as 502 bad gateway can also be due to problems on the server side or the Website itself. On account of error 502, It is also possible that Your system or PC configuration doesn’t match the network standards, which can be assumed if the code shows up when attempting to open any page.
Causes of Error 502
1. Errors in PHP programming
2. Servers Overloaded
3. Browser problems
4. Communication problem between two servers
5. Server Crash

Does 502 bad gateway mean blocked?

If your computer screen displays an error message stating “502 bad gateway”, it means the server that is acting as a proxy or gateway is not getting adequate response from another server. But this is a generic error, you won’t be able to find out the root cause.
So, one can’t say, whether it is blocked or not without conducting any further investigation.


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