The Specified Server Could Not Be Found
Internet users sometimes come across error messages referring to “servers.” Without realising it, Web surfers regularly use the services of servers. In fact, all Web pages come from contact between the Web browser and a Web server. The Web browser is called a client and your local computer is also called the client computer. As with any communications, sometimes connections fail or computers are busy. This is when a computer user is likely to get a “Server could not be found” message.
Other People Are Reading
-
Configuration
-
Many applications require network or Internet connections to enable them to bring in extra resources from other computers. This is an efficient use of computer hardware, because it means that members of the general public can use computers that are far smaller than they would need to be if they had to store all the information/music/films the user wants. A newly installed application may have difficulty connecting to the server. Maybe the address of the server change between the production of the application and its installation, or maybe the computer's network isn't configured properly to allow connection to the Internet and thus access to the server. If a regularly accessed server suddenly becomes unavailable, this is likely to be due to overloading, or connection failure, rather than the removal of the server.
Finding the Server
-
Client program usually have few alternatives for server contact. A particular mail client can only contact the servers of its associated mail service. If those servers are not found, there is no point going to a different server. A Web page is only held on one server and so if that server is busy, the browser cannot apply to a different server for that page. If the server cannot be found, there is little the user can do to remedy the situation, other than try again later.
-
Network Errors
-
A connection over the Internet is a complicated sequence of links between different computers spanning the globe. Routers, gateways and servers combine effort to pass messages from a client to a server. Sometimes things go wrong, a link breaks and the whole journey has to be restarted. Sometimes things go doubly wrong and the error reporting that goes back to the client gets lost, or is improperly labelled. These obstacles may result in the user being told that the server cannot be found.
Problem Severity
-
The severity of the problem varies depending on whether it is a one off error among a series of successful transactions, or whether a newly installed application just will not work and returns the server not found error every time. If the server not found error is an infrequent occurrence, the user just has to wait a while before trying again. If an application has never been able to find the server, then the user needs to investigate whether the address the application is contacting is still current.
-
References
- Photo Credit Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
