What is a 504 Gateway Timeout Error and What can you do?

If you are reading this it indicates that you have recently encountered an error message that says – Gateway 504 timeout error. This error mainly occurs when a server does not receive a timely response from another server when loading a web page. Most of the time, this error belongs to the website itself and there is not much you can do about it. Nevertheless, here are some tips that you can try to correct this error. So let’s get started.

What is a gateway 504 timing error

Similar to 4xx error codes like “404 page error not found”, 504 Gateway Timeout Error is also an HTTP status code. This is a server-side error that indicates that the problem is caused by the server. It is quite common to happen and almost all users would have encountered it when trying to load a page.

Sometimes, you may see different forms of gateway 504 timeout error on a different number of web browsers. However, they all have the same meaning. Here are some alternative names of 504 Gateway Timeout Error that you may encounter. They are:

• Gateway Expiration Time (504)
• 504 portal expired
• 504 ERROR
• Gateway timeout error
• HTTP Error 504 – Gateway timeout
• HTTP 504

How to fix the gateway 504 timeout error

As stated above that this error is a server-side error, this suggests that the problem only affects the server side, not the client side. Since the problem is not on the client side, you, as the end user, can do nothing to resolve the problem on your side.

And therefore, there is little you can do to resolve this problem. However, this guide includes a few things that you can try on your own. So try the suggestions below to solve the associated problem:

1. Refresh the page after maybe a minute
2. Restart all of your network devices
3. Disable proxy settings
4. Change your DNS servers
5. Contact the site
6. Contact your ISP
7. Try again after a while.

Let’s see them in detail:

1]Refresh the page

504 Gateway Timeout Error can sometimes be a temporary problem. This situation occurs when a large number of requests occur simultaneously and the server becomes unable to handle more. In this case, the reload page is always worth it.

To do this, you can press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F5 (or F5) and you can also use the refresh button available next to the address bar. It doesn’t always solve the problem, but it only takes a second, so try it once.

2]Restart all of your network devices

If you encounter this error, you need to check if you are the only person dealing with it or if other people are also having the same problem. To do this, you can test it with different devices like other computers and cellphones.

This way you can determine if this is a common problem or a server-side error. If you find it as a local problem, a simple restart of your system and network device can help you get out of this mess.

3]Disable proxy settings

Sometimes you may receive this error if you are using a proxy service. This happens occasionally, especially on the client side. So everything you need to disable the proxy settings and check if it works for you.

4]Change your DNS servers

Unfortunately, if all the devices on your network receive the same error, the problem may be related to the DNS servers you are using. In this case, you may need to change your DNS servers and then try to access the website again.

Sometimes this error can also result from an incorrect or outdated DNS cache. In this situation, you can try to clear the DNS cache.

5]Contact the site

As the next solution to correct this error, you can try to contact the site owner directly if you can. This may be just a small error. So when you contact them, explain what steps you have taken to resolve the problem.

The representative can explain to you the appropriate reasons for this error to occur. In this way, you can perhaps get rid of the gateway 504 timeout error.

6]Contact your ISP

Another option is to contact your Internet service provider. In fact, after following almost every method possible, it appears to be a network issue for which your ISP is responsible. Therefore, contact your Internet service provider and notify them of the problem.

7]Try again after a while

Since you have tried all possible solutions and the error code persists, as a last resort, you should wait and try it later. So check the site regularly and it will start working as soon as possible.

I hope this guide will help you correct this error. If you have other solutions related to this error code, let us know in the comments below.

Then read: What is a 408 request timeout error?