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Troubleshooting

 

• Why can't I see my pages yet?
• Why haven't my updates appeared?
• How can I make a particular file private?
• How can I tell what my disk space usage is?
• What happens when I fill up my space?
• What MIME types does the server support?
• Why do I get error 404 - File not found?
• Why do I get error 403 - Access Forbidden?
• Why do I get error 400 - Bad Request?
• My pages don't work. Who can I contact?
• I have a question which is not answered here .

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Why can't I see my pages yet?

When you sign up to your SDU dial-up account or broadband service, there will be a delay before the DNS is in place to allow your website to be seen via the URL http://www.HOSTNAME.demon.co.uk

If you urgently need to test your site before the DNS is in place then you can use the URL http://USERNAME.demonweb.co.uk, however, please do not advertise this temporary URL as a permanent address for your website, as it will be subject to change.

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Why haven't my updates appeared?

Occasionally you might update your pages, then use your browser to check them and find it is still giving you the old versions. If this happens there are a number of steps you can take:

Clear your local disk cache- this will ensure your browser is not finding the old copy without looking on the network.

Disable the proxy server - either disable the proxy completely, or just for addresses ending with '.demon.co.uk'. This will make your browser go direct to the Homepages server rather than check for a cached copy with the proxy.

If you are using Netscape or Microsoft Explorer 3.01 or later, hold down <SHIFT> and click the reload button - this will bypass any caches or proxies and force a reload of the document direct from the server, updating caches as it goes along so anyone else loading the page will also see the new version.

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How can I make a particular file private?

You can password protect subdirectories within your site by using the 'Access Control' feature on your control panel .
Please see the context-sensitive help pages located on the control panel for more details.

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How can I tell what my disk space usage is?

See the 'Quota Usage' section of your control panel.

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What happens when I fill up my space?

Your Homepages site will have a 'soft quota' limit of 20 MB of disk space. If you exceed this limit you will be sent a warning email to webmaster@hostname.demon.co.uk to inform you that you need to either reduce your disk space usage or upgrade your account.
If your site exceeds the soft quota limit for too long then your site will be suspended.

Your site will also have a 'hard quota' limit of 30 MB of disk space. You will not be able to add any more information to your web site if you reach this limit. Your FTP client should receive a 'Quota exceeded' warning when you try to PUT files up to the server. If you reach the hard quota limit you will also be sent a warning email to webmaster@hostname.demon.co.uk, however, your site will be suspended straight away.

If your site has been suspended due to being over quota then please either reduce your disk space usage or upgrade to one of our commercial web hosting offerings via your control panel .

If you have reduced your disk space usage to below 20 MB but your site is not reinstated automatically, please contact the helpdesk at helpdesk@demon.net . If you have upgraded your account to one of commercial web hosting offerings but it is still suspended, please contact our commercial web support team at: websupport@demon.net . Please include the username for your website in the email .

Please also see the bandwidth usage FAQ here.

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What MIME types does the server support?

A text file containing all currently recognised MIME types is available on the Homepages server.

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Why do I get error 404 - File not found?

There are several possible reasons for this error:

1. You have not uploaded all of your files.  
   
2. You have uploaded your files into the wrong folder. Files should be uploaded into the folder called 'docroot'. Please note that there are a few reserved folder names that cannot be used as sub directories within the 'docroot' folder – see here for details.  
   
3. Your file names are in the wrong case, for example you have created a link to 'contact.htm' in lower case letters but then uploaded a file called 'Contact.htm' with a capital letter at the start of the name. It is generally best to keep all file names in lower case letters.  
   
4. You have created file names with a space at the start or end. If your FTP client will not allow you to rename or delete the files then try using a different FTP client. See here for information about the various different FTP clients.  

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Why do I get error 403 - Access Forbidden?

There are several possible reasons for this error:

1. You have placed an access restriction on your site (or a subdirectory of your site) using the 'Access Control' feature on your control panel.
   Please see the context-sensitive help pages located on the control panel for more details.
    
2. The permissions on your directories have been broken, for example by incorrect default permissions within your FTP client.
   
   The correct permissions for your files should be:
   For subdirectories of the docroot folder: 755
   User=read,write,eXecute Group=Read,eXecute Other=Read,eXecute
    
   For files inside the docroot folder (or subdirectories thereof): 644
   User=read,write Group=Read Other=Read
   
    
   You can manually change file permissions with most modern FTP client programs. For more help on this please see the FTP help page .

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Why do I get error 400 - Bad Request?

There are several possible reasons for this error:

1. Your site may have been suspended by us for breach of the Acceptable Use Policy . If you are the owner of the page, please contact Technical Support helpdesk@demon.net with your URL and this error message.
    
2. The Homepages site you have tried to contact has exhausted its bandwidth or disk space limitation allocation and therefore has been suspended. If you are the owner of the site, please click here  for further information (you should have been sent an email notification to webmaster@hostname.demon.co.uk).
    
3. You may be incorrectly specifying relative path names.
   e.g. using 'a href="../../../somepage.html"' when you needed to use 'a href="../somepage.html"'

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My pages don't work. Who can I contact?

Our Technical Support staff are able to offer help if you are having difficulty with accessing the Homepages server, but they are not available for help with writing your Homepages or other aspects unrelated to the server. For assistance, please email helpdesk@demon.net . Please include your username in your email so the helpdesk can find your account details.

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I have a question which isn't answered here.

If you have a question about design or authoring, you may find useful information located in these tutorials of some use, or alternatively the self-help newsgroup demon.homepages.authoring has a large community of like-minded customers to share problems with.