D&D Insider is constantly down!

[Mathew_Freeman]

I think I'm going to cancel my DDI Subscription after this month. I love all of the content and I'm really happy with the way its going, but every time I try and log into the account I get weird database errors or 500 error messages.

The other problem I have is when I am logged in and I click on a PDF to view it, it keeps refreshing in my browser and times out. I haven't seen anyone else complain about this.

Am I the only one that has these issues?

I've not had any problems at all with the site.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

I think I'm going to cancel my DDI Subscription after this month. I love all of the content and I'm really happy with the way its going, but every time I try and log into the account I get weird database errors or 500 error messages.

The other problem I have is when I am logged in and I click on a PDF to view it, it keeps refreshing in my browser and times out. I haven't seen anyone else complain about this.

Am I the only one that has these issues?

Jeffery,

Please contact customer service as I suspect there is a solution to this.

I am running Firefox 3.0.3 on a MacBook pro with Leopard and every once and a while Insider does not work for me until I log out, close FF, and re-login.

If you don't get resolution from CS let me know.

 

[justanobody]

So no one else is getting this right now?

500 Internal Error Couldn't retrieve the HTML document because of server-configuration problems. Contact site administrator.

That is what 500 means. The server is broke and acknowledges your HTTP GET request, but is unable to reply to it.

This happens when work gets done on servers as they don't know where to find things until all the servers are back on and running.

For example the nameservers for WotC are currently on and taking requests, but the subdomain servers such as www, ww2, etc are being worked on offline so people aren't able to get to them and cause delays in the maintenance.

There are many other things that could cause a 500 error, but they are all problems with the servers and out of your control.

So you are not alone, and it just means that with the website down today for a scheduled upgrade, that they are actually performing the upgrade rather than stalling to do it later.

Maybe even they are adding the character builder to be ready for when there is a link to it as well as fixing cookie problems, PDF problems, etc.

But it is not your software doing it.


Now if Scott can get to the server, he might be coming from inside the network and that means only the outside world is cut off while it is being repaired.

So you are connecting correctly, but WotC computers don't currently know what you are trying to connect to for some reason.

 

[Hawke]

So no one else is getting this right now?

Down for me on two systems :-(

 

[chriton227]

I'm still getting the 500 error too.

As someone who develops web applications for a living, a default 500 server error is one of those things you never want to intentionally send to your clients/customers. If the site is going to be down for maintenance, you put up a page to that effect, preferably with an estimate of when the site will be back up (especially for scheduled maintenance).

If the user is getting a 500 error, that means the web service is up and processing requests, but that there is a server side problem. Most of the times I have seen 500 errors, it wasn't because of a scheduled outage, but rather a problem in the code or something like an out of memory issue with the server itself. If they had fully taken the server down for maintenance then the service wouldn't be responding at all, so there wouldn't be anything there to send back the 500 error (you would get a DNS error or server not found error). Most companies I know of also don't take their sites down during the day for scheduled outages, they try to do it during the lowest usage times (typically the middle of the night). The Wizards site uses Microsoft Active Server Pages, so they are more than likely running a Windows/IIS back end. If that is the case, it only takes about 5 clicks to set the server to display a user friendly error page with support contact information instead of that generic 500 error. Also, for the vast majority of things, you don't have to take IIS down to install new apps, usually the most you have to do is restart the service (only takes a couple minutes max).

Seeing the Wizards site down for 2+ hours without even getting a "experiencing technical difficulties" page put up doesn't instill confidence for me in the quality and support for the DDI apps.

Edit: I just tried going to the base site (http:\\www.wizards.com) and got a VBScript out of memory error. So it seems like this truly is a server issue, not a scheduled outage.

 

[chriton227]

Jeffery,

Please contact customer service as I suspect there is a solution to this.

I am running Firefox 3.0.3 on a MacBook pro with Leopard and every once and a while Insider does not work for me until I log out, close FF, and re-login.

If you don't get resolution from CS let me know.

Scott,

Could you post the contact info for CS? Normally I would go to the Wizards site to get the contact info, but since the site is down I have no way to get the contact info to report that the site is down.

It's kinda like that number the phone company gives to call if your phone doesn't work.

 

[The Little Raven]

Edit: I just tried going to the base site (http:\Wizards of the Coast) and got a VBScript out of memory error. So it seems like this truly is a server issue, not a scheduled outage.

And on the other end, I'm surfing their site, checking the forums, and reading my DDI content without any problems whatsoever.

 

[Mengu]

I too am having problems right now. It seems to be intermittent.

But honestly, aside from today's problems it's been working fine for me, with a very occasional time out now and then.

Getting logged out frequently is the biggest nuisance for me right now. I wish it would keep me logged in.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

I can't load Wizards.com at all on my souped up laptop, but it works fine on my roommate's crappy Dell downstairs. Weird.

EDIT: I go back upstairs, and try again on my laptop, and it now works. Even weirder.

 

[catsclaw227]

Huh... I haven't had any problems. I just went to the site without issue. Also, I've been able to go in a couple of hours ago too, without problem.

I know this weekend it was down, with 500 errors and asp (vbscript) errors.

Is it possible that some people have cached the error pages? I highly doubt it, but in an effort to try anything, you can hit CTRL-F5 from the page with the error and it will force a reload of the page instead of using a cached version.

I am loading the Trollhaunt side trek PDF as we speak (or, I should say, as I type. )