Electronic Resources: Troubleshooting ... and Beyond

A guide to assist with electronic resources access and alerting users to temporary outages.

Error Messages You May Encounter & What They Mean

Your institution is not a subscriber, No subscription, etc.   If you receive this error message while trying to access this resource from off-campus, please make sure you have logged into proxy server from the library's website before accessing this resource.


404 Not Found.   This error message indicates the page was not found on the site.  It could mean the platform’s server is down.  Please let us know.


403 Forbidden.   The request either does not specify the file name or the directory or the file does not have the permission that allows the pages to be viewed from the web.  Check the URL and if you are still having difficulties with access please contact us.


500 Internal Server Error.   Request unsuccessful because of an unexpected condition encountered by the server.


Number of Ports Exceeded.   A few of our resources have a limited number of seats.  Please try again later. If this is a persistent problem, please notify us.


Unresolved DNS (Domain Name Server) Hostname Error.   If a user gets a “hostname error” when going to an electronic resource.  The most common cause is that the server address is incorrect.  Make sure there are no unnecessary spaces, typos, etc. in the URL.  If the URL is still not working, please contact the Help Desk.


Certificate Warning.   Some vendors use a secure site (https) instead of http.  In order to view a secure site, the browser will need to accept the certificate.  Browsers challenge them by default.  Upon receiving the warning, add an exception for the library.

URL: https://libguides.colostate.edu/eresources | Print Page