# Error issue

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-issue/741532>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [December 28, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-issue/741532 "2015-12-28T03:07:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-issue/741532/1 "2015-12-28T03:07:04Z")

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This problem only started for me a couple of weeks ago but, with many attempts to read a thread I often get the response:

“Not Found  
The requested URL/sdmb/undefined was not found on this server.  
Apache/2 Server at [boards.straightdope.com](http://boards.straightdope.com) Port 80”

In some cases if I retry several times I can eventually get into the thread in the normal fashion. In other cases I can never get in.

I tried searching for other threads or posts but that just got me a “server error”.

Has anyone else experienced this and can it be fixed?

(mods, please move this as appropriate)

Thanks

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**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-issue/741532/2 "2015-12-28T13:12:21Z")

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It sounds more like a connection error ( being a 404 page );  
Or, there’s something wrong with their Apache set-up, prolly .htaccess  
Or it’s a vBull fault. [**Here**](http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=305864)’s the same issue with a later version.  
Or, you are in the Miserable Users group ---- a vBull mod to make people’s connections difficult to discourage them. Judging by the frequent freezes and javascript problems encountered here, either I am in there or this site is woefully badly run.

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**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-issue/741532/3 "2015-12-28T16:04:30Z")

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Miserable Users Group - I had to google that.

[http://community.mybb.com/thread-155035.html](http://community.mybb.com/thread-155035.html)

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**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-issue/741532/4 "2015-12-28T23:30:00Z")

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Just a few thoughts: these are all WAG since more info is required.

Maybe your ISP DNS server (which translates web names to actual IP addresses) is slightly out-of date. Some ISPs are crappy sometimes. Or a really slow connection.  
If you are on satellite, good luck with that sometimes.

Possibly your computer is busy downloading updates, running a virus scan, or otherwise busy doing something that it times-out on getting the IP address/web page.  
Using Google DNS servers sometimes helps.

I have noticed sometimes when the board is busy, connection times measure in seconds (which a browser refresh handles nicely), I haven’t had a 404 here ever.

Or, just possibly…the SDMB doesn’t exist and this is all a dream. 😃