It has become remarkably easy to take for granted how complex of a system our contemporary internet is. That presumption grinds to a halt, along with our browsing, when confronted with the message, “This webpage has a redirect loop fix: err_too_many_redirects.” If you’re an average web user without any knowledge of coding or web structure, this message won’t make a lick of sense. However, we can not only help you to understand it; we can help you to potentially fix it, as well.
Unlike many foundational elements of our digital-era culture, the moving parts of the internet are almost impossible to imagine. It’s an amorphous collection of data, constantly shifting, changing, growing, and shrinking in ways that seem completely out of our control. As average users, we’re along for the ride, and as long as the ride remains entertaining, informative, and entirely functional, we don’t have a complaint to offer. However, when messages such as our guide’s title come into play, that otherwise smooth experience becomes a mess of words, indicating a problem that we don’t know how to untangle.
‘This webpage has a redirect loop…Err 310…Too_Many_Redirects.’
Fortunately, it’s not as complicated as the underscores and web coding language make it seem. Though the terminology may be unfamiliar, we can break down the problem and diagnose it. After a few simple steps–able to be accomplished in any web browser, no less–you’ll know whether there’s a problem on your end of the internet, or if there’s a larger problem with the website you’re trying to access that’s not even fixable, by your hand.
The language used in how the error is presented may change depending on which browser you’re using, or even where you’re using the internet from, but it’s usually a recognizable amalgamation of the italicized phrase above. When you’re seeing that message or different parts of it, they’re almost certainly pointing towards a very precise error, even if the potential causes for that error might be quite diverse.
Without further ado, let’s delve into the issue and see what we can do to fix it. You’ll need a few bits of knowledge and two resources on hand before we proceed, but these are easily within your grasp.
- Have access to two different web browsers. While we all have our go-to defaults (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, etc.), it’s handy to have a second installed as a backup, for situations such as this.
- Knowledge of where to reset your cookies within your browser. Really, you only need to know where the option exists in your settings. We’ll talk about it in greater depth shortly!
With this preparation in hand, let’s get to work.
What Does This Error Mean?
First, let’s break down this error in a way that we can easily understand it. Anyone familiar with web coding languages will understand what the problem is right away, but the rest of us could use a little bit of enlightening.
The root of the error rests in the redirection process, which you might have guessed based on the context of the message itself. A “redirect” is when a web URL is coded to automatically lead you to another URL when it’s accessed. Though this can be done for any number of reasons, it’s most popular when someone’s attempting to move a website to a new host. This isn’t particularly uncommon. Maybe a URL name opened up, and you want to snag it for your website, or maybe the purpose of a website is changing and it needs a new URL.
No matter the reason, one of the most common ways to send traffic to the correct destination is to set up automatic redirection.
Why is Redirecting a Problem?
This isn’t inherently a problem. Instead, you might be surprised to know that it works just fine the vast majority of the times that it’s used. It’s a standard-fare operation when you don’t want visitors to a particular URL to have to find their own way to a new destination URL.
Problems occur, however, when the redirect process becomes a constant, closed loop. Imagine hopping from spoke to spoke on a wheel; you’ll eventually land up right back at the one you started on. Now, imagine that the only way you could escape the loop and stop the momentum is to find a path off of the wheel.
You might be starting to see where this problem comes from. When an automatic redirect process only results in cyclical bouncing between URLs, it can result in an entire host of other issues to occur, mostly for those using web browsers. Available computer memory can get devoured, browsers can crash, information can be lost, and the list could keep going on. Instead, in order to prevent this from happening, your browser is smart enough to stop the redirecting and instead display an error message.
Hence, “too many redirects” is a fairly apt diagnosis of the problem that’s occurring. How are we going to go about fixing it?
Fixing the Error
Here’s the frustrating thing: while it’s easy to determine what problem is happening, it’s a far more involved process when you’re fixing it. We’re going to go through a few different steps that each might, potentially, allow you to visit websites without error.
The more high-profile the site is, the more likely that the problem is happening on your end of the connection. High-profile websites such as Gmail and Facebook are well-designed enough that a redirect loop on account of faulty coding is quite unlikely. As you get further and further away from these huge web presences with massive development teams, the likelihood of the website itself being the culprit increases.
Try a Different Web Browser
Here’s the first step that we’re going to take, in the hopes that it might be a simple fix. The largest difficulty in dealing with this type of error is that it’s quite difficult to isolate, in spite of being easy to diagnose.
If you’ve been following our guide thus far, you should have a second web browser installed and handy on your computer. A backup is always handy for this reason! Go ahead and close out your primary browser while we’re trying this.
After opening your backup web browser, try going to the same website again. If you’re given a similar result, then we’ve narrowed it down a little bit! One browser succeeding where another doesn’t is a sign that the problem is on your end, and can be resolved. If both browsers have a redirect error, however, then the problem may still be on your end, but a little bit more diagnostic work is in order.
Reset Your Cookies
Now we arrive at the cookies, finally. You’d be surprised at the number of internet and browser errors that can be resolved simply by clearing out your cookies!
In case you’re not aware, the type of “cookie” that we’re talking about is a small file. As you spend time online, and especially as you fill in data entry forms on websites that collect information from you, the number of cookies built up in your browser increases. Web sites use these files in order to quickly retrieve saved information that can help to shape that web site’s experience to you. This type of web data behavior has been around for a while, and it’s not likely to disappear; when it’s working right, it’s very effective!
However, as with any filetype, it’s possible for cookies to become faulty or corrupted, which can wreak several kinds of havoc in your web browser, including (potentially!) causing redirect errors on websites.
What you’ll want to do, then is delete the cookies from each of your web browsers. It’s equivalent to a “reset” button for the data stored during your web browsing, and can be a good thing to regularly do for your computer. Almost always, your cookies can be managed from your browser’s settings menu. Go ahead and do that now.
After, we’re going to investigate again. Once you’ve cleared out the cookies in each of your web browsers, try going to the same site that was giving you redirect errors before.
If you’re still getting the same errors, then we can be fairly certain that the problem actually has to do with the websites’ redirect orders, and can’t be fixed by you. It’s a bummer, but it happens! If there’s an available network administrator for the site you’re trying to access, now would be the time to contact them.
If you’re no longer getting redirect errors, then pat yourself on the back and continue to go about your web browsing!
While problems like this can often seem beyond your knowledge, they can often be resolved through rather simple efforts. Web browsers are designed with accessibility in mind, and the most popular of them come equipped with the tools necessary for solving recurring frustrations such as redirect errors.
If we’ve managed to fix your error today, and you’re no longer receiving the message, “this webpage has a redirect loop: err_too_many_redirects,” then congratulations! If you’re still having trouble, post in the comments below, and we’ll see if we can’t continue our troubleshooting.
