User was not able to submit form - Getting server down error on submitting form

Hi , I was recently notified that some of the respondents were not able to submit the form via jotform. They claims to receive error of server down after clicking the submit button.

It is not the first time a user encounter such problem and it's very frustrating cause I can't seem to be able to identify what's the problem with the form as there was no problem when me and team mates try it out. The form is used to collect data for research purpose.

I'm wondering if someone could help to identify what's the main reason that's causing this problem?

Thank you

 <edit> Is it due to some widgets that are causing this problem? Do let me know how I can rectify the problem.

Hello, 

I also tested out your form and examined the source code and all the DOM events in action - I could not reproduce this error. 

Currently - this is what I can come up with

1. That is a sporadic error due to a network/connection issue - 

2. Or its a possible CDN issue (content delivery network)  - but unlikely

To resolve this - we would need more details -  Please ask the user to take a screenshot of the error so that we can identify what might cause it. 

I know losing carefully filled out answers on a long form is incredibly frustrating. So, in the meantime, this might help: 

1. Configure your form to automatically save answers as the user continues - - http://www.jotform.com/help/227-How-to-Enable-Auto-Fill-Feature

2. Advice your users that if they ever encounter such an issue - all they have to do is click on 'back' to reopen and resubmit the form with their previous answers autofilled. 

I hope this helps - looking forward to your response. 

Hi,

thank you for the suggestion to use the autofill

Regarding the main problem, the user wasn't able to give us a screenshot of the problem, all I manage to get from him is that "it only happens at the last page, then when he wanted to click submit, the window popped out with "no server"."  Do you know what's the cause of this?

How can I know if the problem originates from my form or that the problem actually belongs to the person themselves?

Hi,

I would like to just ask you if the jotform in question was accessed directly or is it embedded somewhere? For example if the jotform is on your website on some page?

If your jotform is embedded, it might have happened that there was an issue with your server or the connection between your server and jotform servers, or the issue between the client himself and our servers.

Server Down followed by 5xx message is usually a response from the server itself, but can be caused by the old/corrupt DNS data or that the user lost his connection.

If you do not mind and he remembers the exact error number, that should give our developers more details about the origin of the problem.

You can see for yourself as well what each error means here: http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/error.asp

While the error message might be slightly different depending on each server, the error code should always mean the same.

Best Regards,
Ben

Hi Ben,

Thanks for replying. The jotform is accessed directly and it is not embedded in anywhere as we gave the users the direct link to the form http://form.jotform.co/form/40991635822864

Unfortunately, I was not able to get any more info from the user itself ( the most i can get is what was written in the previous reply and that the user tried and the same error occurred twice. He was able to navigate through the page until the last one where he couldn't submit it because of the pop up error) and since me and my team have never encounter any problem while testing out the forms on our own, it worked perfectly. Therefore, we are not sure what's wrong too.

Hi,

I have just tried your jotform submission and it went (empty) without any error being shown. I am not sure what would have caused popup to be shown as well. He should have been redirected to another page.

I can only presume at this time that this was something related to the user, not the system, but do let us know if you got any new such emails/issues detected.

Best Regards,
Ben

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your reply.

Asked most of my team members to try out the form, none of us encounter any errors in submission too that's why we were pretty frustrated when we have 2 respondents (within a week) telling us that they were not able to submit the answers and we couldn't really do anything from our side as none of us was able to replicate the errors faced by the users.

Side note: Should we try asking the user to change browsers or clearing their cache, would that maybe work?

For now, I could only assume that the errors came from the users themselves but clearly the supervisor aren't convinced LOL. I'll let you know if any users are having similar problem again. I just find it odd that similar issues are being reported to us in just a span of days.

Anyway, thanks for the help! It was very much appreciated :)

Your form only consists of basic fields with no-widgets in it and I don't see any thing to the form that would cause this problem to happen. It should work fine. I made a clone of the form and it works to my end and to my friend from AU. What is the location of the two respondents that made an attempt to the form? Are they outside from AU?

Yes, asking them to clear their browsers cache should help. Or, suggest using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. 

If it is an error showing our servers are down then most likely their networks are unable to connect to our servers. You can enable auto fill feature, that should help your responders refresh the page without losing all the data filled to the form - so they can retry.

Thank you!

Hi Welvin,

Thank you for your reply.  I'm accessing the form from AU, but the form is mainly used around in Malaysia (the two respondent are accessing it in Malaysia, there was no such issue reported by other respondents before though). I have no problem accessing it therefore I have asked my friends in Malaysia to try it just to be sure, they have no problem with it too.

Yup, I've already enable autofill.

If you don't mind, could you be able to explain to me how clearing the cache would help (or any readings are fine too)? It would be easier for me to talk to the team should they ask lol.

Thanks.

That could be a browser specific. Maybe the two submitters are using an older version, especially, Internet Explorer. We support it, but not adviseable. Our forms should work best for the newer version of every browser. 

A browser's cache is used for the temporary storage of Web pages on your hard disk. The first time you view a web site, the page(s) is retrieved from the Web.

Excerpt from here: http://askleo.com/whats_a_browser_cache_how_do_i_clear_it_and_why_would_i_want_to/.

Thank you!

Thanks,

I'll just have to wait and see if such problem happen again.

Thanks for the help Jotform support team :)

Hello Jw_Law,

On behalf of my colleagues, you are welcome.

Do get back to us if you see this problem again.

Thank you!

@SVKatti: I have moved your inquiry to a new thread and will answer it there shortly. Here's the link: https://www.jotform.com/answers/898397.