Chrome shows This site can't be reached, then The connection was reset. and the code ERR_CONNECTION_RESET when a connection to a website started normally and was then cut. Your browser found the site and began talking to it. Then something sent a "reset" signal that ends a connection on the spot, and Chrome was left with half a conversation.
That something can be the website's server, but it is very often a device in between: a VPN, security software, a router, or a filter on a work, school or public network. Google's own Chrome help describes the code simply as something interrupting your connection to the page.
Is the website resetting everyone?
Test the address in our website checker. If our servers load the page, the site is up and the reset is happening on your side of the connection. If our check fails too, the server is dropping connections for everyone, which usually means it is overloaded, restarting or misconfigured. In that case wait and try again later.
A quick second test: open the same page on your phone using mobile data. A page that loads there but resets on your Wi-Fi points at your router, your provider or software on your computer.
Fixes, most likely first
- Reload the page. A single reset during a busy moment is common and often does not repeat.
- Turn off your VPN and any proxy. In Windows 11 go to Settings, Network & internet, Proxy, and switch off any manual proxy you did not set up yourself. On a Mac, open System Settings, Network, your connection, Details, Proxies.
- Open the page in an Incognito window (Ctrl+Shift+N). If it loads, an extension is interfering. Turn extensions off one at a time, starting with ad blockers, VPN and security add-ons.
- Pause your antivirus web protection or firewall briefly and reload. If the page loads, add an exception for your browser or the site and turn the protection back on. Do not leave it off.
- Restart your router. Unplug it, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in and give it a few minutes.
- Clear the browser cache. Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete in Chrome, tick cached images and files, and delete them. Then go to
chrome://net-internals/#socketsand select Flush socket pools. - Update Chrome. Open the menu, Help, About Google Chrome. An out-of-date browser can fail to agree a secure connection with newer servers.
- Reset the Windows network stack. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run, in this order,
netsh winsock reset,netsh int ip reset,ipconfig /release,ipconfig /renewandipconfig /flushdns. Restart the PC. These are the commands Microsoft lists for connection problems.
When it only happens on one network
If the same sites reset at work, at school or on public Wi-Fi but load at home, the network is cutting the connections on purpose. Content filters commonly block a site by resetting the connection instead of showing a block page. There is nothing to repair on your device. Use a different network, or ask whoever runs the network whether the site is blocked.
The same applies at home if you have parental controls, a "safe browsing" option switched on at your provider, or a filtering DNS service on the router. Check those settings if one family of sites keeps resetting.
If you run the website
Resets that visitors see on every network come from your side. Look for a web server or application process that crashes or restarts under load, a firewall or security service that drops requests matching one of its rules, and timeouts on a load balancer that are shorter than the ones on the server behind it. Resets that happen only when someone uploads a large file or submits a long form usually trace back to a size limit. Your server's error log at the time of the reset is the place to start.
Reset, refused, timed out: the difference
These three codes describe different moments of failure, and that helps you find the cause. With a timeout, nothing ever answered. With a refusal, the server answered at once and said no before a connection existed. With a reset, the connection was up and running and was then torn down. Because a reset needs a working connection first, it rules out the simplest causes such as a dead server or a wrong address, and points at something that inspected the traffic and objected to it, or a server that fell over mid-request.
Patterns worth noticing
- Every site resets, in every browser. Suspect your VPN, proxy, security software or router first.
- Only secure pages on one site reset. Suspect antivirus HTTPS scanning, or an old browser or operating system that the site no longer supports.
- It resets on Wi-Fi and works on a cable. Suspect a weak or congested Wi-Fi link, or the router itself.
- It started straight after installing something. New VPN, firewall, parental-control and "internet accelerator" software all sit in the path of your connections. Remove or disable the newcomer and test again.
- One site resets for everyone you ask. It is the site. Wait.
The same error in other browsers
Edge shows the same ERR_CONNECTION_RESET code because it shares Chrome's engine. Firefox shows a page titled The connection was reset. Mozilla's advice for that page is to clear Firefox's cookies and cache first, and says that if this does not help, the problem is probably with the website. If a site resets in one browser and loads in another on the same computer, the cause is inside the failing browser: its cache, an extension or its proxy setting.
Related fix guides
Questions
What does ERR_CONNECTION_RESET mean?
The connection to the website was opened and then cut off before the page arrived. Chrome shows it as "The connection was reset". The cause can be the site's server or something between you and it, such as a VPN, firewall, router or network filter.
Is ERR_CONNECTION_RESET a problem with my computer?
Often, but not always. If the site loads on mobile data or in a website checker, the cause is on your device or network. If it fails everywhere, the website itself is dropping connections.
Can a VPN cause ERR_CONNECTION_RESET?
Yes. A VPN that drops or reconnects cuts every open connection, and some websites and networks reset connections that come from VPN addresses. Turn the VPN off and reload to test.
Why do I get ERR_CONNECTION_RESET on public Wi-Fi?
Public and workplace networks often filter traffic and block sites by resetting the connection. If the page loads on mobile data, the network is blocking it and there is nothing wrong with your device.