Change Your Blogger Server

If you're a Blogger Unpaid Staff Member, like me, you just posted to your blog (and with no errors), and you're getting any of the several afflictions that so many are complaining of, when trying to access your blog:

• A blank screen.


• The blog will load as HTML, or look like garbage.


• Only part of the blog will load. Any or all of the following may apply:
  
  
  
  • Posts will be missing from the body.
  
  
  • Part or all of the sidebar will be blank.
  
  
  • The footer will be missing.
  
  


• Maybe your blog WILL load, but it will take like 5 minutes each time you open a new post. Obviously, your visitors won't stand for THAT, which is why your visit count is way down.

Or maybe you're trying to Create or Edit a post, and having no luck.

• Maybe the Post Editor won't load properly. Or it loads so slowly, that you start to type into the post window before it finishes loading, then when it refreshes as it loads, what you just typed in gets erased.


• Maybe you're missing key pieces of the post window - like some of the buttons, or the Compose / Edit Html tabs.

Or you're simply editing an individual post, or trying to Republish Index Only, or Republish Entire Blog, and getting fatal errors.

• One currently commonly seen error:
  

  
  This server is currently experiencing a problem. An engineer has been notified and will investigate.
  
  Status code: 1-500-(whatever)
  



• A second commonly seen error:
  

  
  450 Write error: No space left on device 001 java.net.SocketException
  

If you've been experiencing any of the above problems, first delete your cookies. Next, clear your cache. Note that this is not a cureall for all of your problems. See my article Blogspot and Server Access for discussion.

The cookies contain settings, used by the many web pages that you've loaded onto your computer, that control how those pages get displayed. The cache contains the actual page contents, as temporary files. Cache and Cookies complement each other, but don't confuse them - they are not the same.

So, to get your browser to access a different Blogger server, you will need to clear the Blogger ServerID cookie, or all cookies. This will vary, according to the browser, and what cookie management product you use.

If you're feeling truly adventurous, and you're using Firefox, check the value of cookie Blogger - ServerID, BEFORE you delete your Blogger cookies. See what it is now, and what it becomes. Make sure that you do get a new server.

If you're using Internet Explorer, I have no advice for you, except Use Firefox.


NOTE: I wish I could say, with authority, that changing your server will solve all of your ills, or at least fix any Blogger problems. But it won't.

What I know, from experience, is that you, personally, access one of thousands of individual Blogger servers, when using Blogspot or Blogger. Many times, when you get a message about

...an engineer has been notified...

or the like, the specific server that you access is down. This does not mean that Blogger is down, nor does it mean that you will be inconvenienced forever. Eventually, the engineer will reset the server that affects you, and you will be back in business. Unfortunately, that will probably be a matter of hours, or maybe days.

If you do not wish to wait for hours or days, you can access Blogger / Blogspot by using another server. This is not convenient; it is a pain in the ass to have to do this. But in my personal opinion, it beats waiting for an engineer.

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