Very Strange: consistantly random 503 & 404 errors

Hello everyone,

I’ve consulted with everyone I know, including my webhost, and still have yet to get to the bottom of the problem that I am having. Hence I have turned to the one last place that I can think of in the hope that the lovely people on the WordPress forums will be able to help.

The problem is an odd one, which started recently on two different sites. The first site is here, which hasn’t launched yet (note the coming soon page). The other is here, which has been running for almost 2 years now and only recently started having the same issues as the first site.

In sum, the problem I am having is that I get either 503 server errors or 404 pager error when updating a page or post or when loading a page or post.

What happens is that the page seems to get stuck loading and caught in a loop (the loading icon in the browser just circles), while in the browser tab it says ‘connecting..’. This lasts until finally I get either a 503 or a (false) 404 error. (The reason I say the 404 errors are *false* is because the pages actually exist, and can be reloaded).

Once I get the error I can reload the page and it *always* works. For instance, even when updating a page or post..if I get the error the page still updates, because when I reload in a new tab the amended page/post is as it should be.

I’ve also noticed that over an extended period of time both sites have been running increasingly slower.

These errors occur inconsistently. I would say that they happen every 1 out of 5/6 times when I try to update or load a page/post. I’ve also experienced them when attempting to upload new media etc.

I’ve gone through everything and tried everything in terms of investigating whether it is a WordPress issue, including updating plguins etc. etc.. I definitely don’t think it is a WordPress issue, this seems like a server related problem. But I wanted to share it with you guys in case you had any new thoughts or could provide me with some assistance.

Both sites are hosted by the same webhost and run on the same custom theme. They are both also using the latest version of WP.

One thought is that it could be something to do with the database insofar as the database needs a restore? Or could it perhaps be an issue with the Mysql being spread over too many locations?

Thanks for your time and consideration.