Adwords site always down

[charpress]

I got my credit card bill for AdWords today and was pretty dismayed at the charges --one for November 1 and one for November 22.

I've been trying to get to their site to see what's up with my account and to put a quick pause on things. Of course, the site is down and has been for at least 6 hours.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? It's annoying as hell to see the meter ticking and have no way to stop it. I guess the next step is to put a stop to this through American Express.

[Shak]

never really experienced what you are referring to?

Shak

[Robino]

I've never had problems either.

It might be something on your end.

[eWhisper]

Everyonce in a while, I'll get the AdWords down, engineers have been notified page. If I hit refresh enough times, the page eventually shows up, and I can log in without incident. This happened all 3 times I logged in today - had to hit refresh from 5-20 times to get the login page.

[woop01]

The site has never been down for me and it wasn't down the three times I checked it this morning.

[charpress]

Well, in the past nearly a year I've had no problems either.

This is the address I've always used and it is not working from my end:

[adwords.google.com...]

This is also the address from the Google main page after you click on AdWords.

[Tropical Island]

Try this link:

[adwords.google.com...]

It works great for us.

[charpress]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[charpress]

Nope, didn't work.

This must be an issue with my ISP.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

charpress, just in case it is a security settings issue, please try the following:

In Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Select 'Tools' from the MS IE browser menu.
2. Select 'Internet Options.'
3. Select the 'Advanced' tab.
4. Under 'Security,' check both 'Use SSL 2.0' and 'Use SSL 3.0.'

In Mozilla/Netscape Navigator

1. Select 'Edit' from the Navigator browser menu.
2. Select 'Preferences.'
3. Select the arrow next to 'Privacy/Security' in the side menu.
4. Select 'SSL' from the sub-menu.
5. Check both 'Enable SSL Version 2' and 'Enable SSL Version 3.'

I hope that this'll solve the issue. I'd say there is a fair chance that it will.

Other possibilities to consider (although it sounds as if this is not affecting you): make sure you are not somehow accessing a cached page by starting with a fresh browser, then following this path:

Google.com > Advertise with Us link > Google AdWords link > AdWords home page - log in at upper left.

AWA

[hostlead]

I am getting the same error...

HL

[maoley]

I've been getting DNS errors for at least 2 months when trying to login to Adwords. Rumour has it that the Adwords pages have been blocked by someone in the government.

The Google main search is ok but image search is not allowed. Now it comes to Adwords. I've worked out a way around but it's still not convenient.

[Tropical Island]

Maoley>

Run a scan on your system for scumware. We use Spybot which works well. Make sure you update it after downloading to make sure that it's the latest version.

Scumware has been known to block access to certain sites like Google.

[charpress]

I've narrowed it down to just my computer. Other computers on my network and with the same broadband connection have no problem.

The next step will be to re-check the settings on this computer. This is strange, since I have not changed any browser setting since the last time I logged on to Adwords. I do run AdAware and SpyBot Search and Destroy frequently, but will do so again.

[hostlead]

I have the same problem from work and from my home.

HL

[charpress]

AdWordsAdvisor:

Thanks for the tip. Enabling both SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0 fixed the problem.

Shouldn't this be an issue with the AdWords site? It doesn't seem to me that you should have to enable 2.0 to access the AdWords site.

This has got to be a frequent problem.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

charpress, this 'fix' has solved access problems for about a dozen advertisers that I am aware of in the past month or so - so I don't believe the scenario is widespread.

I'm sorry to say that I'm not technical enough to understand why a very few advertisers are affected while something like 150,000 others are not.

AWA

[hostlead]

none of the fixes work for me...looks like I'll only be going with overture.

HL

[AdWordsAdvisor]

hostlead, I wonder how you have your 'Security' and 'Privacy' settings configured under Internet Options (or your browser's equivalent)?

Both should be set at a 'Medium' level, or below in order for easy navigation to/within your account.

You might also want to try clearing your cache.

If you simply can't get in, please contact AdWords support - and we'll certainly look into it.

AWA

[hostlead]

Hello,

it is all set to default (medium, low-medium).
ssl 2.0 and 3.0 is checked.
I added google to the trusted sites.

HostLead

[charpress]

"I don't believe the scenario is widespread"

It may not be. But I also don't understand why it would happen to me "out of the blue."

[maoley]

>Tropical Island

Nope. Deosn't work. Installed Spybot and updated it to the newest version. Fixed all the problems found but still got DNS error.

It's more likely a government job.

[sem4u]

I can log in but sometimes get booted out for now reason. Also, traffic estimator is running really slow :(

[eWhisper]

This morning, every time I clicked on a link, I was taken back to the login page, log back in, goto the page I wanted, click to see a new campaign, goto login page...twice as many page views and time as necessary. Not the first time this has happened.

[Tropical Island]

AdWords is not working up to speed today. Had the same problem with being logged out when trying to make changes.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

On the basis of the above three posts, I've queried engineering to see if anything is up. I'll post again if I hear anything.

AWA

[sem4u]

Thank's AWA.

We appreciate your input here.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

So, I've heard back - and there do not appear to be any particular issues working. This also seems to be borne out by what I am hearing from phone and email folks.

The only thing mentioned was a small group of servers running behind, affecting a limited number of advertisers. This might explain delayed stats, sluggish performance, etc. Word has it that the servers are now 'caught up'.

If you're experiencing something out of the ordinary, and it seems to persist, please don't hesitate to contact AdWords support. In your email, the answers to the following questions would be very helpful for troubleshooting purposes:

1) What operating system are you using? Example: MAC 9.2.1.

2) What browser version are you using? Please specify the exact version. (In Internet Explorer, use 'About Internet Explorer' in the Help menu; in Netscape, use 'About Communicator,' also in the Help menu.)

3) When are you encountering difficulties? Are you receiving any specific error messages? Example: Receive 404 error when I try to log in to AdWords.

4) What is the URL of the page that you are trying to access?

5) How often does this occur? Is this your first time encountering this problem or has it been a consistent issue?

Very sorry for the access issues, and I hope they've resolved themselves by now (hey, call me a dreamer...). If not, please consider sending an email with the info mentioned above.

AWA

[caine]

adwords appear for me, but i can't see any title's in any of the adwords on the page, and non are clickable from home or from work!

[AdWordsAdvisor]

caine, this sounds a great deal like an issue discussed here before. Turns out the problem had to do with Norton 2004 Internet Security software (or similar) recently installed by those seeing the problem.

I'll try to find that thread and post again with the link. Or, more likely, someone else will beat me to it!

AWA