Google's Gmail returns to normal after 4hr outage

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Visitors to Google's Gmail service are being greeted with server errors when trying to access their mail accounts this morning.

It's not yet known what the exact issue is but Gmail officials have confirmed they are aware of the web outage and the company is "trying to fix it asap". Google Search is currently unaffected. Many users are reporting IMAP services and POP3 services seem to be unaffected.

This is the second outage to hit Google in a month. Late January the Google Search service was offline for up to 1hr when a human error marked all search results as malicious.

Update: According to Google's support page the problem occurred at 1:30AM Pacific Time and the company is "working hard to resolve this". Currently the service has been unavailable for nearly 3 hours.

Update 2: Google have now confirmed the outage is over. "The problem is now resolved and users have had access restored. We know how important Gmail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously, and we apologize for the inconvenience."

#1 Kudo on 24 Feb 2009 - 10:53

Good to know cause I was worried that I manage to log in earlier without any problem and now I can't. Hope they fix it soon cause Gmail is my default email.

(1 reply) #2 Richard Hammond on 24 Feb 2009 - 10:59

Grr, im expecting an important email and i cant even bloody login.

#2.1 bush on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:37

It's freeware. You have to take it into your consideration.. somehow.

(4 replies) #3 cork1958 on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:03

Yep,
Been having problems all morning with gmail. Stupid POS gmail!!

While I was trying to login here at Neowin just now, I got redirected to here, http://www.vipreantivirus.com/antivirus-pl...CFYFA3godKDxH1Q, also.

WTF?!!

#3.1 markjensen on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:28

cork1958 said,

...
While I was trying to login here at Neowin just now, I got redirected to here, http://www.vipreantivirus.com/antivirus-pl...CFYFA3godKDxH1Q, also.

WTF?!!

Now, that one sounds like you've got malware.

Scan and clean.

#3.2 nonick on 24 Feb 2009 - 15:27

So 4hour downtime and gmail went from one of the best email providers to "POS"? What are you? 12?

#3.3 z_rudy on 24 Feb 2009 - 15:36

Now we know where his malware is

#3.4 +dead.cell on 24 Feb 2009 - 19:21

Judging by the 1958 in his name, he may just be an old guy with high blood pressure.

#4 Knad on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:06

Ah I need to access an important email too!!

#5 simon360 on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:08

Their IMAP is down too, and I can't log into my custom domain email (google apps?).

#6 forcer on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:14

I've been trying to log in all morning i have a couple of e-mails i need to pick up... it's so annoying.

#7 UpTheToon on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:14

Pop is still up, I can access via iPhone.

#8 quirkatron on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:16

FIXED!

#9 Richard Hammond on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:17

Not fixed i still get timeout.

#10 Knad on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:20

Yeah still an error here! Nottingham, UK

#11 MI6Labs on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:21

Error here too :'(!

(3 replies) #12 rakeshishere on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:23

Man these comments are so uneasy... Downtimes do happen and people got to learn to live with it. This is coming from Google which rarely has outage

#12.1 Richard Hammond on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:27

Google deleted my last email account without warning i just tried to login one day and it was gone, i lost 3 years worth of emails and i wasnt impressed, i have every right to be "uneasy" about downtime, its a mail service its not meant to go down.

#12.2 JamesWeb on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:44

Richard Hammond said,

You lost three years worth of emails, yet you still use it? I think you deserve to be uneasy.

#12.3 Richard Hammond on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:46

Yeah am im a bit of an idiot using it again but i dont give out my isp email i only use it for receiving my e-bills and i dont like all the adds plastered in my emails with yahoo and hotmail.

(1 reply) #13 Knad on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:24

Server Error

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in 30 seconds.

Been trying every 30 seconds for the last half hour!

#13.1 +Frazell Thomas on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:28

Ah life on the "cloud"...

Now I remember why I don't live on the cloud

#14 ZombieFly on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:27

this coincided with my installing and syncing my winmo with googlesync. I was confused for a while there, thought activesync had brought down Gmail's servers!

#15 ilovetech on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:28

i was able to logon an hour before, but now i am too experiencing this server error....though IMAP service is still fine

#16 leesmithg on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:28

All I can say is I haven't.

I have a few and they all work fine, they are gmail extension.

#17 Twisted Chaz on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:29

strange, cause I accessed my custom domain address via imap for about 20seconds, then it all went wrong!

I hope they fix it soon. My work recently changed to using gmail instead of hosting their own mail server.

#18 UKer on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:29

Things like this always happen when you need to get something from email! The first time I've experienced this with Gmail, I hope it doesn't happen again.

#19 ilovetech on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:43

its working again...oh thank god i was just looking for my important mail

#20 JamesWeb on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:47

I use Gmail as my default email these days, but you still shouldn't ignore that 'Beta' tag at the top of every page. Keep local copies, just in case.

#21 +Chicane-UK on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:48

Still can't get in.. just sitting there and doing nothing!

(1 reply) #22 Michael1406 on 24 Feb 2009 - 11:57

I think I'm gonna have to install thunderbird and go the pop route just to check my emails.

edit: just realised you have to enable pop access from within gmail.

#22.1 Knad on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:00

Yeah, same with IMAP! Just waiting to access my email! Had gears up to access offline, but i need new ones!

#23 soluto on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:08

Gmail Fail Cartoon

http://www.pcdisorder.com/2009/02/gmail-do...rld-ending.html

#24 brentaal on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:14

How the hell am I supposed to get my daily dose of spam mail now?

#25 fmorel90 on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:17

Back.

#26 Michael1406 on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:27

It's working for me again too. Happy days.

#27 Abhishek kapoor on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:48

Down from last 6 Hours

#28 night_stalker_z on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:48

Seems to work now although there was a captcha before letting me use it.

#29 ]SK[ on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:49

IMAP client was asking for my password earlier. Other than that no issues.

#30 rageagainstmachine on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:49

hmm, not workin for me yet - Scotland. I now get differnt error:

"We're sorry...
... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online support center.

If your entire network is affected, more information is available in the Google Web Search Help Center.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.
To continue searching, please type the characters you see below: "

#31 chris4 on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:49

#32 guru on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:54

nope not yet.. its redirecting to google.com

#33 Courage on 24 Feb 2009 - 13:07

Hmm for me is even worst

I cannot access a lot of sites hosted in US, like:

www.gmail.com
www.softpedia.com
www.autoevolution.com
www.peer1.com

It seems like a routing problem

I've tried a proxy and the sites are ok

#34 al11588 on 24 Feb 2009 - 13:10

What do you expect it is a beta.

#35 Ficman on 24 Feb 2009 - 13:15

Mine seems fine as of right now...

#36 MrFuji on 24 Feb 2009 - 13:29

Fixed here!

#37 iAwesomeness on 24 Feb 2009 - 13:32

working here

#38 ZombieFly on 24 Feb 2009 - 14:13

i'm getting captcha requests every time i try and visit the inbox.

#39 +littleneutrino on 24 Feb 2009 - 14:55

lol i guess i slept through the errors.

(3 replies) #40 maash on 24 Feb 2009 - 15:21

For such a big email service Gmail has been having a lot of issues recently. Hotmail hasnt even encountered this many issues

#40.1 ichi on 24 Feb 2009 - 15:40

Hotmail has had it's fair share of problems already.

#40.2 maash on 24 Feb 2009 - 16:00

not recently . and gmail isnt even as big as hotmail yet

#40.3 ichi on 24 Feb 2009 - 16:22

Certainly not as recent as today, but it had a pretty bit outage last year.

(2 replies) #41 C_Guy on 24 Feb 2009 - 16:05

Heh, it's amusing to see how many people "depend" on GMail for important messages. You get what you pay for. If you need dependable e-mail, try your ISP.

#41.1 +dead.cell on 24 Feb 2009 - 17:50

Until you decide to change providers and they simply say,"Sorry!"

Paid services do not always mean better.

Either way, not everything always goes according to plan. I'm sure you'd understand that if this was Hotmail instead.

#41.2 McDave on 24 Feb 2009 - 23:52

Just because GMail is free does not mean that its a old rusty server in your friends celler. Also google offers a lot more space & features than most ISP's do + they have their downtime issues.

#42 Tikitiki on 24 Feb 2009 - 17:45

They were trying to remove the "beta" tag from GMail and then it crashed

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