Google Chrome stops opening certain domains all of a sudden. It will open everything else but will refuse to open one or a few domains. When Chrome refuses to open a domain, it will give you the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error message. This error doesn’t reveal to you much about what the issue is. It can show up in domains like YouTube. Regardless of whether you have visited a domain before without any issues, Chrome will decline to open it. The straightforward fix is to use a VPN but to be honest, that isn’t a good solution. For you to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error in Chrome, you have to do a bit of cleaning. Here’s the way by which you can fix the problem.
The ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED will show up at random. There is no actually no telling on which domain it will refuse to load. For me, it has always been YouTube.
Table of Contents
Check If The Website Is Down
Before you begin the troubleshooting, ensure the website isn’t facing an outage. The least demanding way to check is to simply use an app called Down for everyone or just me. Copy and paste the URL that Chrome won’t let you open and check whether it is up. If the app gives you a report that all is well, then its time to begin the troubleshooting process.
Visit Down For Everyone Or Just Me
Reset Your WiFi Router
This is the minimum technical fix for this issue however it has a low success rate. To reset your WiFi router, press and hold down the power button on the device for ten seconds. Release it. The WiFi will turn off automatically. Wait for a period of 10 seconds and after that turn it on again. Check whether Chrome will load the domain now. If that doesn’t solve the problem, it’s time to move up your sleeves.
Flush DNS
Open the Command Prompt with an administrative privilege. Run the following command. It takes just a few seconds to finish and it will tell you when your DNS cache has successfully been cleared. Restart your system and try opening the domain once more. If that still doesn’t fix the problem, go ahead and try the next solution.
ipconfig /flushdns
Renew IP And DHCP
Open Command Prompt with administrative privilege and run the following command. It will automatically renew your IP and the DHCP configuration. It may also disconnect you from your WiFi network momentarily however that is nothing to stress over. Run the command and wait for Windows to connect to your WiFi networks again. Check if Chrome will load the domain.
ipconfig /renew
Let’s Have A Look At The ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED Error
Chrome might display this error message for some reasons. This post actually deals particularly for when it refuses to open a particular domain that you have generally been able to open with no issue previously. If you recently installed a new VPN, a new proxy app or extension, or even an anti-virus, they might also be causing the error as well. Try disabling or removing them one after the other if the above solution doesn’t work. If disabling or removing one of these apps fixes the issue then the apps in question are the reason behind this.
This error message, while it shows up in Chrome, isn’t restricted to the browser only. When you begin seeing this error on Chrome, you will discover other PCs on your network can’t also open the domain in question. In like manner, you won’t be able to open the said domain in any other browser either with one exception; Safari on iOS.
Fortunately, if successfully resolve the error for Chrome on your PC, it will also be resolved for everyone on your network. It will likewise be resolved for every other browser on your system. What this indicates is that this isn’t a Chrome issue. It has to do with your DNS or DHCP configuration.
