---
title: "ERR_CONNECTION_RESET: causes and how to fix it"
description: "The connection was established and then abruptly torn down before the response finished. Usually a crashing worker process, a proxy timing out, or middleware…"
canonical: "https://lemwatch.com/errors/err-connection-reset"
source: "https://lemwatch.com"
---

# ERR_CONNECTION_RESET: The connection was reset mid-transfer

> The connection was established and then abruptly torn down before the response finished. Usually a crashing worker process, a proxy timing out, or middleware killing the connection.

## Short answer

 The connection was established and then abruptly torn down before the response finished. Usually a crashing worker process, a proxy timing out, or middleware killing the connection.

## What ERR_CONNECTION_RESET means

 A reset means a TCP RST arrived after the connection was already open. Something decided mid-flight to abandon it — which points at the application crashing, a proxy giving up, or a network device interfering.

## Causes and fixes, most likely first

- The application process crashed while generating the response. Read the application error log at the timestamp of the reset. An out-of-memory kill is the most frequent culprit.
- A reverse proxy or load balancer hit its timeout and severed the connection. Raise the proxy read timeout, or make the slow endpoint faster. Match the proxy timeout to the application's real worst case.
- A firewall, ISP filter, or DPI device is resetting connections. Test from another network. Consistent resets on one network and not others point at a middlebox rather than your server.

## How to stop it happening again

- Alert on intermittent failures, not just sustained outages — resets are usually a minority of requests and easy to miss.
- Keep proxy and application timeouts aligned so neither cuts the other off.

## Check your own domain

 A probe from outside shows whether the reset is reproducible for everyone and whether it happens consistently or intermittently.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why is the reset intermittent?

 Because it usually tracks load or a specific slow request path. Correlate the failures with request duration and memory usage rather than treating them as random.


## Related

- [All website error codes](https://lemwatch.com/errors)
- [ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT](https://lemwatch.com/errors/err-connection-timed-out)
- [ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE](https://lemwatch.com/errors/err-empty-response)
- [ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED](https://lemwatch.com/errors/err-connection-closed)
- [HTTP 502](https://lemwatch.com/http-status-codes/502)
- [HTTP 504](https://lemwatch.com/http-status-codes/504)
- [Free Uptime & response check](https://lemwatch.com/tools/website-uptime)
- [ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED: The server actively refused the connection](https://lemwatch.com/errors/err-connection-refused)