Some computer errors are more specific than others. Some are even so much so that they would only affect specific Internet browsers and not others.
This is definitely the case with the following error: ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR that only affects the Google Chrome Internet browser.
In this article tutorial, we will explain how you can go about fixing this error once and for all.
Before we go through the steps you will need to take in order to fix this error, we want to give you some useful background on it.
In general, knowing what causes computer errors is the best place to start when trying to fix them. And this is also true when it comes to this specific error.
Some Social Solutions
Lots of people on social media experience this error- some even are able to resolve it once other users chime in:
The annoying ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR in Chrome can be fixed via chrome://net-internals/#sockets & opting “flush socket pools”. #Chrome
— Petri Heinoja (@Pheinoja) December 29, 2015
Others were more irritated and even threatened to switch to Edge!
Come on, Chrome, don’t force me to migrate to Edge… What gives? ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR pic.twitter.com/CPCLoKb4GD
— muiiio (@muiiio) September 16, 2015
While others were more confused:
ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR from Twitter analytics. Chrome problem? Twitter problem? Who knows.
— Pumpkin Fright👨⚕️🍕 (@DrPizza) September 3, 2014
A Quick Fix
One of the most popular fixes comes from the YouTuber Tree Academy:
In the video he’ll walk you through a pair of fixes:
Strategy #1: Flushing the Sockets
Step 1: Open up Google Chrome.
Step 2: Paste the URL below and press Enter:
chrome://net-internals/#sockets
Now, Click on the downward arrow link at the very top right
Step 3: Select “Flush Sockets”.
Step 4: Then Restart Chrome to see if the error is gone.
Strategy #2: Flushing the DNS and Renewing IP
i) To flush DNS
Step 1: Open up your Command Prompt.
Step 2: Type in ipconfig /flushdns and then press Enter.
ii) To Renew IP
Step 1: Open up your Command Prompt.
Step 2: Type in ipconfig /release and then press Enter.
Step 3: Again type ipconfig /renew and press Enter.
We recommend trying these fixes- based on the video comments, this has worked for a bunch of users.
Quick Chrome Facts
That said, before we dive deeper into other fixes for ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR we should look at where, when, and how it happens.
Before we delve into fixes for ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR let’s go over some quick facts about Google and Google Chrome:
- Chrome is the most widely used browser and is still growing at a fast rate (you can see in the graph above)
- Google was founded in September of 1997
- Google Chrome was launched in September of 2008, 11 years after Google started
- Google was originally named “Backrub”
- Google is the most visited site in the world, beating out Facebook and other social media websites
- Google owns YouTube, “leads” Android, Dropcam, Waze, Motorola, and Nest
- Chrome has many hidden features (check out the video down below)
Now that we have gone over some facts and tricks, let’s go over how to fix ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR.
What Is ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR?
The first thing that you would need to understand is where you might encounter this error.
As we said in the introduction only affects users who employ Google Chrome as their Internet web browser. If you use a different Internet browser such as Safari, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc. you should never experience this error.
When Chrome launched, it was not a high point for Firefox. There’s no secret about that, – Mitchell Baker
Having said that, this error does not affect necessarily all websites. More often than not, this error affects users trying to visit specific Google-related websites such as YouTube, Gmail, Blogger, and others. Some users have even reported that this error has affected them when trying to visit other (i.e., not Google-related) websites such as Tumblr or Wikipedia.
How would you recognize the error if it happens to you? Well, it is really obvious when you get this error because the following will display on your computer screen (note that it will give you the error code, always look for an error code when something goes wrong):
Most people will suggest you reload the web page. We would actually recommend this as a first response. Sometimes this even does work.
Interesting Factoid: SPDY actually stands for “speedy” and is used to reduce a web pages’ load time
Strategy #3: Clear Your Cache
If reloading the web pages does not remove the error, then you should close down Google Chrome and restart it. This alone will not really solve the problem because you will need to clear the cache as soon as you restart the browser.
If you do not know how to clear the cache from Google Chrome, you will need to follow a series of simple steps. Because these steps vary depending on the kind of device you are using Google Chrome for, we have laid them all down for you here.
If you are using Google Chrome from a computer, you will need to follow these simple steps in order to clear the cache:
- Restart Google Chrome.
- Locate the more icon in the browser toolbar (identifiable as three vertical spots) and click on it.
- Then, find more tools and click on the Clear browsing data option. This action will prompt more options to display.
- From all the different options displaying in the clear browsing data option, you will need to check two: the one for cookies and other sites and plug-in data, and the one for cached images and files.
- Next, you will need to decide how much data you would like to delete. For this, there is a top menu where you would decide how far back you would like to go (i.e., how old you want to the deleted data to be). If you wish to delete everything, you will need to choose the following option: the beginning of time.
- Finally, click on clear browsing data.
Once you have followed these steps, you should try to visit the web page that was giving you the error before.
If you are using Google Chrome from an iOS device (iOS is the name of Apple’s mobile operating system, used by iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices), you will need to follow these simple steps:
- Restart Google Chrome.
- Locate the more icon in the browser toolbar (identifiable as three vertical spots) and click on it.
- Tap on history. This action will prompt other options to display on your device’s screen.
- From all the available options, tap on clear browsing data.
- From all the different options displaying in the clear browsing data option, you will need to check two: the one for cookies and other sites and plug-in data, and the one for cached images and files.
- Next, you will need to decide how much data you would like to delete. For this, there is a top menu where you would decide how far back you would like to go (i.e., how old you want to the deleted data to be). If you wish to delete everything, you will need to choose the following option: the beginning of time.
- Finally, click on clear browsing data.
As you can see the steps involved in clearing cache on Google Chrome from a computer or from an iOS device are almost the same although there are some small differences. If you use an Android mobile device, then simply follow the same steps we have highlighted above for iOS devices.
How Can You Fix This Error?
Very often just clearing the cache makes this error go away. But there is still a chance that the problem will persist even after you delete old data.
So, what can be done then? Well, if the methods that we have gone through so far do not do the trick for you, you will need to read on. The rest of this tutorial will be devoted to how to solve this error once you have tried reloading the web page and clearing the cache.
If you have an anti-virus in place, before you do anything else, it would be worth checking if the anti-virus is causing the problem. Sometimes, anti-virus programs block specific sites. So, if you keep experiencing this error when visiting the same website and you have an anti-virus program installed, it is quite possible that the problem lies there.
The way to check whether this is the case or not would be to open your anti-virus program and check whether the web page that you are trying to visit is included there. If it is, you will need to ask your anti-virus program to stop blocking it following the onscreen instructions.
Unfortunately, we cannot be more specific about the steps involved in doing this as the steps will vary depending on which anti-virus program you are using but this should be pretty straightforward to figure it out.
Once you have ruled out any problems with your anti-virus program, you should clear Google Chrome cookies as your last option.
Actually, it does not matter if you start by clearing the cookies. The only reason why we are suggesting that you leave this method till last is only a practical one. Clear the cookies, although pretty straightforward, is not the easiest possible solution. We always suggest that you begin by exploring the simple options first. After all, why would you try something complicated if something a lot simpler could do the trick?
Having said that, here are the steps you will need to follow in order to clear Google Chrome’s cookies:
- Launch Google Chrome.
- Enter the following Internet address in the URL bar: chrome://settings
- Hit the enter key.
- Wait until the settings page to load fully.
- Scroll down until you find the show advanced settings option, and click on it.
- Locate clear browsing data under the privacy section, and click on it.
- From all the different options, select the following two: the cookies and other site plug-ins data and cached images and files. Make sure that you deselect any other options, as you just want those two to be selected.
- Next, set it to remove the following items option to ‘from the beginning of time’. This is the only way to delete all the cookies, which is what you will need to do at this point.
- Finally, click on the Clear browsing data option.
I am pretty sure almost everyone who has ever used Google chrome might have come across this error where the web page is shown not available. Reasons could be many and the best bet is that you are using a VPN. Though not necessary, this error is frequent even without a VPN. Since this is a protocol. You could be using normal ways such as restarting your browser. Do try all the given ways in the article and we are sure the fix will be resolved and the error won’t show up anymore.
As you can see, solving this error very often involves clear old data. This is because old data is what is very often at the root of this Google Chrome error. Because the error affects extremely popular websites, it can be incredibly annoying.
If you do not have time to do anything that we have suggested in this tutorial and need to check out a website being affected by this error quickly, there is a temporary and incredibly easy workaround. Because this error does not reflect on the status of the website or web page that you are trying to visit but it is actually something being caused by the Google Chrome web browser, you could always launch an alternative web browser (Safari, etc.) and visit the website from there. This will not fix the error, of course, but it will give you a quick way to visit the website you need.
We hope this tutorial has helped you fix Chrome’s ERR_SPDY_PROTOCOL_ERROR. If you have any additional tips that you would like to share with our readers or any feedback about this article for us, why don’t you leave us a message in the comments section below?
