What Does a "Server Hangup" Mean?

Whenever a computer trips a "Server Hangup" error, it means that the server the computer is trying to communicate with has stopped responding. The term "hang" is a type of "abnormal end," or "abend," that describes when a computer stops responding in a program or process. Hang errors appear when the computer can't obtain the next data in a process, receives data it doesn't recognize or gets stuck in an infinite loop. Hangs are different from crashes because the hanging programs don't stop working.

The computer accessing information from a server, whether it's for a website on the Internet or to grab a video file in an office, is called the "client." A server hangup means that when the client requested data from the server, the server did not return any information. Eventually, the program or computer requesting the data may "time-out" or give up on waiting. The hang occurs while the client is waiting for information prior to the time-out.

There is a little a client can do to resolve a hang aside from trying again, checking the network connection and rebooting. The client can't fix the problem if the server is the cause of the hang -- as opposed to a network communication issue.