Your static HTML site looks broken after uploading to PBN LTD? Don’t panic — almost every static HTML issue comes down to one of a handful of really common, really fixable problems. This guide walks you through static HTML troubleshooting step-by-step, in plain English, with zero techy jargon.

Whether your homepage won’t load, your CSS is missing, your images are broken, your inner pages 404, or the whole site just shows a blank screen — we’ll cover it all. No FTP. No SSH. No command line. Just the PBN LTD File Manager and your dashboard.

📑 What’s in this guide

🧰 Before you start — back up your files

Before you change anything on a broken static HTML site, take a backup. It takes 30 seconds and saves you from “I made it worse” panic.

If anything you do below makes things worse, you can restore that backup from Site Details → Backups in seconds.

⚡ 60-second static HTML troubleshooting checklist

Run through this static HTML troubleshooting checklist first. 9 times out of 10, the answer is here:

1. Is your homepage file called exactly index.html (lowercase, no spaces, no extras)?
2. Is it sitting in the root folder (the first folder you see when you open File Manager) — not inside a website/ or my-site/ subfolder?
3. Is your domain Status: OK in the dashboard (not “Waiting DNS update” or “Error”)?
4. Have you purged the CDN cache since your last change?
5. Have you tried it in a private/incognito window to rule out browser cache?
6. If you uploaded a ZIP — did you actually extract it? (A folder of HTML files is what you need, not the zip itself.)

If all six are ✅ and the site is still broken, keep reading — we’ll fix it together.

🏠 Homepage not loading (blank page or directory listing)

What you see: a blank white page, a page listing your files like a folder, or “Index of /” when you visit your domain.

Why it happens: the server is looking for a file called index.html (or index.php) in the root folder and can’t find it. Either the filename is wrong, or it’s in the wrong folder, or it’s missing entirely.

Common homepage filename mistakes

⚙️ .htaccess errors (500, blank screen, redirect loop)

What you see: a 500 Internal Server Error, a totally blank page, an endless redirect, or a weird “you don’t have permission” message.

Why it happens: there’s a hidden file in your root folder called .htaccess (note the dot at the start). It tells the server about redirects, default pages, and other rules. If it has a typo or a bad rule, the server gives up and shows an error.

Clean default .htaccess for static HTML

If you need an .htaccess for a static HTML site, this is a safe starting point. In File Manager, create a new file called .htaccess, edit it, and paste:

# Use index.html as the default homepage
DirectoryIndex index.html

# Hide the file list if there's no index.html
Options -Indexes

For redirect-specific issues, see Error: Too Many Redirects — Causes & Fixes and How to 301 Redirect (WordPress & Static HTML). For full 500 error coverage, see How to Fix a 500 Internal Server Error.

🔤 Case sensitivity (broken images and links)

What you see: the page loads, but images show broken-image icons, or clicking a link gives you a 404, even though the file is “there”.

Why it happens: our servers run Linux. On Linux, Logo.PNG and logo.png are completely different files. If your HTML references logo.png but the actual file is called Logo.PNG, the browser gets a 404 and shows a broken-image icon.

This catches out lots of people who built their site on Windows or Mac, where filenames are case-insensitive. It “worked on my laptop” — but breaks on a Linux server.

How to fix case mismatches quickly

1. Open the broken page in your browser, right-click → Inspect → look at the Console / Network tab.
2. Find the 404 errors. They’ll show you the exact path the browser tried to load (e.g. /images/Hero.jpg).
3. Open File Manager, navigate to that folder, and check the actual filename.
4. Either rename the file to match what the HTML expects, OR edit the HTML to match the actual filename. Either works — just pick one and be consistent.

📦 Corrupt or partial upload

What you see: files in your File Manager are 0 bytes, missing entirely, or look like nonsense when you preview them.

Why it happens: your upload was interrupted (flaky internet, browser tab closed too soon, ZIP didn’t extract fully).

🎨 Missing CSS, JS or images (unstyled site)

What you see: your site loads, but it looks like a Word document from 1995 — no colours, no layout, no fonts. Or buttons don’t work. Or images are missing.

Why it happens: the CSS/JS/image files either weren’t uploaded, are in the wrong folder, or your HTML is pointing to the wrong path.

Common path mistakes

🚫 Inner page 404s

What you see: the homepage loads fine, but clicking any link in the menu gives “404 Not Found”.

This is one of the most common static HTML issues and we have a dedicated guide for it: Fixing 404 Errors on Inner Pages (Static HTML Websites). Quick summary: your inner pages need to be either .html files in the root (e.g. about-us.html) or each in their own folder with an index.html inside (e.g. about-us/index.html) — and your HTML links need to match.

🧹 Cache problems (changes not showing)

What you see: you edited a file in File Manager, refreshed your site, but the old version is still showing. Or you fixed a bug 10 minutes ago and it’s still broken in the browser.

Why it happens: sites on PBN LTD sit behind Cloudflare (a CDN). Cloudflare keeps a cached copy of your files to make the site load faster. Your browser also caches files locally. After a file change, both caches still serve the old version until they’re cleared.

🔒 Mixed content / HTTPS warnings

What you see: a “Not Secure” warning in the address bar, a broken padlock, images or scripts not loading, or browser console errors mentioning “mixed content” or “blocked: insecure”.

Why it happens: your site is being served over HTTPS, but your HTML is referencing some files using http:// (insecure). Modern browsers block those resources.

For more on HTTPS setup, see How to Enable & Use SSL (HTTPS) on Your Websites.

🔐 File permissions

What you see: “Forbidden” or “403” errors when visiting a specific file or page.

Why it happens: the file’s permissions are wrong — usually because of an odd upload tool or because someone changed them manually.

If re-uploading doesn’t fix it, submit a support ticket and we’ll sort it for you — no need to mess with permissions yourself.

❓ Static HTML troubleshooting FAQs

Why does my static HTML site work locally but break when I upload it?

Usually it’s case sensitivity (Linux servers treat Logo.PNG and logo.png as different files, your laptop doesn’t), or file paths (you used C:\Users\Me\image.jpg locally instead of a relative path like images/image.jpg). Open the browser console — it’ll tell you exactly what’s missing.

I uploaded a ZIP — why isn’t my site showing?

You need to extract the ZIP after uploading. In File Manager, right-click the ZIP file → Extract. Then delete the ZIP itself. The server can’t read inside a ZIP — it needs the actual .html files.

Do I need to use FTP to fix my static HTML site?

No. On PBN LTD, everything is done through the built-in File Manager in your dashboard. No FTP, no SFTP, no SSH, no terminal. If a tutorial mentions those, just substitute “File Manager” — the steps are the same.

My changes aren’t showing in the browser. What’s wrong?

99% of the time it’s cache. Open Site Functions → Purge CDN cache in your dashboard, then test in an incognito/private window. If you skip the incognito step, your browser will keep showing you the old version even after the CDN is purged.

I edited .htaccess and now my whole site is down. Help!

Don’t panic. Open File Manager, find .htaccess, and rename it to .htaccess-broken. That instantly disables it. Your site will come back. Then create a fresh .htaccess using the clean template earlier in this guide.

My homepage shows a list of files instead of my site. Why?

That’s a “directory listing”. It means the server can’t find an index.html in the root folder. Either rename your homepage file to index.html (all lowercase), or move it from a subfolder up to the root.

My images and CSS load on the homepage but not on inner pages. Why?

Almost always a path issue. If your inner page is in a subfolder (like about/index.html) but you reference style.css, the browser looks in the about/ folder — and doesn’t find it. Use a path from the root, like /css/style.css, or fix the relative path.

My domain shows “Waiting DNS update” or “Error” — is that the problem?

Yes, that has to be fixed first. Your domain status must say OK in the dashboard for your site to be reachable. See Understanding the Status States of Your Domains and My Domain Is In ‘ERROR’ State.

I’m getting a 500 Internal Server Error on my static HTML site. What do I do?

For static HTML, a 500 is almost always a broken .htaccess. Rename it to .htaccess-broken via File Manager and the site will come back. Full guide: How to Fix a 500 Internal Server Error.

I tried everything and my static HTML site still won’t work. What now?

Take a fresh backup (Site Functions → Create backup), then submit a support ticket with: your domain, what you see in the browser (exact error or screenshot), what you’ve already tried, and the date/time of your last upload. We’ll dig in.

✅ Quick summary