---
title: "Service Unavailable Error: mêskanâs"
canonical: "https://helpcentre.macewan.ca/space/ETS/1874297131/Service%20Unavailable%20Error%3A%20m%C3%AAskan%C3%A2s"
format: markdown
---
**Problem**: The instructor cannot access **paskwâwi-mostos mêskanâs (mêskanâs)** due to ***“Service Unavailable”*** and is encountering one of the below error messages:

***“Service Unavailable: The server is temporarily unavailable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.”***

OR

***“An error has occurred while communicating with the server.”***

### **Cause, Solutions and Prevention**:

1. **The instructor is locked out of their mêskanâs session.**
  - **Cause: **Instructors can lock themselves out of their mêskanâs session by changing their **Grade categories** in one tab and assigning grades in another tab. This happens when the instructor grades assignments in one tab, opens another tab to change the **Grade categories** and then goes back to the original assigning grades tab after editing the **Grade categories**. This can cause problems in mêskanâs as the **grade categories** have been changed, but newly assigned grades have been inputted into non-existent **grade categories**.
  - **Solution:** Please contact Technology Support for assistance. **[Tech Support](https://www.macewan.ca/campus-life/technology-support/contact-information/)**
  - **Prevention:** To prevent this problem from arising, the instructor should reload the assigning grades tab (in order to update any changes they may have made to the **Grade categories**) before assigning any grades.
2. **mêskanâs is down**.
  - **Cause:** mêskanâs is down or a further issue will require IT support.
  - **Solution: **Please contact Technology Support for assistance.** ****[Tech Support ](https://www.macewan.ca/campus-life/technology-support/contact-information/)**** **