Q: What do I do if I encounter: cURL error 7: Failed to connect to excellent-bid.nl port 443: Connection refused?

If you are having issues with a stuck or bad cron job on your WordPress Site we recommend first going through the steps in this article.

WARNING: Be careful when editing your wp-config.php file through WordPress. If you mistype something, your site could potentially malfunction, or worse still, come to a complete halt. It is not recommended to use this option if you are unsure of what you are doing, but if you do know what you're doing, it is recommended to use SFTP access to edit such files while keeping local backups, so you can easily and quickly undo any changes that may have caused errors.

Problem with Using Solution #3 from the article

When first using WP Crontrol to address your cron job issues, it is possible that you will encounter the following error prompt on your WordPress dashboard:

cURL error 7: Failed to connect to excellent-bid.nl port 443: Connection refused

If you see the above error, please take note of the error before using the solution below in your wp-config.php file:

define( 'ALTERNATE_WP_CRON', true );define( 'WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT', 1 );

When using this solution to address your issues with cron jobs, from that point onward WP Crontrol will constantly show the above to be true.

With this, you should stop the error prompt pointing to the connection error. You will have solved the problem of feed items not importing due to a bad or stuck cron job. However, you will not be able to import any images with your feed items when using Feed to Post or Excerpts & Thumbnails.

You will need to get assistance from your host to fix and address an issue with Firewall settings blocking the image import.