Hi there!
What could be the reasons that the site has been inaccessible for three consecutive days? Despite being able to ping on the IP address, it is unavailable through CloudFlare, which displays an error 524 after waiting for five minutes.

Although hosting has always been expensive and trouble-free, they claim no fault, suggesting the issue may lie with the user. They have provided a link of the site which has been successfully pinged from other locations. However, the site still cannot be accessed by the original user and their friend from another location, even with multiple devices and operating systems.
Additionally, the control panel and phpmyadmin are also not accessible through the IP address.

The ICMP protocol, also known as ping, receives responses from network interfaces. Accessing a site is done through the http protocol, which is managed by the web server.

Various issues could prevent this, such as the web server not being active on the machine, or an incorrect configuration that limits access, such as listening on only 127.0.0.1 or a different port.
Other problems could arise, such as the port (either 80th or 443 for https) being blocked along the way to the server.

To rephrase, the question is why the car isn't moving despite the wipers functioning and tires being properly inflated. Even with the wife driving, it remains stationary.

My suggestion is that there could be countless reasons why the site isn't functioning, and you might be seeking answers in the wrong location.

In terms of pinging, it can provide valuable information such as whether the network-level server is accessible from the client's device, as well as the duration of the request/response.

It would be best if you hired a freelance system administrator who could configure the system, identify the cause of any future crashes by analyzing the logs, fix the issue, and provide an explanation of what caused the problem and how to prevent it from happening again in the future.

The fact that the site can be pinged on the IP address but remains unavailable through CloudFlare, displaying an error 524 after a five-minute wait, points to a timeout issue. This could indicate a problem with the server being able to respond to requests within the expected timeframe. It's crucial to investigate the server response times and any potential bottlenecks that might be causing this delay.

Regarding the hosting provider's claim of no fault and suggestion that the issue may lie with the user, it's important to note that this could be a standard response. It's essential to dig deeper and request detailed logs and diagnostics from their end to ensure that all aspects of the server's performance are thoroughly analyzed.

The inability to access the site even from other locations and across multiple devices and operating systems strongly suggests that the issue is not isolated to the user's environment. This points to a potential wider-reaching problem related to the hosting environment or server configuration, warranting a comprehensive investigation into the server's accessibility and network setup.
The additional problem of the control panel and phpmyadmin also being inaccessible through the IP address further emphasizes the complexity of the issue. This could indicate a broader network or server issue rather than a specific problem with the website itself.

It seems like your hosting provider is playing a blame game rather than addressing the issue. If they can't provide proper support or at least acknowledge the problem, it might be time to consider a more reliable hosting solution. You shouldn't have to jump through hoops while they shrug off the situation as a user error.