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[Updated 8 p.m. EDT] HealthCare.gov, the federal government鈥檚 online marketplace that serves as the portal to its new health-insurance program, will undergo 鈥渟cheduled maintenance鈥� this weekend, following a problem-filled four days since it opened Oct. 1, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced late Friday.

Stories of frustration had been piling up about the site: People who can鈥檛 register. People who preregistered before opening day, but can鈥檛 log in. People who get five or six screens in, then the site crashes.

The site serves the residents of the 36 states that opted not to set up their own online health insurance marketplaces, or 鈥渆xchanges,鈥� under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

鈥淭he enhancements we are making will enable more simultaneous users to successfully create an account and move through the application and plan shopping process,鈥� HHS said in a press release.

During the scheduled maintenance, the call center (800-318-2596) will still be available to assist consumers, the release said. 聽

鈥淲e expect that Monday, less than a week after the marketplace opening, there will be significant improvements in the online consumer experience,鈥� HHS said.

HHS touted statistics that showed great interest in the new ACA health-insurance program: HealthCare.gov has received 8.6 million unique visitors. The call center has received 406,000 calls. And there have been 225,000 requests for online chats.

So far, there鈥檚 no public information on how many people, if any, have successfully signed up for insurance via HealthCare.gov. Reporters desperate to find someone who had enrolled found 21-year-old Chad Henderson in Georgia, now enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. But his story fell apart after a Washington Post reporter tracked him down and interviewed him (with an assist from the libertarian site Reason.org).

Among the states that set up their own exchanges, there are some bright spots, foremost among them Kentucky and Connecticut. California and Colorado, too, are enrolling people, after some overloading issues. Maryland has had a lot of challenges. The system there is working, but it鈥檚 maddeningly slow, say people who visited the site.

None of the problems are shocking, and can be overcome, say management experts.

鈥淚 spend most of my time working with CIOs [chief information officers] of large enterprises, and when we look at something like this 鈥� the complexity of the different states and the pent-up energy and demand and ideas around signing up 鈥� it certainly wasn鈥檛 surprising that there were problems,鈥� says Eric Johnson, dean of Vanderbilt University鈥檚 Owen Graduate School of Management, in Nashville, Tenn.

The challenge, though, isn鈥檛 just getting HealthCare.gov and the other exchanges up to speed. It鈥檚 getting them to function smoothly soon enough to accommodate the flood of people who want to sign up for health insurance 鈥� with a possible federal subsidy 鈥� in time to start coverage on Jan. 1. To be covered on Jan. 1, one must enroll by Dec. 15. (The open enrollment period, though, goes all the way to March 31.)

What鈥檚 more, all this is happening under the klieg lights of intense media scrutiny, plus the political pressure of conservatives looking for any sign that Obamacare is a failure.

Liberal groups 鈥� and the Obama administration 鈥� are trying to build a competing narrative: that the problems, which are being addressed, are a result of the massive public demand for affordable health insurance.

鈥淭here are separate issues, enrollment and optics,鈥� says Caroline Pearson, vice president of Avalere Health, a health-care consulting firm. 鈥淚 think they鈥檝e got till early November鈥� to get the sites running smoothly so people can enroll by Dec. 15.

Ms. Pearson expects the people who are trying to enroll now will keep trying until they succeed, since they are probably the most motivated customers. But on the 鈥渙ptics鈥� front, it鈥檚 the less-motivated people 鈥� the ones who aren鈥檛 happy about the mandate and perhaps tempted just to pay the fine and not buy insurance 鈥� who may be turned off by the bad press around the rollout.

Anyone, for example, who sees even just the headline on Friday鈥檚 Wonkbook column in The Washington Post by the reliably liberal Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas would be taken aback: 鈥淥bamacare鈥檚 Web site is really bad.鈥� Not only was the site not close to ready for the level of traffic it鈥檚 been getting, it鈥檚 鈥渂adly coded,鈥� Messrs. Klein and Soltas say, citing software designers.

鈥淭he good news for Obamacare is that lots of people want to sign up,鈥� they write. But 鈥渢he fact that the traffic is good news for the law doesn't obviate the fact that the site's inability to absorb that traffic is bad news for the law.鈥�

The folks at Avalere Health created accounts at HealthCare.gov before Oct. 1, but still can鈥檛 log in.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been trying all week,鈥� says Pearson. 鈥淏ut there have been signs of progress. We can get further into the log-in process each day. But the issue is, you have to create an account before you can access the data and shop. That鈥檚 the part that seems not to be functioning and where we get stuck.鈥�

Johnson, the dean at Vanderbilt鈥檚 business school, says the Obama administration needed a better communication plan, given all the curiosity and pent-up demand. He suspects a lot of people on the site are just looking for information and trying to understand how much the various plans would cost them.

鈥淗ad they been able to do a 鈥榮oft roll鈥� 鈥� a rollout that allowed people to see some more of the information in the first week or two before making decisions 鈥� that would have helped dramatically,鈥� Johnson says. "It becomes bigger than life, because it鈥檚 received so much media attention, and yet so few details were available other than this big bang approach.鈥�

Not all the headlines have been terrible. A 鈥渞eview鈥� of HealthCare.gov in Thursday鈥檚 USA Today calls the site 鈥渁 winner despite the glitches.鈥�

The writer, Tim Mullaney, praises the simplicity of the writing and intuitive placement of information. He also gives the core product a thumbs-up: The site offers a choice of cheap, affordable plans.

鈥淎ny e-commerce veteran can tell you: If a start-up鈥檚 business proposition is sound and it delivers what it promises, it survives early days when websites crash and chaos reigns,鈥� 聽Mr. Mullaney writes.