The first step is to back up your WordPress website.
Before attempting to fix a problem with the WordPress website, make sure you have a backup.
Always keep an extra backup!
It is rare to lose files; however, when it does, it could result in the loss of hours, months, or years of work.
By having a backup, you can rest assured that you are able to restore your website to the way it was before the catastrophe. The plugins you use are the commonly used method to create backups of your site. BackupBuddy, as well as BackupBuddy, are WordPress plugins that provide a safe backup.
Make backups of your WP website regularly to ensure you’ll always have the most current version on hand.
What can you do to determine whether your WordPress website isn’t working
Examine that your WordPress website is not accessible to all users or is not loading only for you.
Make use of WebsitePlanet to find out more.
If your website is down just to you, the site will indicate that the site is running. The issue is on your part, and it is possible that you need to test your connection or clean your cache.
If your site isn’t working for everyone, it signifies that your site’s code or server is experiencing problems that render your WordPress website unavailable.
When your WordPress website isn’t functioning properly, you need to think about what went on prior to it crashing (WordPress updates, plugin installation, my update, etc.). Understanding the causes will provide you with an understanding of the reason for the crash.
Five most common causes for a site crash on WP
There are many reasons why your WordPress website may have gone down. However, these are the typical ones that are worth examining.
- Domains that are expired
Your domain expired. It happens when you purchase a domain (https://yourcompanyname.com), and for whatever reason, you don’t renew it. It’s a simple solution. All you have to accomplish is renewing your domain each year.
- Server
The server has crashed. In this case, there’s usually nothing you can do other than wait until it’s restored. You may also inform your server they know there’s an issue. If there’s an internal server issue, there’s a quick solution.
- Host
Your hosting provider is experiencing problems, and it could be the fault of the host or yours. You should check with them to determine what the issue is. It could be because your account isn’t properly set up, or it is because your host service has become unavailable.
- Broken code
Broken code is the most frequent reason why WordPress websites won’t load. This usually leads to your WordPress site having a blank domain page, which is also referred to as the white screen of death. Many factors can lead to broken code, many of which are caused by plugins.
Some examples of how plugins can break web code are:
- Auto-updates that are not completed or complete for your WordPress site or WP plugins
- Incompatible plugins
- A poor plugin or theme’s coding
- Conflicts between themes or plugins
- Exhausted memory
Once you have installed PHP, the software comes with a limit on the amount of memory your website will use. Since PHP’s memory limit is smaller than the memory limit of your hosting service, You may require an increase in the amount of memory for your site to be able to function again.
Five quick fixes for a WP site crash
If your WordPress website is not working, Find out what kind of error you are experiencing and verify whether you are still able to log in to the WordPress Admin Dashboard.
You can also restore your website from the backup.
- Death screen with white background
“White Screen of Death” (WSoD) isn’t always an error message. It’s when your WordPress website displays an empty domain page without any error or file path on loading, which means that your site isn’t properly loaded.
WSoD could happen across your entire site or just some pages on your website, like the WP Admin dashboard.
Quick fix: Rename files
In order to fix WSoD, first determine the root of the issue, which is finding the exact folder in which the problem occurs, which is creating the problem that causes your WordPress website to display the page as blank.
The best way to accomplish this is to change the name of folders within your site’s files manager. You will find the files in your hosting account on the cPanel (which all hosting accounts use).
Begin by following this path to your file:
Your hosting account on the web CPanel > File Manager > public.html > the wp-content folder
Within your wp-content folder, you’ll discover folders containing any content that you’ve uploaded to your website. You can begin by renaming these folders and files in your wp-content directory one at a. We suggest starting with the plugins directory as well as the theme folder, as changes to either can lead to conflicts in your code.
When you rename a document (like altering the plugin’s folder’s names to plugins disabled), Refresh your website and check whether the blank page appears. If it does, change the name of the folder to its original name, then move into the following folder.
If something is changed after reloading your WordPress website, for instance, an incomplete page reload, this means that the issue lies in that folder.
Open the folder and continue digging.
Rename the subfolders of the same folder, one at a time, until the folder is changed. The file that is renamed and causes the change is the one that led to the issue. Renaming the document will allow your website to load correctly.
The reason it does what it does:
If you change the name of a file in this way, you turn it off, which causes WordPress not to download it. WordPress will believe that the original file has disappeared since the file no longer has an identical name. If the file is the sole cause, the site should be able to load. WordPress site run after the change in name.
Renaming the site will make it run again, but it won’t help you to fix the file that caused the problem. To solve the issue, you or someone else in your team could modify the file or call the developer to notify them of the case.
If the file isn’t vital to your website, you may also erase it, then reinstall it or see whether it’s updated.
Tips to cut down on time:
An easier, however more complex technique is to switch on debugging mode. It allows you to identify the file path that leads to the problem that causes the WSoD quicker than manually renaming each of the files.
To switch on debugging mode to enable debugging mode, follow this route:
Your web hosting account CPanel > file manager public.html > wp-config.php
You must access your wp-config.php document in editing mode.
Scroll to the end of the page to locate this code line (you can also use the hotkey Ctrl/Command F to locate it, too):
- define( “WP_DEBUG”, false );
Modify this code into:
- define( “WP_DEBUG”, true );
This will activate the debugging mode.
Switching to debugging mode will display error messages, which include URLs for files when your site refreshes. Then, you can locate the file that contains the blank screen by using the file’s path and changing the name to deactivate it. This should result in your website working properly.
You’ll want to modify this code again into “false” after you finish the debugging.
- Error when establishing a database connection
If you are unable to connect to your WordPress website’s database, then you may be experiencing this issue. It usually signifies that your database has been damaged and there’s a problem in the wp-config.php file.
Follow the file path to open the wp-config.php in editing mode:
Your hosting account on the web CPanel > file manager public.html > wp-config.php
Quick fix: Repair your database
Check first to ensure that the hostname and username, password, or database’s names are in order by logging into your phpMyAdmin and checking them. Making the correct changes should resolve the problem.
If it doesn’t work, you can activate WordPress’ automated database repair assistance program by adding this instruction to your wp-config.php file:
- define( “WP_ALLOW_REPAIR” is true );
Make sure to save the files. You can find the database repair script at: https://yoursiteurl.com/wp-admin/maint/repair.php
When the page loads, it will offer you two choices:
- Repair database
- Optimize and repair database
Both will run the repair tool, so select the one that’s best suited to your requirements. Repair tools should correct the issue within your database. Once your site is loaded correctly, you can remove the repair code you’ve included in the wp-config.php file.
- Memory exhaustion error
If you encounter an error message that reads “Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 1717866 bytes exhausted” or a different number, it indicates that you’ve exhausted your site’s memory.
Before you try to increase your website’s PHP capacity, look at the content that is on your website. If your site has files that take up lots of memory (such as themes, plugins, or other types) and you want to delete or use compressed or lightweight versions of these files, it can let more memory.
Simple fix: Increase memory of PHP
To increase your PHP, it is possible to do so by the creation of a php.ini fichier.
If you don’t already have one, you can ask your web hosting provider to get assistance with setting one up.
If your memory is already full, make sure to have a memory limit.
If the code isn’t there, then you can add it. It appears as follows: memory_limit = 64M
If the number is small, like 64m, you can increase that amount to 120m, or, if you need to increase it to an amount of 256m. Eliminate all PHP processes and verify your changes, then refresh your site and examine if the error remains.
When using WordPress, you may have to add a line of code in your wp-config.php file. This is the one that WordPress often uses to modify your php.ini file.
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