The WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) is a frustrating phenomenon. When it happens, everything stops working. Your site is replaced with a blank, white screen, and you can’t log in. What makes this error even more troublesome is the complete lack of any errors messages when it occurs, making it a nightmare to troubleshoot.
In this post, we’ll walk you through four of the most common causes for the WSOD and their solutions.
What Is WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD)?
When your WordPress website causes an error it usually shows you the code related to the error that allows you to track down the cause of the error and fix it. But, the white screen of death (WSOD) error gives you a blank screen with nothing in it.
As you know, WordPress is a platform built with PHP language. The entire system, including WordPress core system, plugins, and themes use PHP code and scripts to perform functions.
When a plugin, theme, or WordPress core files have some sort of a malfunctioning PHP code, it causes the white screen of death error. The frustrating part is the WSOD error won’t show you any error codes to let you know what’s causing the error. It only shows a blank white screen. It’s completely up to you to figure out the cause and fix it.
What Causes the WordPress White Screen of Death?
The WSOD error can occur for many reasons. Some of the most common occurrences happen even without you knowing.
Automated plugin updates
Reaching memory limits on your website
Manual code updates producing a significant syntax error
Permission structure for files changing
Your WordPress theme causing an issue of some kind
An auto-update creating causing conflicts
Luckily the error can be fixed. You just need to do a bit of troubleshooting to find out what’s causing it and then take necessary action to fix it.
Solutions for the WordPress White Screen of Death
There are a few methods you can use to find the cause of WSOD errors. We’ll walk you through each method, step by step.
One of the most common causes of WSOD is faulty plugins. An outdated plugin that’s not compatible with a new WordPress update could often crash your entire website.
The only way to find out if a plugin is causing the error is to disable all of your plugins and reactivate them one by one until you find out which plugin causes the error.
Now, if you have access to the WordPress admin dashboard, then you can easily go to the Plugins page and disable all plugins.
But, a WSOD error can often make it impossible to login to your admin dashboard. You can still disable and reactivate the plugins from your hosting server.
Here’s how it done.
Step 1: Login To Your Server
To disable the plugins, you need to access the WordPress files in your hosting server. You can either use an FTP client app or CPanel to access the server. For this demonstration, we’ll use CPanel access since it’s available to everyone.
Type /cpanel at the end of your website domain name to access CPanel (eg: yourwebsite.com/cpanel)
Enter login details to access CPanel. The username and password for CPanel is included in the welcome email sent by your web host
Step 2: Use File Manager To Access WP-Content
Inside the CPanel dashboard, you’ll find an app called File Manager.
Open this app and navigate to the Public.html folder. Here you’ll find all the files related to your WordPress website.
Go to WP-Content folder to find a subfolder called Plugins.
Step 3: Rename The Plugins Folder
Now we’re going to reset all of the plugins on your WordPress website. Don’t worry, it won’t delete any of the plugins. It will only deactivate the plugins.
To do this you have to rename the Plugin folder. Simply give the folder a different name like “Plugins-Bad”
This will deactivate all the plugins on your website. Now go see if you now have access to the website.
Step 4: Reverse The Changes
If you’re no longer seeing the WSOD error after disabling the plugins, then it was likely caused by a bad plugin. Now go back to the WP-Content folder.
Rename the old plugins folder from “Plugins-Bad” to just “Plugins”
This will restore all of the plugins back in your WordPress website but it will keep them disabled.
Now you can login to your WordPress dashboard and activate plugins one by one to find the culprit behind the WSOD error
Method 2: Increase Server Memory Limit
WordPress requires a certain amount of system memory power to perform different functions. For example, when you’re installing or updating a plugin, WordPress needs to download files, extract them into the right folders, modify core files to integrate the plugin functions, etc.
Processes like this require lots of memory and your web hosting provider allocate a specific amount of system memory for your site to perform these functions. If you’re using a cheap shared hosting plan, the chances are your hosting provider will set a very low amount of memory for your site.
This could be the cause behind the WSOD error. For example, if you’ve recently installed a new plugin that consumes more memory, it could cause the entire website to malfunction.
You can fix this by increasing the WordPress memory limits from the server.
Step 1: Edit The WPConfig.php File
Follow the instructions in Method 1 to login to your web hosting server. Navigate to Public.html folder.
Inside this folder, you’ll find a file called WPConfig.php. Right-click on this file and choose Edit to open the file in the editor.
Note: Create a backup copy of this file before editing just in case.
Step 2: Set Custom Memory Limits
Search for the following phrase in the WPConfig.php file.
/* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */
Now copy and paste the following codes right above that phrase.
define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘128M’ );
Save the changes. And see if it fixes the WSOD error.
Alternative Method: If this method didn’t work, you can also try to increase memory using the .htaccess file. You’ll find this file in the same Public.html folder. Edit the file and paste the following code without the quotation marks “php_value memory_limit 128M”
Method 3: Activate The Default WordPress Theme
An outdated theme can also cause WSOD errors. WordPress is constantly evolving but most theme and plugin developers aren’t even trying to keep up. Having outdated code in a theme that doesn’t match the new versions of WordPress could cause white screen of death errors.
To see if your theme is the cause behind the error, you can try disabling it.
If you have access to the WordPress admin dashboard, then go to Appearance >> Themes and activate a different theme like the default Twenty Nineteen theme to see if it fixed the problem.
If you don’t have access to the admin dashboard, then you can deactivate the theme from your web hosting server. Just follow the steps we described in Method 1 to access the website files in the server.
This time, find the Themes folder in WP-Content and delete your currently active theme. This will force WordPress to use the default WordPress theme as your website design.
Just make sure you have the default Twenty Nineteen theme in your Themes directory. You can download it for free.
If it fixes the WSOD error, reach out to your theme developer and ask them to check your theme for errors. Or try updating your theme to a newer version if available.
Important: Make a backup copy of your active theme folder before deleting it. It’s best to download a copy to your computer so that you can upload it again later.
Method 4: ReInstall WordPress Or Restore Website
Having corrupted WordPress system files can also cause WSOD errors. As we’ve explained in the Method 2, your server may interrupt a WordPress core update or a server malfunction could delete important WordPress files. These often lead to WSOD errors.
The best solution for this is to either reinstall WordPress or restore your website from an older backup.
Most web hosting providers offer automatic backups for websites. If you have access to these backups, use it to restore your website to a previous and more stable version.
If not, you can reinstall WordPress. This requires technical knowledge so we recommend that you ask for help from your web host or hire an experienced web developer to perform the task.
Still Can’t Fix The Error?
The methods above will help you fix some of the most common issues that cause WSOD errors. However, just like we’ve described earlier, it’s quite difficult to identify the culprit of the error with a blank screen. So don’t panic if you can’t figure out the solution.
If the error persists, reach the technical support team of your web host and ask for their help. If you’re using solid managed WordPress hosting platform, they’ll likely help you solve the problem within minutes.
Related Posts
About Raelene Morey
Raelene is the chief writer at DesignBombs. Formerly managing editor at WPMU DEV. Computer science grad turned newspaper journalist. When she’s not taming browser tabs she likes brunching and bushwalking.
Reader Interactions
Droppin' design bombs every week! 5,751 subscriber so far!
I’ve found that this issue is caused by something in the htaccess file almost every time, at least for me. Some plugin or other does something to the htaccess and breaks it, so I just delete it and let WordPress rebuild it from scratch. Might not be a feasible solution for everyone, but it works for me!
That again was no use: he but got another smile and a friendly look of the sort he no longer wanted. I said I thought I could gallop if Harry could, and in a few minutes we were up with the ambulance. It had stopped. There were several men about it, including Sergeant Jim and Kendall, which two had come from Quinn, and having just been in the ambulance, at Ferry's side, were now remounting, both of them openly in tears. "Hello, Kendall." We have this great advantage in dealing with Plato—that his philosophical writings have come down to us entire, while the thinkers who preceded him are known only through fragments and second-hand reports. Nor is the difference merely accidental. Plato was the creator of speculative literature, properly so called: he was the first and also the greatest artist that ever clothed abstract thought in language of appropriate majesty and splendour; and it is probably to their beauty of form that we owe the preservation of his writings. Rather unfortunately, however, along with the genuine works of the master, a certain number of pieces have been handed down to us under his name, of which some are almost universally admitted to be spurious, while the authenticity of others is a question on which the best scholars are still divided. In the absence of any very cogent external evidence, an immense amount of industry and learning has been expended on this subject, and the arguments employed on both sides sometimes make us doubt whether the reasoning powers of philologists are better developed than, according to Plato, were those of mathematicians in his time. The176 two extreme positions are occupied by Grote, who accepts the whole Alexandrian canon, and Krohn, who admits nothing but the Republic;115 while much more serious critics, such as Schaarschmidt, reject along with a mass of worthless compositions several Dialogues almost equal in interest and importance to those whose authenticity has never been doubted. The great historian of Greece seems to have been rather undiscriminating both in his scepticism and in his belief; and the exclusive importance which he attributed to contemporary testimony, or to what passed for such with him, may have unduly biassed his judgment in both directions. As it happens, the authority of the canon is much weaker than Grote imagined; but even granting his extreme contention, our view of Plato’s philosophy would not be seriously affected by it, for the pieces which are rejected by all other critics have no speculative importance whatever. The case would be far different were we to agree with those who impugn the genuineness of the Parmenides, the Sophist, the Statesman, the Philêbus, and the Laws; for these compositions mark a new departure in Platonism amounting to a complete transformation of its fundamental principles, which indeed is one of the reasons why their authenticity has been denied. Apart, however, from the numerous evidences of Platonic authorship furnished by the Dialogues themselves, as well as by the indirect references to them in Aristotle’s writings, it seems utterly incredible that a thinker scarcely, if at all, inferior to the master himself—as the supposed imitator must assuredly have been—should have consented to let his reasonings pass current under a false name, and that, too, the name of one whose teaching he in some respects controverted; while there is a further difficulty in assuming that his existence could pass unnoticed at a period marked by intense literary and philosophical activity. Readers who177 wish for fuller information on the subject will find in Zeller’s pages a careful and lucid digest of the whole controversy leading to a moderately conservative conclusion. Others will doubtless be content to accept Prof. Jowett’s verdict, that ‘on the whole not a sixteenth part of the writings which pass under the name of Plato, if we exclude the works rejected by the ancients themselves, can be fairly doubted by those who are willing to allow that a considerable change and growth may have taken place in his philosophy.’116 To which we may add that the Platonic dialogues, whether the work of one or more hands, and however widely differing among themselves, together represent a single phase of thought, and are appropriately studied as a connected series. Before entering on our task, one more difficulty remains to be noticed. Plato, although the greatest master of prose composition that ever lived, and for his time a remarkably voluminous author, cherished a strong dislike for books, and even affected to regret that the art of writing had ever been invented. A man, he said, might amuse himself by putting down his ideas on paper, and might even find written178 memoranda useful for private reference, but the only instruction worth speaking of was conveyed by oral communication, which made it possible for objections unforeseen by the teacher to be freely urged and answered.117 Such had been the method of Socrates, and such was doubtless the practice of Plato himself whenever it was possible for him to set forth his philosophy by word of mouth. It has been supposed, for this reason, that the great writer did not take his own books in earnest, and wished them to be regarded as no more than the elegant recreations of a leisure hour, while his deeper and more serious thoughts were reserved for lectures and conversations, of which, beyond a few allusions in Aristotle, every record has perished. That such, however, was not the case, may be easily shown. In the first place it is evident, from the extreme pains taken by Plato to throw his philosophical expositions into conversational form, that he did not despair of providing a literary substitute for spoken dialogue. Secondly, it is a strong confirmation of this theory that Aristotle, a personal friend and pupil of Plato during many years, should so frequently refer to the Dialogues as authoritative evidences of his master’s opinions on the most important topics. And, lastly, if it can be shown that the documents in question do actually embody a comprehensive and connected view of life and of the world, we shall feel satisfied that the oral teaching of Plato, had it been preserved, would not modify in any material degree the impression conveyed by his written compositions. breakfast in the kitchen by candle-light, and then drove the five The bargaining was interminable, something in this manner:— Then follows a long discussion in Hindi with the bystanders, who always escort a foreigner in a mob, ending in the question— There was a bright I. D. blanket spread on the ground a little way back from the fire, and she threw herself down upon it. All that was picturesque in his memories of history flashed back to Cairness, as he took his place beside Landor on the log and looked at her. Boadicea might have sat so in the depths of the Icenean forests, in the light of the torches of the Druids. So the Babylonian queen might have rested in the midst of her victorious armies, or she of Palmyra, after the lion hunt in the deserts of Syria. Her eyes, red lighted beneath the shadowing lashes, met his. Then she glanced away into the blackness of the pine forest, and calling her dog to lie down beside her, stroked its silky red head. The retreat was made, and the men found themselves again in the morning on the bleak, black heath of Drummossie, hungry and worn out, yet in expectation of a battle. There was yet time to do the only wise thing—retreat into the mountains, and depend upon a guerilla warfare, in which they would have the decided advantage. Lord George Murray now earnestly proposed this, but in vain. Sir Thomas Sheridan and other officers from France grew outrageous at that proposal, contending that they could easily beat the English, as they had done at Prestonpans and Falkirk—forgetting that the Highlanders then were full of vigour and spirit. Unfortunately, Charles listened to this foolish reasoning, and the fatal die was cast. "They said they were going for our breakfast," said Harry. "And I hope it's true, for I'm hungrier'n a rip-saw. But I could put off breakfast for awhile, if they'd only bring us our guns. I hope they'll be nice Springfield rifles that'll kill a man at a mile." "Dod durn it," blubbered Pete, "I ain't cryin' bekase Pm skeered. I'm cryin' bekase I'm afeared you'll lose me. I know durned well you'll lose me yit, with all this foolin' around." He came nearly every night. If she was not at the gate he would whistle a few bars of "Rio Bay," and she would steal out as soon as she could do so without rousing suspicion. Boarzell became theirs, their accomplice in some subtle, beautiful way. There was a little hollow on the western slope where they would crouch together and sniff the apricot scent of the gorse, which was ever afterwards to be the remembrancer of their love, and watch the farmhouse lights at Castweasel gleam and gutter beside Ramstile woods. "Yes, De Boteler," continued the lady, "I will write to him, and try to soothe his humour. You think it a humiliation—I would humble myself to the meanest serf that tills your land, could I learn the fate of my child. The abbot may have power to draw from this monk what he would conceal from us; I will at least make the experiment." The lady then, though much against De Boteler's wish, penned an epistle to the abbot, in which concession and apologies were made, and a strong invitation conveyed, that he would honour Sudley castle by his presence. The parchment was then folded, and dispatched to the abbot. "A very pretty method, truly! You know not the miners and forgers of Dean Forest!—why I would stake a noble to a silver-penny, that if you had discovered he was hidden there, and legally demanded him, he would be popped down in a bucket, to the bottom of some mine, where, even the art of Master Calverley could not have dragged him to the light of day until the Forest was clear of the pack:—but, however, to speak to the point," perceiving that the steward's patience was well nigh exhausted—"I saw Stephen Holgrave yesterday, in the Forest." HoME欧美一级 片a高清
ENTER NUMBET 0016jmwjdq.org.cn www.hxchain.com.cn holdzhu.org.cn udaway.com.cn www.plobms.com.cn uefa2020.com.cn ooxwdn.com.cn nrsxtx.com.cn www.minglunip.com.cn www.xft.org.cn
I’ve found that this issue is caused by something in the htaccess file almost every time, at least for me. Some plugin or other does something to the htaccess and breaks it, so I just delete it and let WordPress rebuild it from scratch. Might not be a feasible solution for everyone, but it works for me!