Plugin update almost always freezes

But the original problem was happening before the error started showing up.

“That plugin”? Which plugin?

Anyway, I’ve deactivated all plugins already, that has no impact on the ability to update.

That big white column on the right shows which sites on the network have the plugin active (none).

http://cl.ly/image/0t0e3l0s2Z3t/Voila_Capture%202014-08-20_11-05-52_AM.png

So I went ahead and deleted it, the error message is gone, but it still stalls when I try to upgrade plugins.

So let’s ignore the installer error since that’s not the real issue here, the real issue is that I can’t update plugins from within wp-admin.

According to cPanel, here is my error log:
http://cl.ly/image/1Z3o223e3D2L/Voila_Capture%202014-08-20_11-16-07_AM.png

I’m trying to look at my public_html/error_log, but it’s 2.5g (last updated March of this year) so it’s still downloading. I renamed it before trying to unsuccessfully update another plugin, expecting a new error_log to appear, but it didn’t, and the plugin timed out like before.

Downloading/installing a plugin has never been a problem, just updating them. Since your troubleshooting incorrectly targets installing, is this the same procedure to follow to test updating a plugin? I’d rather not do another full backup on a production site only to troubleshoot a problem that doesn’t exist.

Thank you for the new information!

Not sure how that’s new, since I’ve been talking about upgrading/updating since the get go, but you’re welcome!

We still want to test with a NEW plugins folder to make something there isn’t derpy.

Clean out anything store in the wp-content/upgrade/ folder.

Then, once you have A plugin installed, edit the plugin file to show an older version (so change the version from 1.4 to 1.2 or such). That should prompt WP to want to update it. See if that works.

My host is trying a couple of things on the VPS side, so we’ll see if that makes a change, but if not, I’ll try your steps. I’ll report back either way.

Thank you.

Just to update:

I’m still working with my VPS on this issue. They’re trying to claim it’s a WP issue, I’m thinking it’s a server issue (started when we put Varnish on, although it didn’t go away when we took Varnish off).

I’d love feedback on an idea I had to try to prove them wrong is sound:

I installed a completely fresh WPMS install on the same server, but a completely different fresh cPanel install. No themes, no plugins aside from Akismet and Hello Dolly. Akismet needs an update. Tried the update, exact same issue. That suggests to me it’s a server thing. Am I wrong in thinking this since I’ve effectively ruled out any WP software issues by doing a completely fresh install?

Okay, tried the single install then update Akismet, it doesn’t even get the spinny icon, it just stops at

Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/akismet.3.0.2.zip…

It actually does update, it’s just that the screen never refreshes. This is similar to how it usually works on my multisite too, the big issue being when I try to update multiple plugins, it doesn’t usually move beyond the first in the list.

The only repeated error on my single site install is:

[22-Aug-2014 20:07:02 America/New_York] PHP Warning: Module ‘zip’ already loaded in Unknown on line 0