Fatal error: Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed

rectripp
(@rectripp)

9 years, 11 months ago

I just tried to log into the admin panel of my site http://www.cornerbycorner.co.uk but when I go to http://www.cornerbycorner.co.uk/wp-admin I get the following error message:

Fatal error: Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed in /home1/rectripp/public_html/wp-content/plugins/instapress/instagram.php on line 306

I also get this error message when I try to view the homepage.

I am stumped as to how I can try to correct this without being able to log in! Could anyone advise me? I have had a search and can see some threads relating to similar but not identical error messages, and some of the replies recommended things like updating / going back to a previous version / changing code / etc. Of course I can do none of these things as I can’t get into my site…

I should apologise in advance for being a total Luddite in blogging terms. I freely admit that I set up my blog by following some instructions in a series of articles, so managed to create a self-hosted blog without quite being sure exactly what I was doing, just knowing that following the instructions worked. Which means that if you have a suggestion for what I can do, please could you write it out very simply, and be patient with me if I ask for clarification?

Thank you very much for any help or advice you can give me.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

Thread Starter rectripp
(@rectripp)

9 years, 11 months ago

Just replying to myself in case anyone is googling and finds this…

I suddenly remembered an email I got from hostgator asking me to log into my cpanel and test my site using PHP5.4

I do not understand what any of this means but since it seemed likely my site wasn’t working on PHP5.4 I followed the instructions to change it back to PHP5.2 which has at least put it back online.

I am now going to check that my instagram plug-in is updated to the most up to date version (in case this was the issue, given the error message), and try to find out if what I’ve done is a long-term solution. But the site is back online which is a relief.

If anyone has anything to add to this, I would still be grateful for any wisdom. Thanks for reading.

ShellsintheKeys
(@shellsinthekeys)

9 years, 11 months ago

Thank you so much for replying with the solution – I had a mild panic attack but saw your post and had a “Duh!” moment with myself as I remembered the email too. 🙂

The issue was exactly that: the plugin (in my case, Instapress) was functioning with an older version of PHP and was unstable with the update. I didn’t need the plugin, so I reverted to PHP 5.3, logged into the site and deleted it – then reverted back to PHP 5.4 and all is well.

Thanks again!

Carma
(@carma)

9 years, 8 months ago

THANK YOU!!!! So glad you posted your question and resolution! I don’t even remember seeing the Hostgator email, so I never would have figured this out on my own!

Betsi
(@betsi)

9 years, 8 months ago

I can’t thank you enough for this… I use a different host (Dreamhost instead of Hostgator) but was able to find the relevant email from them and am in the process of fixing it.

I am so glad you came back and followed up your own question, it made googling the answer to this MUCH easier than I expected it to be. I’m so grateful I created a wordpress.org login just to thank you! So THANK YOU so much. 🙂

Thread Starter rectripp
(@rectripp)

9 years, 8 months ago

Hey – very glad to be of some help! I only logged back in on a whim to update my own query. So pleased that this was so helpful, especially as I am generally very clueless on WordPress.
Happy blogging, everyone x

piperacho
(@piperacho)

9 years, 8 months ago

Hi,
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! you saved several hours of my life!

kchubcheva
(@kchubcheva)

9 years ago

Thank you, SOOO much