Thanks t-p !!
That was enormously helpful because it showed me how to deactivate all my plugins using phpMyAdmin since I could not login to the admin area – without that I’d surely still be struggling with this…
To get it all working normally again I had to modify two core files and the functions.php of the default theme, TwentyTen, plus I modified another core file to (hopefully) get rid of the problem with TwentyTen by specifying a new default theme (named ‘default’)…..
Here’s what I did:
1. Manually deactivated all plugins via phpMyAdmin using instructions linked to above;
2. eliminated fatal errors by commenting out the following lines in core files:
– /wp-includes/default-embeds.php – line 33
– /wp-includes/load.php – line 337
3. eliminated fatal error by commenting out line 16 in the file /themes/twentyten/functions.php
4. created a new theme folder called /themes/default and uploaded my custom theme to that folder
5. modified core file /wp-includes/default-constants.php to change the specified default theme to ‘default’ instead of ‘twentyten’
At that point the white screen went away and I was able to log in and reactive my plugins…..
Quite a struggle and I still have no idea what caused the original problem that sent me down this awful rabbit hole, but I’m grateful that it’s working again, although very concerned about the need to modify core files….
But THANKS for your help!
Moderator
t-p
(@t-p)
To get it all working normally again I had to modify two core files
Glad you got it working.
But please be aware that when you update your WordPress next that these modifications will overwritten and thus lost.
modify…the functions.php of the default theme, TwentyTen,
Same thing, that is, all your customizations will be lost and overwritten. For this reason, these forums suggest to create a child theme.
Thanks t-p ….. believe me I totally agree with you on that score, and I hate messing with core files for that very reason, but I keep good notes when I’m forced to so that I can duplicate the changes if necessary next time I upgrade….
I don’t use the TwentyTen theme, and in fact I hate it so I’d never use it and am unhappy that WP forces that as the default theme now, but it is what it is, and I always make a custom Theme anyway. Just had to modify that functions.php file so I could get by it and get logged in to choose my own Theme.
But your advice is good and I would also caution anyone reading this trying to find a solution to their own problem to be very, very careful when modifying core files, and don’t do it if you’re not sure of what you’re doing…..
