So your internet connection is fine on other sites, including doing things like post here for example I assume.
You were not on 3.2.1 and you are not so you have tried different versions of WP. 3.2.1 requires a higher version of PHP than the previous so Host Gator is providing that.
You have ruled out a plugin, only one installed and since removed it.
You said it is happening on multiple blogs, all different themes? What theme are you using?
Have you checked your logs in your hosting control panel or ask Host Gator for them?
Also it might be worth checking if Host Gator made any changes to PHP in any way, any server/service changes at all.
I read on another forum yesterday, a lot of hosting including Host Gator have become more restricting for WordPress. They might encourage upgrading, blaming it on WordPress being too heavy. I provide hosting myself, I have no issues with WordPress. Point I’m going to make is that I provide the cheapest packages also and it is fine. A warning should they ask you to go upgrading to Windows. Not saying Host Gator are doing that (disclaimer) but I know for a fact some of the most popular hosting are.
Now, I had the same issue your having for a year with http://www.webtechglobal.co.uk, considering I provide WP services it was not good. Sometimes it would spend 30 seconds refreshing. I’m struggling to remember the exact cause but I think it may have been a mix of things including the theme. I think I may have disabled auto saving.
Paste anything on your server log that you think might help, it may help to trigger my memory of how I dealt with this end of last year.
I’m in the same boat and I believe it happened with WordPress 3.1.4 as well. I tried upgrading to 3.2.1 thinking that would help. I’ve spent a perceived “eternity” with Hostgator support, including working with one rep on the phone. The server load was not high at all. There was nothing they could see on their end WHILE my browser was “spinning”. It seems as though the browser has problems contacting the web server when accessing WordPress. After some point, the pages and dashboard load and perform ok, then they start stalling again.
The thing is, while the browser stalls trying to access WordPress, I could access static HTML files just fine and very quickly. So, there’s something up with the WordPress or PHP environment. I was starting to think it was an issue with my ISP but the poster above makes me question that now. My ISP is Comcast and I know of another Comcast user, not geographically close to me, who is experiencing the stalls as well.
What PHP settings could we have Hostgator support check that could impact WordPress performance?
Thanks!
Peace…
I am experiencing this problem too but I am also developing on another server (at a local host) and I experience the same problems. Having said that, I have 2 possibly scenarios for the problem:
1.) The WordPress core is the problem.
2.) A plugin is the problem.
I sure hope it’s solved soon…
I run over 250 WordPress websites and this just started in the last 6 weeks or so…
Hostgator support asked me to disable the “All-in-One” SEO plugin and that I install the “W3 Total Cache” plugin to enable caching. Neither of those things helped me.
The list of activated plugins is:
BAAP Mobile Version
Calendar
Contact Form 7
Lightbox Plus
NextGEN Gallery
Really simple CAPTCHA
W3 Total Cache
WordPress Importer
WP-Cufon
When I view the site in Firefox, the tab will show a “Connecting” status and the browser status bar will show a “Waiting for…” message and the browser just stalls waiting to get connected or to download data.
Hostgator support DID indicate they could see my socket either in a “CONNECTED” state or in a “CLOSE_WAIT” state and then they would disappear as I would close the browser window.
For me, the problem is really intermittent. When it does work, it loads fast but the stalls happen and I start pulling hair. 🙂 lol
Again, I experienced this _before_ installing WordPress 3.2.1.
@ponderconsulting: So, you’re seeing these stalls with WordPress installed in your LOCAL server environment?
Peace…
They told a client of mine the same thing to disable the “All-in-One” SEO plugin and that I install the “W3 Total Cache” plugin to enable caching. They are under a separate hosting than me but both through HostGator.
I was going to suggest we compare plugins, thank you for listing yours and I see we don’t have too many in common.
My list of activated plugins:
All in One SEO Pack
Contact Form 7
Exclude Pages from Navigation
Google XML Sitemaps
NextGEN Gallery
Really Simple CAPTCHA
Shadowbox JS
WordPress Importer
WordPress Related Posts
WP-Cycle
WP-reCAPTCHA
Only Contact Form 7 and NextGen are the same and I highly doubt they are the cause although I have had a problem with both over the last couple months. Those visible problems seem to be resolved.
The same thing happens to me in Firefox.
Yes @tomdkat – I am experiencing the stalls not locally as in my computer but through a local internet provider who also offers hosting services. I just put this together earlier today. Good to hear I’m not alone but perhaps we can make a difference by putting this out there and providing as much knowledge as we can about this problem.
While I was researching this further, I found this post from over a year ago:
http://www.seosteve.com/wordpress-stalls-and-will-not-publish
It all of a sudden occurred to me that this does happen more often when I’m logged in to the dashboard (I think) – what about you? Do you agree?
Harmonie
Well. Thanks everyone for your input. It all pretty well confirms that it’s not “US”.
Since posting I’ve heard from yet another person in the USA (I’m in Australia) who is experiencing the same problems with Hostgator as their host.
I’ve spent the past 10 days trying to sort this with Hostgator and they keep giving me the run around with the last one blaming my ISP because they’d run out of plugins to blame. I’ve reaffirmed with my ISP that everything is working just fine and as it should.
I’ve pointed out to them numerous times what the symptoms are and keep getting a different member of their support staff asking the same questions I’ve answered half a dozen times.
They’ve had me deactivating plugins, installing new ones, carrying out trace routes, sending pingplotter reports and a few other things to keep me busy for das because they can’t figure out what’s wrong.
Thanks everyone for allowing me my sanity and proving once and for all that it’s not just me or my computer.
I don’t think we should give up troubleshooting 🙂
@ponderconsulting: Thanks for the info. That link was interesting. I’ve found the stalls to occur when no one was logged in to the dashboard. I’ve also encountered the stalls IN the dashboard and while trying to view the main site while logged in to the dashboard.
I’ll see if I can remain out of the dashboard today and see how often the stalls occur.
@kellio48: It sounds like my Hostgator support experience has been better than yours. They’ve been very responsive to me and appear to be wracking their brains as much as I’ve been. If I get any useful info from them, I’ll post it here.
I’m going to mention the “mod_security” issue mentioned at the site ponderconsulting posted the link to, to Hostgator support and we’ll see what they say.
Thanks!
Peace…
Oh yeah, I’ve been experiencing stalls in both Firefox and Chrome. I also experience stalls in Opera but I sometimes get stalls in Opera so I’m not sure it I’m seeing “Opera” stalls or WordPress stalls. 🙂
Peace…
Ok, I’m NOT logged in to the dashboard and I’m using Firefox and RIGHT NOW, it’s stalled waiting for WordPress.
EDIT: I just heard from Hostgator support and they informed me they are running PHP 5.2.17 with ionCube PHP Loader v3.3.20.
Peace…
@tomdkat – Thanks!
I’ve experienced this same issue on a BlueHost account I was working on today so that’s 4 different servers from 4 different companies (and we’re not talking about GoDaddy or Network Solutions who are inherently always slow with WordPress). I don’t think we can pin it to HostGator.
For now, I just wait for WordPress core updates and pray that it gets resolved.
I do have another suspicion…the xmlrpc.php file found in the root of a WordPress install has been the target of exploits in the past – perhaps this is causing it…
I can confirm that this problem is happening outside of HostGator. I have a site running on a Windows server installation with WordPress (3.2.1) and have the same hanging issue as I have with sites I have hosted at HostGator. And I have a WordPress (3.2.1) installation running on Linux at the company I work full-time for an experience the same hanging issue. So make the six different servers from six different companies (per the previous post from ponderconsulting). The ONLY thing all of my sites have in common is the WordPress core.
Thanks for the info, echelonwebdesign. I thought I had found a solution for my stall issue by disabling the “NextGEN Gallery” plugin but the stalls have been persisting. 🙁
I started encountering this problem with WordPress 3.1.4 and thought upgrading to 3.2.1 would solve the problem. Has anyone else experienced this with WordPress 3.1.x?
Peace…
I am having the same issues and posted elsewhere on the forum. I suspect it is a php issue. This has been going on for weeks and I am losing money. Not happy.
Joan
I updated to 3.2.1 about 3 days ago to try to rectify the problem, but it made no difference.
At least from what’s been posted here, we can ascertain that the issue is not with any particular host but I’m surprised that there has not been a lot more noise made about it in other forums etc.
I guess we give em’ time!
