HTTP error 500, possibly post-update

  • Resolved turtlerosie

    (@turtlerosie)


    9 years ago

    Hello,

    I am a proper novice so please bear with me if I describe things wrong/badly!

    I logged onto the admin side of my site today, and there were update messages for both WordPress and some plugins. I took note of the bit about backing up, but I have created zero content thus far so wasn’t too bothered if I lost anything. I didn’t pay attention to which plugins were updating, and I’m not sure which version of WP it was updating to either, but I’m presuming the latest…

    Anyway, I now can’t log into the admin side of WP at all. I can get onto the admin pages of my hosting service (A2) with no probs, and the error log there shows nothing. What I think is the ‘public’ side of things works fine (is this the front end?! I’ve only just discovered the ‘read this first’ document on here, doh) – like I said there’s basically no content there anyway.

    However, when I try to log in to the admin side of things, it kicks out ‘This page isn’t working…currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500’.

    I’ve had a search around this forum and tried various things:
    emptied cache and cookies on browser
    looked for cache/plugins in phpMyAdmin and I think I connected via FTP also, but couldn’t find the right files or folders either way. Mostly the suggestions for this problem seem to have been to delete stuff out of /wp-content/, but I don’t seem to have this folder… (maybe because of having no content?!)
    I do have W3 total cache, which I’ve seen has caused problems for other people. I tried manually resetting the plugins as described in the FAQs, but it didn’t make any difference.

    I have no idea what the hell I’m doing and I’m scared of breaking things further!

    Any advice would be very much appreciated – but please, pitch it to the level of a toddler.

    Thanks in advance.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    9 years ago

    Errors like this are logged. Check the error log on your server. If you can’t find the log, please contact your host.

    Meantime, enable wp_debug and wp_debug_log and after an error, look at wp-content/debug.log to see if anything gets logged there. https://codex.wordpress.org/Debugging_in_WordPress

    You can also try this: Please attempt to disable all plugins, and use one of the default (Twenty*) themes. If the problem goes away, enable them one by one to identify the source of your troubles. http://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-deactivate-all-plugins-when-not-able-to-access-wp-admin/

    Thread Starter turtlerosie

    (@turtlerosie)

    9 years ago

    Thanks very much for your fast help Steve 🙂

    I’ve already checked the error log on the server, and have just double checked – it’s empty.

    I just tried to follow the instructions to enable wp_debug and wp_debug_log, but I don’t have the folder wp-config. I could be being super dense, but I did a search for it in phpMyAdmin and it came up empty. All the wp folders have names beginning wphh, not wp as is shown throughout all the advice pages on here. Is this normal?

    I did try disabling plugins earlier, following the instructions in the link you posted, but it didn’t make a difference.

    sinip

    (@sinip)

    9 years ago

    wp-config.php is not a folder but a file. It should be located in the root of your hosting space (usually public_html) if your website’s files and folders are also located there.

    Thread Starter turtlerosie

    (@turtlerosie)

    9 years ago

    Thanks sinip, it does actually say that in the instructions Steve sent me but I was obviously in too much of a hurry!

    FOUND IT using FTP, I’m so chuffed hahaha. Thanks for the directions. I’m going to try the debug code and now that I’ve found wp-content in FTP I can try disabling plugins and changing theme that way too.

    Fingers crossed.

    Thread Starter turtlerosie

    (@turtlerosie)

    9 years ago

    Fixed it!! I’m so pleased with myself right now. Thanks a million for your help Steve and sinip.

    I think what happened was that something crashed while WP was updating, and everything somehow crumbled? All I did in the end was deactivate all plugins using FTP. Then when I went to my admin page it forced me to update WP directories, and after that I reactivated all plugins and it seems to be working fine.

    Thanks again, I have definitely learned things today 😀

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    9 years ago

    🙂 I was there myself with the same problem this morning.

    Thread Starter turtlerosie

    (@turtlerosie)

    9 years ago

    Steve your wpforbeginners link is so useful, I thought it was the same page as the advice I’d read on here earlier but actually it’s a lot better explained. I can tell it will be a website I’m gonna be using a LOT. Much appreciated.

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

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