Title: Critical Error Messages
Last modified: November 9, 2020

---

# Critical Error Messages

 *  [gratefulpaws](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gratefulpaws/)
 * (@gratefulpaws)
 * [5 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/critical-error-messages/)
 * After updating to PHP 7.4.1 and successfully updating the About page for my website,
   when going to publish or go back into WordPress, this is the error message I 
   receive:
    There has been a critical error on your website. Please check your 
   site admin email inbox for instructions.
 * But I never received a recovery email.
    ————
 * So then after reading a lot about debugging (and I am not a programmer), I got
   this error after changing Plugins Folder name to Plugins.Hold logging in, and
   then changing the name back to Plugins and logging in again:
 * W3 Total Cache Error: some files appear to be missing or out of place. Please
   re-install plugin or remove /hermes/bosnacweb04/bosnacweb04af/b2255/ipg.grpawsstore/
   wp_site_1603677058/wp-content/advanced-cache.php.
 * That error message has since gone away.
    ————–
 * I now receive the following error message when trying to get into WordPress from
   my hosting server:
    There has been a critical error on your website. Learn more
   about debugging in WordPress.
 * I am not a programmer. I have done by best to learn about debugging. I am at 
   my wits end and cannot figure out why WordPress will not load.
 * Is there any possible help for me out there?
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fcritical-error-messages%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/)
 * (@macmanx)
 * [5 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/critical-error-messages/#post-13641590)
 * Try [manually resetting your plugins](https://wordpress.org/support/article/faq-troubleshooting/#how-to-deactivate-all-plugins-when-not-able-to-access-the-administrative-menus)(
   no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one
   individually until you find the cause.
 * If that does not resolve the issue, access your server via [SFTP or FTP](https://wordpress.org/support/article/ftp-clients/),
   or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel (consult your hosting
   provider’s documentation for specifics on these), navigate to /wp-content/themes/
   and rename the directory of your currently active theme. This will force the 
   default theme to activate and hopefully rule-out a theme-specific issue (theme
   functions can interfere like plugins).
 * —
 * As for the email not being sent, it sounds like your hosting provider has disabled
   PHP’s `mail()` function, which is used by WordPress to send you email notifications,
   and is also used by contact form plugins and more.
 * This is a common safeguard employed by hosting providers when they suspect that
   another customer on the same server is sending spam emails directly from the 
   server.
 * Another alternative is that PHP’s `mail()` function is still active, but spammer
   activity from the server has already caused any email sent from it to be blacklisted.
   This would result in the emails being sent, but never received by any email address
   with basic anti-spam capabilities.
 * You can check this by leaving a comment on your site and checking if you receive
   an email. Another alternative would be to use the [Health Check](https://wordpress.org/plugins/health-check/)
   plugin and sending yourself a test email from the plugin’s Tools tab to see if
   it works.
 * If you didn’t receive a test email, you could try using an [SMTP plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/smtp/)
   to configure your WordPress site to use your email’s outgoing mail server instead
   of PHP’s `mail()` function.
 *  Thread Starter [gratefulpaws](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gratefulpaws/)
 * (@gratefulpaws)
 * [5 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/critical-error-messages/#post-13641890)
 * Thank you! I’ll give it a try.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Critical Error Messages’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [critical error](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/critical-error/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [gratefulpaws](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gratefulpaws/)
 * Last activity: [5 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/critical-error-messages/#post-13641890)
 * Status: not resolved

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