elemento website down after configuring WP Mail SMTP

  • Resolved nilamadhab

    (@nilamadhab)


    2 weeks ago

    My website https://scalex.net.in/ was working normally. After I configured WP Mail SMTP at the same time everything was fine I got an email in my mailbox. But after 6 to 8 Hrs when I opened my website this was redirected to the https://scalex.net.in/wp-admin/setup-config.php page. This happened twice in the last 36 Hrs. my email ID are nilamadhabmishra69@gmail.com and support@scalex.net.in

    Below is the incident flow.

    WordPress Website Issue Summary

    Website: https://scalex.net.in/ Problem

    Our WordPress website is intermittently redirecting to:

    https://scalex.net.in/wp-admin/setup-config.php

    Instead of loading the normal website or WordPress admin login.

    When this happens, WordPress displays the “Select a default language” installation screen, as if WordPress is being installed for the first time. Timeline

    1. The website was working normally.
    2. Yesterday morning, we configured the SMTP settings for the website.
    3. The SMTP configuration was tested.
    4. Several hours later, the website started redirecting to /wp-admin/setup-config.php.
    5. We were able to recover/access the site previously.
    6. We then worked on configuring a second Popup Maker popup.
    7. No other major website changes were intentionally made.
    8. Today, the same /wp-admin/setup-config.php problem appeared again.
    9. This makes us concerned that something is periodically affecting WordPress configuration or database connectivity.

    SMTP / Email Findings

    We initially suspected the SMTP configuration.

    However, Google DMARC reports received after the SMTP configuration show:

    • SPF: PASS
    • DKIM: PASS
    • DKIM selector: zoho
    • Domain: scalex.net.in
    • Google DMARC policy action: none

    We have received multiple DMARC aggregate reports, and the authentication results are passing.

    Therefore, SMTP is currently not proven to be the cause. Current Plugins / Environment

    The website uses:

    • WordPress
    • Elementor
    • Elementor-related plugins
    • Popup Maker
    • MetForm
    • WPForms
    • WP Mail SMTP
    • ElementsKit
    • UAE / Ultimate Addons for Elementor
    • Hello theme

    We recently configured WP Mail SMTP for Zoho Mail.

    We also recently edited a Popup Maker popup containing a MetForm form. Important Observation

    The error is not simply an Elementor page or popup failure.

    The entire WordPress installation sometimes behaves as though wp-config.php cannot be found or accessed.

    The URL becomes:

    /wp-admin/setup-config.php

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Thread Starter nilamadhab

    (@nilamadhab)

    2 weeks ago

    I am sure this issue happened after I updated the WP Mail SMTP

    Plugin Support Shawon Chowdhury

    (@shawon001)

    1 week, 4 days ago

    Hi @nilamadhab ,

    Thanks for the detailed writeup, and sorry to hear about the trouble with your site.

    Based on what you’ve described, I want to reassure you: what you’re seeing is not something WP Mail SMTP can cause. The redirect to ‘/wp-admin/setup-config.php’ happens specifically when WordPress core cannot find or read a valid ‘wp-config.php’ file, or cannot establish a database connection.

    WP Mail SMTP only handles outgoing mail delivery (routing wp_mail() through Zoho’s SMTP servers) — it doesn’t touch wp-config.php, your database connection settings, or core file structure in any way. It also can’t run background/scheduled processes that would explain a recurring, timed failure like this.

    Your DMARC findings actually confirm this: SPF and DKIM passing means your SMTP setup is working correctly and isn’t the source of the problem.

    What’s likely happening instead:

    1. wp-config.php is being renamed, corrupted, or made unreadable at the file-system level. This is usually caused by hosting-level issues (flaky storage, permission resets, resource limits killing PHP mid-write) or in rarer cases a compromised site with a malicious script running on a schedule.
    2. A caching/security/maileware plugin or CDN is serving a stale “setup” page.
    3. Your database connection is intermittently dropping (common with resource-limited hosting).

    Since this is a core file/server-level issue rather than anything WP Mail SMTP controls, I’d also strongly recommend contacting your hosting provider’s support directly — they can see server-level logs (I/O errors, resource kills, filesystem events) that aren’t visible from within WordPress, and they’re best positioned to confirm whether this is a hosting issue or a security compromise.

    I hope this helps. Thanks 🙂

    Plugin Support Shawon Chowdhury

    (@shawon001)

    5 days, 8 hours ago

    Hi @nilamadhab ,

    We haven’t heard back from you in a few days, so I’m going to go ahead and close this thread for now. But if you’d like us to assist further, please feel welcome to continue the conversation.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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