Was the site ever working? That is, is this a setup question or a break/fix question?
re-reading… “It was OK- it was running” Sorry.
So
1. Did you change anything in wp-config.php?
2. Can you access the database via phpmyadmin from the Bluehost control panel? If so, select all tables and, at the bottom, where it says “with all tables”, choose “check table” to see if any are corrupt.
Steve, I did as you suggested and there were not any errors.
However, I did find this:
A check of your WordPress directories produced the following errors/warnings:
Warning: File should not exist: wp-includes/error_log
Wayne
That might be an issue, but it’s not the issue you started with. Your error is that you are not properly connecting to the database. Please double check the 4 DB_ defines in wp-config.php.
Steve,
Is this what you were talking about?
/** MySQL database username */
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘redacted);
/** MySQL database password */
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘redacted’);
/** MySQL hostname */
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’);
/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8’);
/** The Database Collate type. Don’t change this if in doubt. */
define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);
1) I removed the passwords in your post. NEVER post passwords. Please change your DB password immediately.
2) Let’s assume that error_log file really is a problem.
Remain calm and carefully follow this guide. When you’re done, you may want to implement some (if not all) of the recommended security measures.
If you’re unable to clean your site(s) successfully, there are reputable organizations that can clean your sites for you. Sucuri, SiteLock and Wordfence are a few.