Support » Fixing WordPress » Error establishing database connection

  • Hello,

    I keep receiving this message “Error establishing a database connection” when I attempt to do anything with my blog or admin page. It does vary though, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, but overall it’s been very slow. I recently upgraded to WP 3.5.
    I also uninstalled the most recent plugins incase that was a factor, but to no avail.

    I haven’t changed my password or anything, nor edited any content other than a blog post.

    Here is my site: http://theroadnotprocessed.com/
    I use Bluehost.

    Thanks,
    Bridget

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • If the “Error establishing a database connection” error is intermittent, it’s a host problem. Bluehost is normally a very good host, so ask their support about it, either email or use their live chat feature. The site being slow also points to them; your site may be on a bad server. Ask them to move you to a new server.

    Thread Starter Bridget Besoner

    (@grizzlybearbb)

    Thank you! According to Bluehost Support I am experiencing CPU throttling. I just downloaded Cloudflare in hopes of that helping, if not I do not know what to do..

    Cloudflare won’t help too much with that; you need to find the root of the problem. Are you using a lot of plugins?

    Your database may be gunked up; use http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bulk-delete/ to delete revisions.

    Thread Starter Bridget Besoner

    (@grizzlybearbb)

    I am currently using 10 (11, including bulk delete), is that considered a lot? I did have about 25 inactive plugins to which I just deleted all of them. Perhaps that was causing an issue?

    I am downloading the bulk delete plugin as we speak, thanks. I probably have a bunch of old drafts.

    I ran a repair as well as optimized my databases as recommended by Bluehost.

    If any of these attempts do fix the issue, will it be immediately noticeable? How will I know if the underlying issue is solved?

    Thread Starter Bridget Besoner

    (@grizzlybearbb)

    I have 3027 revisions. Is it necessary to keep them or would I be alright if I permanently deleted them?
    Revisions are just the saved backups WordPress creates as I am editing my posts, correct?

    That’s a lot of revisions. That will cause CPU load. Delete them all; they’re just saved revisions. You may have to run the delete revisions command a few times because it may time out itself with that many revisions.

    After you delete revisions, wait an hour and look in the CPU logs and see if the site is still throttled.

    How busy is the site? How many hits/day does it get?

    Thread Starter Bridget Besoner

    (@grizzlybearbb)

    Still says I am experiencing CPU throttling 🙁

    After I deleted the revisions, my site has been running much faster and I only experienced the “error estab. data connection” once.

    Not too busy, I receive about 1000-2000 hits per day.

    This is so frustrating.

    Your site is kind of heavy with images and scripts. So try WP Super Cache WordPress › WP Super Cache « WordPress Plugins.

    And also consider going to one of Bluehost’s Pro servers; they are not CPU limited, but they cost more per month.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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