Title: RSS feed not validating Last modified: August 18, 2016 --- # RSS feed not validating * [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/) * Hello, I have read everything I could find on this problem and I’m still not sure what to do. I have 2 blogs using WordPress, [http://over-50-and-kicking.com](http://over-50-and-kicking.com) and a new one [http://womenscorner.com](http://womenscorner.com) The first one, the RSS feed validates no problem. The second one won’t and the error I got was: Your feed appears to be encoded as “utf-8”, but your server is reporting “US- ASCII” [help] `line 2, column 0: XML Parsing error: :2:0: xml declaration not at start of external entity [help] Source: http://womenscorner.com/wordpress/wp-rss2.php Someone said it could be whitespace in the php file…but which file? the index.php? and if so where do I look? I checked and there is no space at the beginning. Can anyone help me please? Thanks Lise Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 39 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/page/2/?output_format=md) [3](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/page/3/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/page/2/?output_format=md) * [Mark (podz)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/podz/) * (@podz) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114737) * First part: Add “AddDefaultCharset utf-8” to your .htaccess * [Kafkaesqui](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kafkaesqui/) * (@kafkaesqui) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114740) * [http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwomenscorner.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-rss2.php](http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwomenscorner.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-rss2.php) >line 2, column 0: XML Parsing error: :2:0: xml declaration not at start of external entity [help] `1. 2. For some reason you’re getting a space at the top of the output. The line above needs to be on the first line to validate. If nothing is wrong with the file, try turning off any plugins, to see if that’s the cause (as it was [here](http://wordpress.org/support/6/16665)).. * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114750) * Hey guys, Sorry I had to do something. OK Podz, I tried adding Adddefault…but that did not work. It still not validating. Did I have to put the ” ” ? And Kafkaesqui, I turned off the WP grins plug in(which is the only one activated) and it still did not rectify it. I’ve wasted so much time on this, it’s so frustrating. I really don’t know much about php so maybe there is a space somewhere I’m not seeing. Podz, you helped me before….if I give you access could you try to see what’s wrong? I hate to bother you but I’m at my wits end. Please 🙂 Thanks lise * Moderator [James Huff](https://wordpress.org/support/users/macmanx/) * (@macmanx) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114766) * Try replacing wp-rss2.php with a new copy from the download. * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114771) * macmanx, Thanks…I tried and it’s still not validating….I’m pulling my hair 🙁 Can someone try it in their RSS feeder and see if it works anyway? If `` has to be on the 1st line, I don’t know how to do that. Can someone tell me please? Thanks Lise * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114774) * Hey Kafkaesqui, that’s a neat place that paste.uni – ok I did it and here is the link [http://paste.uni.cc/6348](http://paste.uni.cc/6348) Thanks a bunch Lise * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114776) * Beats me LOL – This is really foreign language to me. The only difference between my 2 blogs is: the one validating is the version before, does not have a form on it, and does not have a navbar at the top. the one not validating is the newer version, does have a form and a navbar. Grrrrr * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114778) * OK I’m starting to get that 🙂 So which php files should I compare maybe with the blog that works? wp-rss2.php, plugins.php and what other php pages should I check? * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114780) * Sorry I posted before I saw yours. Why is there a server config issue? you lost me LOL * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114785) * Did it and there is no extra line see [http://womenscorner.com/wordpress/test.html](http://womenscorner.com/wordpress/test.html) * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114787) * I also checked on my other blog and there is no extra line either, so now we know that’s it’s either WordPress or PHP. * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114790) * Ok I did just did another page and called it test.php and upload it and view source and it’s ok no space at top * [Kafkaesqui](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kafkaesqui/) * (@kafkaesqui) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114792) * So now we know it’s WordPress that is playing around here. Can anyone else pipe up with an idea why it’s doing this? If not, I’ll do some digging. * Thread Starter [lise](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lise/) * (@lise) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114793) * Also I tried to validate the commentsrss2.php and it doesn’t either. Does that help? * [Kafkaesqui](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kafkaesqui/) * (@kafkaesqui) * [21 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/#post-114795) * Only in that it continues to show WP is sticking that extra line at the top absolutely everywhere. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 39 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/page/2/?output_format=md) [3](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/page/3/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘RSS feed not validating’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 39 replies * 10 participants * Last reply from: [zanadu260284](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zanadu260284/) * Last activity: [19 years, 12 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/rss-feed-not-validating/page/3/#post-115066) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics