Hi @evilned,
Thanks for the detailed writeup.
The “out of memory” note is the useful clue here, but before suggesting a specific fix I’d like to see the actual error so we’re not guessing. A couple of things would help:
- The full fatal error. It usually reads something like “Fatal error: Allowed memory size of X bytes exhausted (tried to allocate Y bytes) in /path/to/file.php on line Z.” You can find it in the admin-email notification WordPress sends when a fatal error occurs, in your site’s error log (often wp-content/debug.log if WP_DEBUG_LOG is on), or via your host’s error log.
- Your current memory limit and versions. In wp-admin, go to Tools > Site Health > Info and expand the Server section. That shows your PHP memory limit and PHP version.
If you do not want to post those info publicly on this forum, you can contact us privately via this contact form. If you choose to reach out directly, please include a link to this thread.
I’m on a shared server and I don’t have as much access as I like. Here is what information I have available to me:
Physical Memory Usage
77.05 MB / 2 GB (3.76%)
Number of Processes
2 / 100 (2%)
CPU Usage
1 / 100 (1%)
While I was troubleshooting, I recall the CPU was pegged at 100%
Regarding the wp error log you mentioned, I don’t see it in the file structure. There is an error log but it doesn’t have any references in it to an out of memory error message in it.
I do have an update to Jetpack, (It’s currently still installed but disabled), available, however, reading the notes, it’s not marked as tested with the current version.
16.1.2 – 2026-08-20 Bug fixes
- Newsletter: Fix a fatal error on the settings page caused by Gutenberg removing a private API that DataViews toggle and radio fields relied on.
Should I try updating and activating the plugin and see what happens?
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This reply was modified 1 week, 1 day ago by
evilned.
Hi @evilned,
Yes, go ahead and update Jetpack.
Jetpack 16.1.2 is the current release and it fixes a fatal error, so it is worth being on it before you activate. The plugin page lists WordPress 6.9 or higher as the requirement, so 7.1 should be fine: https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/.
If the site crashes again, we will need the actual fatal error logs.
It will be in wp-content/debug.log, in your host’s error log, or in the email WordPress sends to your admin address. You can also contact your host to request those logs.
Feel free to send it through the contact form from our earlier reply if you would rather not post it here.
Thanks,
I tried updating the plugin, (Successful), and then enabled it. Initially, all it showed was a 503 error. (I am way to familiar with those and their causes).
I looked for the error logs and found that debug was set to false. After I restored the site, (Renaming the jetpack folder), and confirming it was disabled, I went into the config file and activated debug. Then I tried enabling jetpack again. This is the error that came up.
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 20480 bytes) in /home/removed4security/public_html/blog2/wp-includes/functions.php on line 655
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 110592 bytes) in /home/removed4security/public_html/blog2/wp-includes/class-wpdb.php on line 2353
I am not a developer and wouldn’t know what I was looking at in those locations in the two files.
Hi @evilned,
Thanks for grabbing those errors.
I seems your site is hitting its PHP memory ceiling. The fix is to raise the PHP memory limit. Since you’re on a shared server with limited access, the most reliable route is to ask your host to increase your PHP memory limit to at least 256M.
You can send them something like: “Please increase our PHP memory_limit to at least 256M.”
If you’d like to try it yourself first, there’s a full walkthrough here: https://jetpack.com/resources/wordpress-memory-limit/
Once the limit is raised, go ahead and reactivate Jetpack. If it still crashes at 256M, reply with the complete fatal error log and we’ll take another look.
I have put in the request. I don’t know if they can or will do this, but if they do, I’ll try activating Jetpack again and see what happens. I’ll update this once I have more information.
Hi @evilned –
Thanks for doing that. Let us know how it goes and we’ll be here to help if you still have issues.
My hosting company increased the resources. I activated the plugin and it is loading now.
Hi @evilned –
Excellent! That is great news.
I’m going to mark this thread as resolved, but if you have any issues with Jetpack in the future, feel free to open a new thread.
