WordPress crashed after plugin updates failed

  • Resolved kyna_gtf

    (@kyna_gtf)


    10 years, 1 month ago

    I have no idea which version of wordpress we are using because I do minimal “tech” help for a blog regarding posting and comments, but no one on staff has any WordPress experience except me. A message showed up on the admin panel this morning when one of us logged into our blog; it said that 14 updates needed to be done and an update for the latest version of WordPress. When we tried to do those 14 updates (not the WordPress update), the blog crashed and now does not show up on our website, and we cannot login through our blog login link to access our admin panel. Our login link to log in to our blog shows only a blank page. We use BlueHost for our blog, but none of us has any blog developer, coding, or programming experience to be able to fix the problem through WordPress. This is why I’m asking the question here in hopes that we may change that. How do we get our blog back when we can’t login to our blog to access our dashboard or admin panel? If we *can* figure out a way to login, how do we fix the problem with the crashed website once we are logged in? Again, none of us has coding or developer or programming experience related to WordPress. If anyone can be helpful, please note that we are unfamiliar with developing our own blog as this was done for us by a public relations firm several years ago and we have needed to know nothing more than how to post blogs, manage comments, and change some basic settings. Thank you for any help you can provide. Our blog URL is blog.gtfeducation.org.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Well, you’ve got a “500” error, which indicates Something Bad (TM) has happened. However, you’ve also said “we are unable to to do anything”, so I don’t really know how to follow up!

    Do you have a backup of the site before you did the update?

    Try enabling wp_debug in wp-config.php to see if any sort of useful message appears. edit wp-config.php and add

    define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );

    right above where it says “do not edit beyond this point”

    Thread Starter kyna_gtf

    (@kyna_gtf)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Thanks sterndata, but all I meant by our inexperience is that the technical side of handling WordPress is something we’re unfamiliar with, so coding, enabling, etc., is something we don’t know how to do. We do have a backup of the blog (I hope; I’m checking to make sure that process has been ongoing since we agreed to do it awhile back). I will check with our website editor/IT person on that as he backs up the whole website which, because our WordPress blog is embedded in the site, includes the actual blog (or should).

    About the enabling of the code you sent, we have absolutely no idea what that means. Imagine if I had no knowledge of WordPress at all; that’s sort of the level where we are. Again, this is because a firm set up us and all we’ve ever needed to know is how to make posts and manage comments. I’m sure people might think that ridiculous or reckless (I would agree), but all we really need is a kind of baby step-by-step tech help to be able to fix it. We cannot login to the blog, so how do we enable anything when our login page won’t even load? Unless we can tackle this through our host (which is something I might be able to do) or our server (which is something our IT person would have to do), I’m not sure how we can proceed when we can’t login to our blog.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    10 years, 1 month ago

    If you added wp_debug, it’s (unfortunately) not producing an error. However, a 500 error should be logged, so check your hosting control panel for a file called “error_log”, “error.log” , or something similar. If there, copy and paste the last few posts.

    It seems to me that it would be worth your organizational while to engage a local WP developer to maintain your site (14 plugins out of date!), ensure it’s backed up regularly, and be available to answer questions.

    Thread Starter kyna_gtf

    (@kyna_gtf)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    Thanks very much for your help, sterndata. We’ll try your advice and login to our host to see what we can find.

    Yes, like I said it could be called ridiculous and reckless that we’re unable to do so much, but because of the minimal function of the blog and the fact it’s really a backup for us to post things that we’re also sending out in other ways through other places on the site, email blasts, and social media, we’ve had no need for further developer help. Although today, obviously, we do.

    Thanks again. I’ll be back if this doesn’t work!

    Thread Starter kyna_gtf

    (@kyna_gtf)

    10 years, 1 month ago

    I was able to sort out the issue by logging into our account with our website and blog host (Bluehost) and using live chat. Our problem was diagnosed — there was, indeed, an error log for the problem we were experiencing — and after about 15 minutes the problem was sorted out by the tech professional who was able to help bring our blog back.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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