Title: WordPress loading non-existent CSS file Last modified: August 21, 2016 --- # WordPress loading non-existent CSS file * Resolved [PaulDoesWP](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauldoeswordpress/) * (@pauldoeswordpress) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/) * Hello, I have been making frequent updates to my WordPress site’s child theme’s style.css file. I’m not sure if it’s today’s 3.8.2 update, but WordPress always now loads a non-existent CSS file. I can download my nice updated CSS file via ftp, look at it, update it, then re-upload it (overwriting the previous one) but when I reload a page of my site, it sees an old, non-existent CSS file. It’s looking for “style.css?ver=3.8.2”. Presumably this “?ver=3.8.2” bit is being read by some php somewhere and must be magically digging out an old CSS file from god-knows-where; it’s certainly not anywhere on my site – I’ve searched everywhere. * As you can imagine, having WordPress access a file which does not exist is rather annoying. I’ve cleared the caches of all my browsers, done numerous restarts on my Mac and PC, but they’re still seeing the old, deleted file. Chrome on a Mac sees the new CSS file properly, as does an iPad. So the new file is there, ready for any browser to use. If I ftp in, the old CSS file simply does not exist. * Any suggestions as to what on earth is going on would be very gratefully received! * – Paul Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total) * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790943) * > It’s looking for “style.css?ver=3.8.2” * That’s perfectly normal. It just means that the site is using style.css on a 3.8.2 site. * Thread Starter [PaulDoesWP](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauldoeswordpress/) * (@pauldoeswordpress) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790954) * …but it’s not using my CSS file – it’s finding an old file from some mysterious corner of the internet somewhere. It’s certainly not on my site anywhere! I’m now in the process of re-uploading everything from my localhost to a new directory and a new MySQL database on my site to see if that helps. * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790963) * Site url? * Thread Starter [PaulDoesWP](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauldoeswordpress/) * (@pauldoeswordpress) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790969) * It’s a work-in-progress at the moment: [paulroper.com/testing_ccfm03/](http://paulroper.com/testing_ccfm03/) * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790975) * I can’t see anything obviously wrong with your site. Have you asked your hosts if they operate a web cache? * Thread Starter [PaulDoesWP](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauldoeswordpress/) * (@pauldoeswordpress) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790978) * If you inspect one of the links such as “Hammersmith”, and follow back to the CSS file, it shows version 0.5, which does not exist on the server. The CSS that it SHOULD be looking at is here: [http://paulroper.com/testing_ccfm03/wp-content/themes/childofopenstrap2/style.css](http://paulroper.com/testing_ccfm03/wp-content/themes/childofopenstrap2/style.css)… which clearly says “0.7 not 0.5” at the top. * Thread Starter [PaulDoesWP](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauldoeswordpress/) * (@pauldoeswordpress) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790979) * I haven’t asked my host about web caching. I’ll do that now. Thanks for the suggestion! * I also re-uploaded my site to a new directory and it’s working perfectly now. * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790980) * > Have you asked your hosts if they operate a web cache? * Thread Starter [PaulDoesWP](https://wordpress.org/support/users/pauldoeswordpress/) * (@pauldoeswordpress) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790996) * THANK YOU Esmi – my host did indeed have caching on, which I’ve now switched off, and it’s all working perfectly now, even on lousy old IE. * You saved the day! * – Paul * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790998) * No problem. One of my old client hosts had a similar cache – with no way to turn it off. Used to drive me up the wall! Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total) The topic ‘WordPress loading non-existent CSS file’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [css](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/css/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 10 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * Last activity: [12 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wordpress-loading-non-existent-css-file/#post-4790998) * Status: resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics