10 Most Common WordPress Errors and their Solutions

Ever opened your website after few hours and got an unexpected error message? Have you ever encountered a solid white screen without any reason? Sometimes, there come some mistakes on your WordPress site that one must correct as soon as possible to provide the best user experience. Follow us through this post, and I will describe the top 10 most common WordPress Errors, there causes, and solution as well.

Before correcting any issue, I highly recommend that you make a complete backup of your WordPress site before taking any serious action or employ an unreliable solution. You can use some automated WordPress Plugins like Duplicator, WP-DB-Backup, UpdraftPlus, and Akeeba Backup. If some errors are preventing you from installing any plugins, make a backup of your WordPress site manually or contact your website host for further solutions.

1. Internal Server Error

Internal Server Error

The most common error WordPress site owners experience is the internal server error. Internal server error is also sometimes called 500 internal server error. When this error occurs, it means there is a glitch in the server, but the WordPress is unable to identify it. Some common causes for internal server error are as follows:

  • Corrupted themes
  • Corrupted functions
  • Corrupted .htaccess file
  • PHP memory limit fatigue

It is recommended to edit .htaccess file, deactivate all WordPress plugins, modify the wp-includes files and wp-admin, increase PHP memory limit, or change the WordPress themes. Again, if some of these tasks are difficult for you, feel free to reach out to ‘corePHP’ to assist and take that pressure off of you.

2. Auto-Update Fail

Not long ago, WordPress incorporated automatic system updates in its schema to provide enhanced functioning and safety to implement latest versions. Sometimes, these automated updates often fail due to several reasons. The most common reason for this fatigue is the weak internet connection or limited permissions over certain directories and files. In such situations, it is recommended to update your site manually.

3. Syntax Errors

Syntax Errors

After a thorough research, it shows that syntax error is a common error among website developers who incorporate code snippets into their site. Syntax error is easy to locate as the program tells you where to find the problem. Syntax error often occurs due to grammatical mistakes in the problematic file. In many cases, novice website developers end up causing these errors while trying to modify the code.

It can only be resolved by fixing the code, use a different plugin or theme, and adding the code snippets carefully for the next time.

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

Error Establishing a Database Connection

Error Establishing a Database Connection error can be caused due to many reasons. It can be due to a hacker, the server, host provider, or even you. Follow the procedure when you encounter this database connection error:

  • Check your wp-config.php file if the database information such as username, database name, password, and host are all correct. If yes, proceed to the next step.
  • Contact your host provider as the database connection error can occur due to irregular connection with the server. If both these conditions are not true, you might need to access wp-admin.
  • Add the following line to start the repair, “define (‘WP_ALLOW_REPAIR’, true);.” This line begins the process of examining and repairing the database connection. Make sure to remove this code from the wp-config file as the public can also access this function.

5. White Screen

White Screen

White Screen error in WordPress site causes the web to show a blank white page rather than the actual website to the audience. This error is pretty difficult to locate as you may have no hint about the cause. In such conditions, follow the steps below:

  • Login to your WordPress, go to cPanel>File Manager>Public
  • Check the wp-config file
  • Add the following function to the code, “define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);

This function let the website store more cache memory, making the website to work efficiently with more storage. If adding this function doesn’t work, proceed to the next step:

  • Remove the existing plugins and reinstall them as this can led you to the plugin that caused the error at the first place.
  • Remove the existing theme and activate the default WordPress theme.

6. WordPress Posts Showing 404 Errors

This error occurs particularly when someone tries to access the posts from your website. Posts are definitely the core of any website and such errors reduce organic traffic from any blog within days. 404 Error occur when there is a problem with your permalink settings. To overcome such conditions, save your permalinks time to time, and fix your .htaccess file.

7. Email Password Retrieval WordPress Error

This error is not based on a database connection or WordPress Plugin issues but forgetfulness. Forgetting the password or username to your WordPress site is normal but the problem is we don’t get the reset credentials email. To overcome this situation,

  • Login to cPanel
  • Select the existing databse
  • Steer to wp-users and select browse
  • Edit the username
  • Enter the new password to the user_pass
  • Select the MD5 function from the drop-down menu
  • Save changes

8. Locked Out of Admin Area in WordPress

In case you forget about the login credentials of your WordPress site and the recovery email or information doesn’t work, follow these steps:

  • Get access to your current database
  • Select wp-users table
  • Edit the username under the user-login pane
  • It will show an output with a field named user_pass with different characters
  • Write your new password in the field
  • Set the preference to MD5 from the drop-down menu within the function column.

9. 403 Forbidden WordPress Error

403 Forbidden WordPress Error

You are not authorized to visit this page! We all have encountered this error at least hundred times in our lives. The HTTP Error 403 is the most common WordPress error when logging in to the WordPress site. The main reason for 403 error is the irregularity with directory indexes when a website is hosted on a windows server. It can easily be resolved by adding index.php file in the directory indexes. If the problem remains, 000webhost.com has prepared a detailed guide to solve WordPress error 403.

10. Connection Timed Out Error

Connection timed Out Error

Connection Timed out Error is often noticed with websites that are hosted on a shared server. It can be due to themes function errors, limited PHP memory limit, and unreliable plugins. This can be resolved by:

  • Resetting the plugins folder
  • Increase the PHP file limit
  • Change to the default theme and see if the problem remains or not.

Overall Thoughts on these WordPress Error

These were some of the most common yet noticed WordPress errors and their solution. Solutions to some errors differ from website to website. In case any solution described above doesn’t work for you, feel free to comment down below.

Author Bio: Catherrine Garcia is a professional writer and currently works at WPCodingDev Ltd., an ideal place to hire experienced WordPress developer from the team of 150 experts. She along with her group of freelance developers are experts at creating Web sites on CMS

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