How to Fix the WordPress White Screen of Death?
If you are a regular user of WordPress then you have encountered this WordPress White Screen of Death error at least once.
This is the worst feeling when you are not able to see the frontend of your Website. This issue is really frustrating for the WordPress users because it boots you out of your WordPress admin area. You won’t be able to understand what is going on Because there is no error output in most of the cases.
When does this situation occur?
When WordPress doesn’t work properly, then sometimes it displays a blank screen. The worst point about the white screen of death is that sometimes it’ll only affect a specific section of your WordPress Site.
For Example: Sometimes, you will see this white blank screen only in a specific post or page while others work perfectly. And sometimes, This white screen of death occurs only in the frontend.
Note: Always make sure that you have all the sufficient backups before any changes to your WordPress site.
In this article, I’ll show you how to fix the WordPress white screen of death.
Methods to fix this Error
Most of the time when you exhausted your memory limit, you’ll see this white screen of death. These are the following methods you can perform to solve this problem:
Method 1) Increasing the Memory Limit
Usually, The WSOD happens because your memory is being exhausted. To increase the memory limit follow the below steps:
1. Open the wp-config.php file, located at the WordPress root directory.
2. Paste the following code just below this line “That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.”
define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
So, there is a number of things which helps to promote this issue.
- One of the installed Plugins which are not working properly.
- A poorly coded theme you have activated at your WordPress site.
- Your Web Hosting Server.
Is the same problem on your other sites?
If you have multiple WordPress sites, then you can easily find the reason for the white screen of death.
It tells the WordPress to extend the PHP memory limit to 256MB. Once Changes are done, upload your wp-config.php file back to your server.
But How?
This is clear if all the sites have the same white screen of death, It means the problem is with your hosting provider. And if the problem is only on one domain not across all the domains, then the issue may be with your WordPress plugins or Theme you have installed.
Whenever this blank white screen of death occurs, always first ask yourself, what was I doing just before the site stopped working?
- Did I change any settings?
- Did I Activate a new plugin or theme?
If you did any of the above things, then you have to do all the settings back to the original one. While If you have an installed a new plugin or theme, then deactivate it to see the problem fixing.
Method 2) Disable Plugins
Most of the time a site goes down due to a poor plugin update. If you are able to access your admin area, then deactivate all the plugins. This is one of the easiest and simple methods to fix this issue.
If the issue fixes, Now, find the culprit one. Start activating plugins one by one, after each activation, refresh your site where the white screen of death appears.
If this happens due to the plugin. deactivate it from your WordPress site and ask the plugin developers for help or open a support ticket in wordpress.org.
If you are not able to reach your WordPress admin area then:
1. Login to your FTP.
2. Rename your plugins folder like plugins_blog.
3. Now, check your site again.
4. If this method works for you, then test all the plugins one by one. After that, Rename your plugins folder back to the original i.e: plugins.
5. Now, Activate each plugin one by one you have installed, until you find the culprit.
Method 3) Replace Theme with a Default Theme
If disabling the plugins doesn’t fix this issue, then replace your currently active theme with a default one. i.e; twenty-seventeen. Before activating a default theme, make sure to backup your theme folder.
Alternate Method:
1. Go to your PhpMyAdmin.
2. Update the database settings like a template, current_theme, and stylesheet in the wp_options table. Change the value to the default theme.
Method 4) Resolve Errors in Code
There is another common reason for this white screen of death is the syntax error of your WordPress site. Suppose you were editing the code in WordPress theme, and you unintentionally mistyped some code. One wrong character in the wrong section may take down your whole website.
A good way to avoid this scenario is to use a child theme instead of modifying the parent file functions.php.
But don’t panic. In this case, connect to your FTP and reverse the changes back to the original you made.
Method 5) Other Possible Causes
If you find that the plugins, themes or any code are not the sources of this problem, the following are some other prospects of this error:
Corrupted file(s)
Might be your WordPress files is corrupted due to any cause. In this case, contact your Hosting provider and tell them about this problem.
Server Downtime
Sometimes, servers may have downtime for a time period due to many reasons. And some hosting providers inform their customers when their Servers are down. You can check your Gmail, or contact them via chat or call.
Clear Cache
In the WordPress site, you may install a caching plugin for clearing the cache. So, if you are able to access the WordPress admin panel, then clears the cache. And, if you are not able to access the WordPress dashboard, then you can clear the web browser cache.
I hope this helps you to solve the white screen of death issue.
