If you have been using WordPress for a few years, then you have
encountered the white screen of death at least once. The WordPress white
screen of death is one of those extremely annoying problems like.
The reason why this issue is frustrating for users is because it locks
you out of your WordPress admin panel. Because there is no error output
in most cases, you are left clueless to figure out what is the issue.
The worst thing about white screen of death is that sometimes it will
only affect a certain part of your site. For example, you may only see
the white screen of death on your WordPress admin while everything else
works fine. In other cases, you may only see it on a specific post
whereas everything else runs just fine. In this article, we will show
you how to fix the WordPress white screen of death by looking at a few
possible solutions.
Note: Before you make any changes to your site, make sure you have sufficient backups.
Why do you get this error?
Majority of the time when you see a white screen of death, it means
that you exhausted the memory limit. This could be caused by a plugin
that you may be using that is not functioning properly. It could also be
caused by a poorly coded theme that you are using. It could also mean
that there is an issue with your web hosting server. Since the problem
can be caused by any number of things, it may require a lot of
troubleshooting.
Does the problem occur on your other sites?
If you have multiple sites, then the first thing you should do is to
make sure that the white screen of death is happening across the board
or just on this one domain. If the issue is with all of your sites, then
it is a strong indicator that your web hosting provider is having some
issues. However, if the issue is only with one of your sites, then this
could be an issue with a plugin or theme that you are running. If the
issue is only happening with a single post or page, then you know it is
definitely a problem with your specific site.
Increasing the Memory Limit
Usually this issue happens because your memory is being exhausted.
Disabling All Plugins
If increasing the memory limit did not help, or if you have a high
memory limit like 256M or 512M, then you need to start troubleshooting.
In our experience of troubleshooting this issue, we have always found
that the issue is either with a specific plugin or a theme. Let’s go
ahead and disable all the plugins.
If this fixes the issue, then enable one plugin at a time to get to the bottom of the issue.
Replace Theme with a Default Theme
If the plugin troubleshooting doesn’t fix the issue, then you should
try replacing your current theme with a default twenty ten theme. The
best way to do this is by backing up your theme folder. Then deleting
the theme. WordPress will automatically fall back to the default theme.
Alternatively, you can go in your phpMyAdmin and update the database
tables in wp_options table. The following table names would have to be
updated:
template, stylesheet, and current_theme. Change the value to twentyeleven.
If this fixes the issue, then you should look at your theme’s
functions.php
file. If there are extra spaces at the bottom, then you should consider
fixing it. If you are using a poorly coded function in your theme’s
functions.php file, then it can cause this as well.
Other Fixes
If none of the above fixes it, then you should try to re-install a
fresh copy of WordPress. While it is unlikely, but it is always possible
that a core file may have been corrupted.
You can also use the WordPress debug function to see what type of
errors are being outputted. Add the following code in your wp-config.php
file.
1 | error_reporting(E_ALL); ini_set('display_errors', 1); |
3 | define( 'WP_DEBUG', true); |
Once you add this, the blank screen will now have errors, warnings,
and notices. These may be able to help you determine the root cause.
Sometimes, you may have access to the backend, but the front-end of
the site has white screen of death. This can happen because of a caching
plugin. Simply empty your cache.
If you have a white screen of death only on a very long post page,
then you should also try to clearing cache. Another trick that we have
found to work is increasing the recursion and backtrack limit. You can
paste the following code in your wp-config.php file. Or in some servers
you will be required to modify your PHP.INI file.
2 | ini_set('pcre.recursion_limit',20000000); |
3 | ini_set('pcre.backtrack_limit',10000000); |
We understand that this is a very frustrating error, and we hope that
one of the tricks above fixed the issue for you. What have you tried
that seemed to work for you? If you found another solution to work, then
please let us know. We would be happy to expand on this resource, so
others do not have to waste as much time finding a solution.
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