Know your limit: If you're not comfortable performing these steps, we suggest that you don't. Some of these steps are more advanced and can cause some major issues if not followed properly. If something goes wrong, we'll be unable to assist in resolving the problem.
Clear WordPress cache
- Sign in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Mouse over Settings then locate your caching plugin.
- In the settings for your plugin, locate the option to Clear Cache or Delete Cache. Use it to clear the cache.
- If you are unable to find an option for clearing the cache, please visit the support page for your caching plugin for steps on clearing the cache.
If unable to access the WordPress dashboard
Disable the Cache plugin from WP Toolkit by following the steps here.
Remove Plugins
If you are getting an error 500 on your page or the page is loading blank, this may be due to a corrupted or incompatible plugin. You may be able to resolve it by deactivating the plugin.
- Sign in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Click Plugins.
- Select the problem plugin and deactivate it.
If the problem persists, multiple plugins may be involved. Visit our help page here for more information on identifying plugins that are producing errors.
If unable to access WordPress dashboard
Disable the problem plugin from WP Toolkit by following the steps here.
Problem URLs in the database
If your website won't load or loops, the URL WordPress expects to find the blog may be out of sync with where it is installed. You can resolve it by re-syncing the URL.
- In the cPanel interface, click the WP Toolkit link (on the left toolbar). Note: WP Toolkit is not available for the WordPress Essentials Hosting plan.
- On the bar with the blog URL, click the icon with the three vertical dots (on the very right).
- In the menu that appears, click Update Site URL.
- If the Current site URL and New site URL are mismatched, the Update button will be available. Click it to synchronize the blog's URL settings.
Note: If the button is greyed out, the URLs are in sync. Other reasons for the loading/looping issues will need to be explored.
If unable to access the blog in the WordPress Toolkit (advanced troubleshooting)
- Go to phpMyAdmin.
- Click on the blog database.
- Click the options table.
- Expand the list to see the full list of entries.
- In option_name column, find the entries for siteurl and home.
- The correct URL will be based on this pattern: https://your-site-here.net/foldername (Blogs associated with Stores may be formatted as https://site.your-site-here.net/foldername) - If the URL isn't correct, please edit the entry.
Switch Theme
After updating a theme, and you can't view your site or access the WordPress dashboard, you'll want to switch the theme.
- In the cPanel interface, click the WP Toolkit link (on the left toolbar). Note: WP Toolkit is not available for the WordPress Essentials Hosting plan.
- Click the Themes tab under the blog you wish to update.
- From this menu, click the Active toggle next to a different theme. This will switch the blog to that theme.
If a different theme works, then the selected theme is either incompatible, corrupted, or out of date. For more information on updating a theme, go here.
Permalink reset
If you've just reactivated and the links to pages aren't working, you'll need to reset the permalinks setting.
Note: If the Customizable Permalinks plugin is enabled, disable it.
- Sign in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Mouse over Settings, then select Permalinks.
- On the Permalink Settings page, select Plain.
- Click the Save Changes button.
- Check your links or pages to confirm the Plain setting is working.
- Then select the desired permalink setting and click Save Changes again.
For more information on troubleshooting permalinks, read the Why aren't my permalinks working? help page.
Looking to export your database? Read the Export database and tables in phpMyAdmin help page.
Enable WordPress Debugging
WordPress has a debugging mode. When this is set, WordPress will display more detailed error messages in the browser when errors occur. Along with checking the error logs, enabling debugging may help isolate the cause of issues.
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Web Hosting link to open your cPanel interface.
- Click the WP Toolkit link (on the left toolbar). Note: WP Toolkit is not available for the WordPress Essentials Hosting plan.
- Under Tools, click on the toggle for Debugging to activate it.
- To enable other debugging related settings, click the Options icon () to the right of the Debugging setting. Several other options will be displayed and can be enabled.
Important: When Debugging mode is on in WordPress, it will display all PHP errors, warnings, and notices. This will include messages for code that is functional but does not fully align with PHP conventions. If you're not comfortable reviewing the messages displayed to locate the meaningful errors, we don't recommend using it.
Not finding what you need? Check out the WordPress Codex for additional troubleshooting information.