Can you provide us with a link to your site? You mentioned Ultimate Member. Do you think this plugin might be causing the problem? Have you tried disabling it? If you suspect that this is the culprit, it would be better to post this question in that plugin’s support forum.
Thread Starter
tvc73
(@tvc73)
Hi there and thank you…!
No I don’t believe it would be ultimate member causing the issue but of course I don’t know for sure.
The main site is
http://www.arrangementsaustralia.com
The testing subdomain is
testing.arrangementsaustralia.com
The testing site is identical to the main domain. The testing site is working and the main one is not.
Moderator
t-p
(@t-p)
Internal server errors (error 500) are often caused by plugin or theme function conflicts, so if you have access to your admin panel, try deactivating all plugins. If you don’t have access to your admin panel, try manually resetting your plugins (no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.
If that does not resolve the issue, try switching to the default theme for your version of WordPress to rule-out a theme-specific issue. If you don’t have access to your admin panel, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel, navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename the directory of your currently active theme. This will force the default theme to activate and hopefully rule-out a theme-specific issue.
If that does not resolve the issue, it’s possible that a .htaccess rule could be the source of the problem. To check for this, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel, and rename the .htaccess file. If you can’t find a .htaccess file, make sure that you have set your SFTP or FTP client to view invisible files.
If you weren’t able to resolve the issue by either resetting your plugins and theme or renaming your .htaccess file, we may be able to help, but we’ll need a more detailed error message. Internal server errors are usually described in more detail in the server error log. If you have access to your server error log, generate the error again, note the date and time, then immediately check your server error log for any errors that occurred during that time period. If you don’t have access to your server error log, ask your hosting provider to look for you.
Thread Starter
tvc73
(@tvc73)
Thank you very much for your detailed response Tara.
I’m just a bit curious that the main site is experiencing this issue but the testing sub domain is not. They are configured exactly the same. I always test changes on the sub domain before letting them loose on the main site.
I’ve tested resetting the plugins on the testing domain which all worked fine. I guess now I have to try it on the main site…
Thread Starter
tvc73
(@tvc73)
Ok Tara,
I followed this exactly…
Or reset your plugins folder via FTP or the file manager provided in your host’s control panel. This method preserves plugin options but requires plugins be manually reactivated.
1. Via FTP or your host’s file manager, navigate to the wp-contents folder (directory)
2. Via FTP or your host’s file manager, rename the folder “plugins” to “plugins.hold”
3. Login to your WordPress administration plugins page (/wp-admin/plugins.php) – this will disable any plugin that is “missing”.
4. Via FTP or your host’s file manager, rename “plugins.hold” back to “plugins”
When I get to point 3 Login to plugins page. It brings up the WordPress login but I can’t login. It just sits there and times out.
Thread Starter
tvc73
(@tvc73)
Ok … so after I left the site like this for some time I tried again.
I was able to login at the WordPress login screen and go to the plugin page. Then changed the file name back and then activated the plugins.
It now has all the plugins back up and running and the site appears to be fine…? So I’m at a loss as to what caused it and whether it will happen again.
A big thank you to Tara for your post…!!
Many times intermittent 500s occur due to Hosting.
If there’s some sort of resource shortage + a timeout occurs, then PHP can throw fatal errors.
Try setting xdebug.scream=1 (requires XDebug be installed) + enable WP_DEBUG.
This will give you some good info.
Likely you’ll also require diving into your logs – MariaDB/MySQL + Apache + maybe kernel, if you’re having ip_conntrack problems.
Intermittent 500 errors usually relate to Hosting.
Continuous 500 errors usually relate to theme or plugin code.
