Fixing Blank Page Screen To Death In WordPress

Published April 9, 2011 | By Govindji Patel

Using a content management system like WordPress there may be times bad things can happen. If you’ve upgraded recently one thing that has been happening to various projects that I work on is the “blank screen of death” as it’s known by WordPress website owners and developers.

The white page of death –the white page is simply all you’ll see is blank page do not panic, but relax all is not lost as it may be some problem in core files that is causing the error as your content is saved in database nothing is lost make a backup of database if you have not backed up.

So if you are currently faced with this problem like I said, remain calm and don’t do anything like deleting your database. Here are a few places where the problem may exist…

WordPress Theme
Normally when you upgrade you need to switch to a working default twenty ten theme if you did not switch then may be the theme you are using is not compatible so using ftp program rename the theme you are using so that twenty ten theme opens and see if that solved your problem.

Plugins

If you did not deactivate the plugins before you upgraded may be one of the plugins is causing the problem as may be is not compatible or needs to be updated to the new version so using ftp program rename the plugins folder to say plugins_hold and create a blank plugins folder and try to log in if you can log in then you will notice that all plugins are deactivated. Go back in ftp program and delete blank plugins folder and rename the orignal back to plugins and activate one plugin at time to see which plugin is causing the problem.

.htaccess

It is possible that a .htaccess rule could be the source of the problem. To check for this, access your server via FTP or SFTP and rename the .htaccess file. If you can’t find a .htaccess file, make sure that you have set your FTP or SFTP client to view invisible files.

If the above steps did not solve the problem then could be that your upgrade was not not performed properly and your files may be corrupted.

You will need to upgrade manually and there is article and video on how to upgrade manually here.

WordPress Site Files

If you want to check what files are causing the problem then you can

First check wp-config.php if you have any blank space before

<?php

code
if there is none then try and add this code in next line

error_reporting(E_ALL); ini_set('display_errors', 1);

In addition, add the following code above
/* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ :

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);

See what error you get.

and replace the files that are giving error from fresh WordPress download.

Once you have site working delete the line you added in line 2 and change true back to false.

About Govindji Patel

I am Author/Publisher WordPress Coach and Consultant who enjoys writing tutorials and helping wordpress users build better WordPress website/blog.

Posted in Wordpress | Tagged blank, death, fixing, page, screen, wordpress

usf

im still getting a blank screen. help!
Govindji Patel

Did you check what error you getting when you add code in wp-config.php and you can check your server error ask your host for help to see the error.
usf

I got a whole host of errors and not sure how to or what to do…heres the list Errors 400 to 417, 422-424, 500-507 and 510..
Govindji Patel

Hello usf Those numbers does not help.
Using ftp replace all files and folders except wp-content folder and wp-config.php file and see if you get your site back.
GEKO

I have the same problem. Here are the erros reported from error log:

[23-Feb-2012 12:03:36] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/rili4090/public_html/lidiacretu/wp-config.php:1) in /home/rili4090/public_html/lidiacretu/wp-includes/functions.php on line 3371

[23-Feb-2012 12:04:37] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/rili4090/public_html/lidiacretu/wp-config.php:1) in /home/rili4090/public_html/lidiacretu/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 866

The line in pluggable.php is:
header(“Location: $location”, true, $status);
The line in functions.php is:
header( ‘Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8′ );
Govindji Patel

Geko Check your wp-config.php file and see if there are no blank line before < ?php as this code needs be first line
You will more info here
http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Troubleshooting#How_do_I_solve_the_Headers_already_sent_warning_problem.3F
GEKO

There aren’t any spaces at the begining or the end of the config php file…

I’m tired…
GEKO

Somehow i resolved the problem. But now I didn’t see any posts in blog. My database looks OK, tables are OK, and even I repaired them nothing seems to appear. oh…
Govindji Patel

Geko The only way to see what the problem is to see url did you try and reset permalinks if you use it.
GEKO

I didn’t change the permalinks and i put another url style, i’ved changed permalinks from dashboard and nothing happen’. The default from what i putted is “Day and name”.
What’s interesting is that in “about me” section it appears that posts. but the articles from index does not.

Fixing Blank Page Screen To Death In WordPress

About Govindji Patel

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