Operating a WordPress website brings numerous advantages, but encountering technical difficulties can disrupt your online presence and frustrate visitors.
One common issue users face is the “This Site is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error. This error message can prevent access to your website for visitors and sometimes for yourself too.
However, don’t worry. In this article, we will guide you through the process of fixing this error and restoring your WordPress site without breaking a sweat.
Table of Contents
Understanding the Error
The “This Site is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error in WordPress indicates that an issue has occurred, hindering your website’s proper functioning. To ensure visitors are aware of the problem, this message is displayed.
Several factors can trigger this error, such as incompatible plugins or themes, corrupted files, faulty code snippets or exceeding memory limits.
Troubleshooting Steps to Fix the Error
1. Quick Fix using WordPress Recovery Mode
WordPress latest version includes a handy feature called Recovery Mode that can help resolve the “This Site is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error.
Check your admin email inbox for a message containing a login link. Click on the link to access the recovery mode. Once logged in to recovery mode, you’ll be able to see a notification which should explain what the error is.
Generally, it will say what plugin or theme is causing the error. After you know the culprit, you can update or delete the faulty theme or plugin from the WordPress dashboard or from your hosting panel.
After completing the necessary troubleshooting steps, you can exit recovery mode by clicking on the “Exit Recovery Mode” button.
In case you did not receive the recovery email from WordPress follow the below troubleshooting steps.
2. Disable Recently Installed Plugins
Start troubleshooting by deactivating recently installed plugins. Sometimes, compatibility issues arise between new plugins and your current setup.
Access the “Plugins” tab and deactivate each plugin one by one. After disabling a plugin, refresh your website and check if the error persists.
If you are unable to access the WordPress dashboard you can disable all the plugins from your Hosting panel by renaming the plugin folder. After you have disabled the plugins, you can come back and try logging into your WordPress dashboard.
Now, if you are able to login to your WordPress dashboard, you know one of your plugins is causing the problem.
Activate your plugins one by one till you get the problem again and you will find the culprit. You can update or delete the problem causing plugin to fix the issue.
Disabling Plugin from the FTP
Access your site via FTP or File Manager and rename the plugins folder (found in wp-content) to something like plugins-old. This will deactivate all plugins.
Reactivate plugins one by one: Rename the folder back to plugins and then rename each plugin folder individually to reactivate them one at a time. Check your site after each activation to see which plugin causes the issue.
3. Switch to Default WordPress theme
If disabling your plugins doesn’t work for you, you can now try disabling your current theme and switching to WordPress default theme. If you are able to login to your WordPress dashboard you can switch to another theme by going to Appearance >> Theme.
However, if you are unable to login to your WordPress dashboard you can switch your WordPress theme from your hosting panel.
- All of your installed theme’s will be inside wp-content/themes folder.
- Now, take a backup of your current theme by downloading the theme folder, and delete your current theme folder.
- After you delete your current theme, WordPress will automatically switch back to default themes like Twenty TwentyThree.
However, if you only have your current theme installed and don’t have a default WordPress theme, then consider installing it by uploading theme files to your wp-content/themes folder.
After doing this; if it solves the error, then you know your theme was causing the error. You can now install a fresh copy of your theme/ update it or switch to another theme.
4. Review Error Logs
WordPress generates error logs that can provide insights into the error’s cause. You may have to enable debugging mode by adding the following line of code to your website’s wp-config.php file:
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );After you have enabled the debugging mode, navigate to the “wp-content” directory and locate the “debug.log” file. Open it with a text editor and examine any error messages or warnings. These logs will help pinpoint the specific issue causing the error.
5. Update WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins
Outdated WordPress, themes and plugins versions can cause compatibility problems and expose your website to security risks. Ensure your WordPress core, themes, and plugins are up to date. Check for updates in the “Updates” section of your WordPress dashboard. If updates are available, proceed with their installation and verify if the error has been resolved.
6. Increase Memory Limit
WordPress requires sufficient memory to function optimally. If the error is triggered by a memory limit breach, you can increase the memory allocation.
Access your website’s root directory using an FTP client or file manager and find the wp-config.php file.
Open it and add the following line of code just before the line that says “That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging!“:
If below line is already present consider increasing the value to 256M as below.
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
This code increases the memory limit to 256 megabytes. Save the file and check if the error persists.
Note: If the above method does not increase your memory limit you may have to ask your hosting provider to increase the limit for you.
7. Update your PHP version
Some times “This site is experiencing technical difficulties” may occur due to incompatible and old PHP versions. So, you can head over to your hosting’s setting and update your PHP version.
You may also contact your hosting provider and ask them to update your PHP version.
8. Restore from Backup
If you have a recent backup of your website, restoring it can rectify the error. Contact your web hosting provider to learn about their backup restoration process. Before proceeding, ensure you have backed up any new content or changes made since the backup was created.
8. Contact Hosting Providers
Many hosting providers like Hostinger can be really helpful during such errors. Contact with them and seek if they have to offer anything. They may help you by restoring a recent backup of your website.
More on WordPress Errors
- How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress
- How to fix WordPress white screen of death
- Fix WordPress posts returning to 404 error
Conclusion
We understand experiencing the “This Site is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” error in WordPress can be disheartening, but with the right tactics, you can fix this error with ease. By following the troubleshooting steps outlined in this article, you will be able to identify and resolve the underlying causes of the error. Remember to stay calm and take one step at a time.