WordPress ошибка 500 после обновления

Столкнулись с ошибкой 500 Internal Server Error в WordPress? Ну что же, вы не одни! Ошибка 500 Internal Server Error — одна из самых распространённых ошибок с которой сталкиваются пользователи WordPress. Среди возможных причин появления ошибки: повреждённые файлы .htaccess, неправильно установленные права, задержки скрипта, неправильная версия PHP или неудачное обновление WordPress.

Однако выявить истинную причину не так просто, как, например, в случае ошибки 404, которую могут вызвать либо неработающие постоянные ссылки, либо изменённые URL-адреса страниц.

Вот краткое руководство по исправлению ошибки 500 в WordPress с помощью 9 различных способов. Давайте не будем терять время и начнём данное руководство по WordPress.

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Что вам понадобится

Перед тем, как вы начнёте это руководство, вам понадобится следующее:

• Доступ к панели управления вашим хостингом
• Доступ к панели управления WordPress

ВАЖНО! Безопасность прежде всего. Перед началом данного руководства, мы рекомендуем произвести резервное копирование вашего сайта для предотвращения потери данных.

В большинстве случаев, ошибка 500 Internal Server Error возникает из-за установки или обновления плагинов или тем. Если вы уже знаете какой из плагинов мог вызвать данную проблему, вы уже на пол пути к её решению.

Способ 1.1 — Ошибка 500 в WordPress из-за обновления или установки плагина

Если страница перестала работать после установки или обновления плагина, вы можете починить её, просто отключив или удалив плагин. В зависимости от ситуации, существует два пути для достижения цели.

Отключение плагинов через панель управления WordPress

Если вы можете войти в  вашу панель управления WordPress, следуйте данным этапам:

1. Войдите в вашу панель управления WordPress.
2. Нажмите на Плагины → Установленные в левом меню навигации.

1. Отключите проблемный плагин.

1. Обновите сайт в браузере, чтобы проверить решена ли проблема.
2. Если нет, отключите другой плагин и повторяйте данный процесс, пока все плагины не будут отключены (или сайт не заработает).
3. Как только вы найдёте плагин, ответственный за появление ошибки, попробуйте переустановить его заново. Вы также можете поискать другие плагины на его замену или связаться с разработчиками плагина для уточнения информации о его работе на вашем WordPress.

Отключение плагинов WordPress через Файловый Менеджер или FTP

Существуют ситуации, когда ошибка не позволяет получить доступ к панели управления WordPress. В этом случае, вам придётся отключить или удалить плагин с помощью Файлового Менеджера в панели управления вашим хостингом или FTP-клиентом вроде FileZilla.

1. Пройдите в корневой каталог вашего WordPress и войдите в папку wp-content/plugins.
2. Найдите проблемный плагин и переименуйте его для отключения. К примеру, вы можете добавить .отключён в конец файла, чтобы не забыть об этом плагине. Если вы хотите удалить его полностью, просто удалите папку с плагином.

1. После этого, обновите ваш сайт. В случае, если проблема остаётся, произведите данные действия для оставшихся плагинов до их полного отключения (или пока ваш сайт не заработает).
2. Как только вы найдёте сломанный плагин, вы можете попытаться переустановить его, найти замену или связаться с разработчиками плагина для получения консультации.

Способ 1.2 — Ошибка 500 в WordPress из-за установки или обновления темы

Если ваш сайт перестал работать после установки или обновления темы, вы можете решить проблему изменив тему вашего сайта. Для этого существует два пути:

Изменение темы с помощью панели управления WordPress

Если вы можете получить доступ к вашей панели управления, вот что вы должны предпринять:

1. Перейдите в раздел Внешний вид → Темы.

1. Выберите любую другую тему и нажмите кнопку Активировать.

1. Как только вы закончите изменение темы, вы увидите подтверждающее сообщение со ссылкой на ваш сайт.

Изменение темы с помощью phpMyAdmin

Другой способ для изменения темы, это редактирование значений вашей базы данных MySQL через phpMyadmin, в панели управления вашим хостингом. Этот способ может быть полезен, если ваша панель управления WordPress не работает. Вот, что вы должны сделать:

1. Найдите таблицу wp_options и откройте её.

ЗАМЕТКА! В зависимости от значений таблицы, выбранных вами в процессе установки, префикс таблиц не всегда будет wp_.

1. Перейдите на Страницу 2.

1. Найдите раздел template и stylesheet

1. Узнайте название темы на которую вы хотите её поменять. Для этого перейдите в каталог  wp-content/themes с помощью Файлового Менеджера.

1. Скопируйте название темы, которую вы хотели бы использовать. Далее, измените значения template и stylesheet в базе данных на название вашей новой темы. В данном примере, мы изменим тему twentyfifteen на twentysixteen

Теперь вы снова можете перезагрузить ваш сайт в браузере, и он загрузится с новой темой. Если ошибка 500 была связана с вашей старой темой, то это должно решить проблему. Вы можете попытаться переустановить вашу старую тему или связаться с разработчиком для получения информации о правильной установке темы для вашего WordPress.

Способ 2 — Проверка файла .htaccess

Ещё одним способом для избавления от ошибки internal server error, является проверка состояния вашего файла .htaccess. Вероятность того, что ваш нынешний файл .htaccess был повреждён, весьма высока. Это могло случиться из-за огромного количества причин; самые распространённые из них это установка нового плагина или другие изменения на вашем сайте.

Лучшим методом для проверки состояния вашего файла .htaccess является создание нового. Всё, что вам нужно сделать это:

1. Войти в панель управления вашим хостингом, далее в Файловый Менеджер в разделе Файлы. Альтернативный способ, это использовать FTP-клиент вроде FileZilla.
2. Перейдите в корневой каталог вашего WordPress сайта (если вы видите файлы вроде wp-content и wp-includes, вы в правильном месте).
3. Найдите здесь файл .htaccess и отключите его. Это можно сделать задав ему другое имя. К примеру, .htaccess1.

1. После этого, создайте новый файл .htaccess и вставьте в него стандартный код .htaccess:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

1.  Убедитесь, что сохранили файл.

Теперь, откройте ваш сайт в браузере и посмотрите исправлена ли ошибка. Если нет, продолжите чтение руководства.

Способ 3 — Увеличение лимитов PHP

Если два способа описанных выше не принесли никакого результата, то неправильные значения PHP или нехватка памяти могли стать причиной появления ошибки 500. Это происходит из-за того, что скрипты и плагины требуют определённое количество памяти для своей правильной работы. В дополнение к этому, когда загружается ваш сайт, браузер делает огромное количество запросов для загрузки скриптов, плагинов и контента. Когда количество памяти для загрузки скриптов и плагинов не хватает, WordPress, скорее всего, выдаст ошибку 500 Internal Server Error. Именно поэтому, важно увеличить значение памяти вашего сайта и других PHP настроек. Вы можете это сделать с помощью файла .htaccess. Вот несколько строк, которые мы рекомендуем вам добавить:

php_value upload_max_filesize 128M
php_value post_max_size 128M
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300
php_value memory_limit 256M

Не забудьте Сохранить изменения. Теперь, обновите ваш сайт. Если проблема возникала из-за недостаточных лимитов PHP, то этот способ должен помочь с её решением.

Способ 4 — Изменение версии PHP

Некоторые скрипты или плагины для WordPress требуют определённую версию PHP. Если рекомендуемые требования для них не выполнены, то в следствии этого может появиться ошибка 500. Вы можете проверить вызвана ли она версией PHP, изменив её. Это можно сделать через панель управления хостингом в разделе Дополнительно → Выбор PHP версии.

В случае, если вы не знаете какая версия PHP вам необходима, попробуйте поочередно включать каждую из них. Не забудьте Сохранять ваши настройки и обновлять сайт при каждом изменении. Если ни одна из данных версий не помогла в решении ошибки 500, то верните вашу прошлую версию PHP и перейдите к следующем способу.

Способ 5 — Включение отображений ошибок

Поиск причины возникновения ошибки WordPress 500 Internal Server Error — это самая сложная часть в процессе её исправления. Если ни один из предыдущих способов вам не помог, значит вам необходимо начать поиски поглубже — проверив ваши ошибки. Существует несколько способов для этого:

Включение отображение ошибок

Включив отображение ошибок, вы сможете найти определённый код вашего сайта, который её вызывает. Это можно сделать в том же разделе, где мы меняли версию PHP. Дополнительно → Выбор PHP версии. Установите значение Отображать Ошибки на Включена и нажмите кнопку Сохранить.

Теперь, вы должны перезагрузить ваш сайт. Все ошибки кода будет отображены на экране, как на картинке ниже:

Как только вы найдёте ошибку, откройте указанный в ней файл и посмотрите нужную строку. Вы можете использовать Google, Stackoverflow, WordPress Форум, или связаться с вашим разработчиком для получения информации о решении данной проблемы.

Способ 6 — Использование отладки WordPress

WordPress имеет свою собственную систему отладки, которую вы можете использовать для решения проблем с вашим кодом. Это также может помочь решить проблему ошибки 500. Для начала её использования, вам необходимо сделать несколько изменений в вашем файле wp-config.php.

1. Найдите следующую строчку в файле wp-config.php:

define('WP_DEBUG', false);

1. Удалите и вставьте на её место следующий код:

 // Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
 
// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
 
// Disable display of errors and warnings 
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );
 
// Use dev versions of core JS and CSS files (only needed if you are modifying these core files)
define( 'SCRIPT_DEBUG', true );

1. Обновите ваш сайт и откройте Файловый Менеджер. Перейдите в каталог wp-content и найдите файл debug.log. Откройте редактирование данного файла для просмотра его значений.

1. Теперь вы знаете, что является причиной возникновения ошибки и сможете решить её, обратившись к разработчику или Google, Stackoverflow, WordPress Форуму. Более детальная информации о системе отладки может быть найдена здесь.

Способ 7 — Восстановление резервной копии

Если вы сделали бэкап WordPress до его поломки, восстановление резервное копии тоже может стать решением. Для начала, удалите все файлы WordPress. Затем, загрузите ваш бэкап, перепроверьте, работает ли ваш сайт.

Ручной способ восстановления WordPress может подойти не всем. Если вам кажется это слишком сложным, то мы можем подсказать вам другой способ. К сожалению, это не поможет вам, если ваш сайт не работает, но он точно поможет вам избежать подобных проблем в будущем.

1. Установите и активируйте плагин All-in-One WP Migration.

1. Найдите его в панели управления вашим WordPress и нажмите кнопку Export.

1. Выберите опцию File (Файл), если вы хотите скачать резервную копию на ваш компьютер.

1. Скачайте сгенерированную резервную копию на ваш компьютер. Она содержит файлы вашего сайта и базы данных.
2. Теперь в случае появления ошибки 500 Internal Server Error (или любой другой проблемы) и невозможности её решения, вы можете просто восстановить ваш сайт с помощью резервной копии.
3. Для восстановления сайта с помощью сгенерированной резервной копии, вам необходимо полностью удалить ваш сайт и установить новый WordPress, вместе с плагином All-in-One. После этого, выберите функцию Import (Импорт), выберите сгенерированный бэкап и продолжите процедуру восстановления.

Способ 8 — Переустановка файлов WordPress

Если ошибка ещё появляется, есть кардинальное средство для её решения. Всё, что вам нужно сделать это:

1. Скачать последнюю версию WordPress.
2. Сохранить и распаковать её на вашем компьютере.
3. Удалить файл wp-config-sample.php и папку wp-content для избежания перезаписи важной информации.
4. Переместить все корневые файлы на ваш хостинг аккаунт и перезаписать их. Это можно сделать с помощью FTP-клиента FileZilla.

1. Далее, должно появиться окно с разрешением на перезапись файлов. Поставьте значения как на изображении для автоматизации процесса.

ЗАМЕТКА! Убедитесь, что вы сделали резервное копирование вашего сайта перед началом данного процесса. Это позволит избежать потери важной информации.

Процесс загрузки может занять от 10 до 20 минут. После завершения, попробуйте вновь обновить ваш сайт в браузере. Если ошибка 500 Internal Server Error была связана с корневыми файлами WordPress, этот способ должен помочь решить проблему.

Способ 9 — Начать всё заново

Если все из приведённых способов вам не помогли, вам придется начать создание вашего сайта с нуля. Хорошей новостью является то, что вы можете восстановить ваш сайт даже с помощью резервной копии базы данных. Загляните в данное руководство для пошаговой инструкции по восстановлению вашего сайта только с помощью базы данных MySQL.

Заключение

Все, кто используют WordPress хотя бы раз сталкивались с ошибкой internal server error. Являетесь ли вы продвинутым разработчиком или начинающим пользователем, исправление ошибки 500 является довольно простым процессом, если вы знаете, где искать её причину. Как и в реальной жизни, для решения проблемы нужно сначала найти её источник. После этого, вы можете использовать онлайн ресурсы или это руководство для решения данной проблемы.

У вас есть чем с нами поделиться? Расскажите о ваших идеях или советах в комментариях!

При работе с сайтом приходится сталкивать с теми или иными проблемами. Это будет всегда, каким бы дорогим и качественными ни был хостинг, как бы идеально ни была настроена CMS. Поэтому каждый вебмастер должен понимать, как решить неполадки на сайте, от чего они возникают. Это поможет не впадать в панику и быстро восстановить работоспособность сайта. А постоянная доступность сайта очень важна при продвижение в поисковиках.

В этой статье рассмотрим, от чего возникает ошибка 500 Internal Server Error в WordPress, как можно оперативно исправить её и как не допустить в будущем.

Что значит ошибка 500 Internal Server Error в WordPress

Ошибка 500 говорит о том, что сервер не может обработать в данный момент запрос к сайту. При этом браузер не может определить, по какой конкретно причине. Отсутствие идентификации причины ещё больше усложняет задачу, ведь становится не сразу понятно, на что смотреть, что проверять.

При этом ошибка 500 является самой частой ошибкой на любом сайте с любым хостингом. Поэтому для неё есть большое количество вариантов решений, в том числе и адаптированные именно под WordPress.

Прежде, чем приступать к советам, описанным ниже, напишите сообщение с описанием этой проблемы в поддержку вашего хостинга. Возможно, что в данный момент на хостинге какие-то неполадки или запланированные технические работы. Тогда вам ничего не нужно делать и дождаться, пока их специалисты решат проблему. Если же на хостинге всё в порядке, то проблема на вашем сайте и решать её нужно вам. Рассмотрим способы, начав с самых частых.

Проблема в плагине

Часто ошибка 500 на WordPress возникает из-за плагина. Если вы видите, что ошибка появилась после установки или обновления какого-либо плагина, то вероятно, в нём и дело. Проверить это можно легко.

• Если у вас есть доступ к консоли сайта, то перейдите в раздел «Плагины» и деактивируйте плагин, который перед ошибкой был установлен или обновлён. Если сайт после этого восстановился, то данный плагин вам лучше не использовать, удалите его.
• Если доступа к консоли нет, то перейдите к файловому менеджеру вашего хостинга, и откройте в каталоге вашего сайта папку wp-content/plugins Здесь у каждого плагина своя папка, которая наименована чаще всего именем плагина. Чтобы деактивировать отсюда плагин, переименуйте его, например, добавив к его имени цифру 1. Сделайте это с тем плагином, который перед ошибкой был установлен или обновлён. И если сайт после этого восстановится, то можно удалить папку этого плагина и не использовать его. Если сайт не восстановился после этого, то папке нужно вернуть прежнее имя, убрав 1, значит плагин не причём.

Причина в плагине может быть из-за того, что он не совместим с текущей версией WordPress, активированной темой или другими плагинами.

Проблема в теме

Если вы видите, что ошибка 500 в WordPress появилась после установки или обновления темы, то она также может стать её причиной, и действовать здесь нужно аналогично:

• Если есть доступ к консоли, то перейдите в раздел «Внешний вид», и активируйте какую-либо другую тему. Если после этого сайт восстановился, то проблема в теме. От неё придётся отказаться.
• Если доступа к консоли нет, то перейдите к файловому менеджеру вашего хостинга, и откройте в каталоге вашего сайта папку wp-content/themes Здесь у каждой темы своя папка, которая наименована чаще всего именем самой темы. Переименуйте папку активной темы, добавив к её имени, например, 1. Тогда активируется тема, которая установлена в WordPress по умолчанию (если вы её не удалили). Если после этого сайт станет доступным, то папку с темой можно удалить — значит она вызывает ошибку, и придётся использовать другую тему. Если проблема осталась, то папке нужно вернуть прежнее имя, убрав 1. Значит тема не причём.

Второй способ сработает лишь в том случае, если вы не удалили с сайта тему WordPress по умолчанию. Если удалили, то после переименования темы доступ к сайту не восстановится, даже если проблема была именно в ней. Но восстановится доступ к консоли. И тогда можно будет установить и актировать оттуда новую тему, чтобы проверить версию с проблемным дизайном.

Проблема в .htaccess

.htaccess — это файл конфигурации сервера. Это также частая причина ошибки 500 в WordPress. Для того, чтобы проверить её, необходимо убедиться в правильности содержимого этого файла. Чтобы этого сделать, вам следует перейти в корневую папку вашего сайта через файловый менеджер хостинга, и здесь вы найдёте файл .htaccess.

• Во-первых, следует убедиться, что он вообще есть и наименован именно так — .htaccess Точка в начале имеет значение. Вы могли случайно удалить его или переименовать.
• Во-вторых, у этого файла должно быть правильное содержимое. По умолчанию в WordPress он имеет такое содержимое. Можно скопировать содержимое файла из официального сайта WordPress и вставить в свой файл, если оно отличается. Содержимое файла могло измениться по двум причинам: вы могли сделать это сами случайно или это сделал какой-либо плагин.

Два этих способа помогут, если проблема в файле .htaccess.

Running into the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress? Well, you’re not alone. 500 Internal Server Error or HTTP Error 500 is one of the most common issues WordPress webmasters encounter.

However, catching the cause behind this error is not as easy as some of the other commonly encountered HTTP errors. Here is a quick tutorial on fixing WordPress HTTP error 500 using 10 different methods. Let’s check it out.

Fixing 500 Internal Server Error WordPress

Here are 10 different causes and solutions to fix WordPress 500 Internal Server Error:

Important! Before proceeding with this tutorial, we recommend making a backup of your site to prevent any file loss during the changes.

1. WordPress 500 Internal Server Error Due to Bad Plugins

In most cases, WordPress HTTP error 500 occurs because of a new plugin. If your page experiences issues after a new installation or update, then you can easily fix it by deactivating or removing the plugin.

There are two easy ways of doing this: through the WordPress dashboard or File Manager.

If you are still able to access WordPress from your hPanel, do so and select Plugins.

1. You should see a list of Installed Plugins. From here, click on all of the green Active buttons and change all of the plugins to Inactive.
2. One by one, make each plugin Active again and test your site after each one.
3. If your site is fine, keep it Active. If you see the error, you know which plugin is causing the problem.

If you don’t have access to your dashboard, you can also disable or remove plugins through File Manager on your hosting control panel. Here we’re using Hostinger’s hPanel as an example:

1. Login to Hostinger hPanel and navigate to File Manager under the Files area.
2. Click on the public_html folder and select the wp-content directory.
   
3. Open the Plugins folder and locate the bad plugin. Then, right-click to Rename.
4. Rename its directory by adding disabled after the plugin name to turn it off.
5. Finally, refresh your website to see if it works.

In case the problem persists, repeat the process until all plugins are deactivated or until your website is working again. Once you find out which plugin caused the server error 500, remove it completely and either reinstall it or try to find a substitute that performs the same.

2. WordPress 500 Internal Server Error Due to Themes Installation

A new theme or update is another common cause of HTTP status code 500. To fix it, simply change the existing theme to a new one or change it to one of the default options.

If you can access the WordPress admin area, try to change the WordPress theme.

Alternatively, you can also change themes by editing the MySQL database via phpMyAdmin in the control panel. Here’s how to do it with the hPanel:

1. Navigate to phpMyAdmin in the hPanel.
2. Once you open it, head to the wp_options table.
3. Locate the template and stylesheet rows.
4. Click Edit and change the template and stylesheet value with a default theme like Twenty Twenty, and press Go to save changes.

Now, reload your site with the new theme and see if it fixed the issue.

Important! To see a list of installed themes on your database that can be used to change the existing one, go to the wp-content/themes directory using File Manager.

3. WordPress 500 Internal Server Error Due to Corrupted .htaccess File

Another way to get rid of the server error 500 is to check your current .htaccess file and make sure that it’s not corrupted. However, you can also just create a completely new one. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Open the File Manager and look for .htaccess in the public_html folder, then disable the file by giving it a different name.
2. Once it’s disabled, go on the upper part of the page and create a new .htaccess file.
3. Right-click on the new file and select Edit.
4. Copy-paste the default WordPress .htaccess code in the new one.
5. Click Save, and that’s it. You now have a brand new .htaccess file.

4. Insufficient PHP Limit

A memory limit or insufficient PHP value can be another reason behind the issue in WordPress, as scripts and plugins require a certain amount of memory to work.

To fix the memory limit, increase the PHP limit by editing the .htaccess file manually. Here are the lines that we recommend adding:

php_value upload_max_filesize 128M
php_value post_max_size 128M
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300
php_value memory_limit 256M

Once done, refresh your website. If your HTTP status code 500 is related to insufficient PHP values, this solution will fix the error.

5. Incompatible PHP Version

Some plugins and scripts require a specific PHP version to work properly. If the requirements are not met, the HTTP 500 Error may appear.

To change the PHP version via the hPanel, simply log in and head to the PHP configurations under the Advanced tab.

In case you don’t know what PHP version is needed, try upgrading or downgrading. Don’t forget to save the settings and refresh your website after each change.

If it still doesn’t fix the issue, change your PHP version to the initial one (which was used at the beginning) and proceed to the next option.

6. Enabling Error Display

Finding the reason for the WordPress 500 Internal Server Error is arguably the toughest part of fixing it. If none of the options above helped you, you might need to investigate deeper by enabling an error display that allows you to find and locate a specific issue on your site.

You can easily do so through the PHP Configuration section on your hosting control panel. Switch to the PHP Options and put a check on the display_errors and log_errors columns, then scroll down and Save. Once you refresh your site, it should display the specific.

Alternatively, you can also create a separate error log file and generate entries through the .htaccess file.

7. Using WordPress Debugging

If the step above didn’t work to fix the error in WordPress, it has its own special debugging system that you can use to troubleshoot issues. You can use it to generate an error log in the wp_content folder or to display the error 500 on your site when you access it. All you need to do is to enable the WordPress Debug feature.

8. Restoring a Backup of Your Site

In case you’ve backed up WordPress when it was functional, restoring the backup is also an option. All you need to do is remove all your recent site files and re-upload the backup to your site.

However, if you are not a fan of restoring WordPress backups manually, you can use a plugin. It won’t be much help if your site is not functional, but it can surely help avoid similar issues in the future.

To create and restore a backup through the All-in-One WP Migration plugin, follow these steps:

1. Install and activate the plugin from the Plugin section.
2. Then select the Backups tab.
3. Choose Generate a new backup to export your files. Once the process is done, Download the exported files.
4. To restore a backup, you will need to delete your current website and install a new WordPress site and the All-in-One WP Migration plugin.
5. Then, select the Import feature and upload the backup stored on your computer and proceed with the restoration.
6. That’s it. Keep in mind that if your site needs more than a 512MB import size, you can upgrade and get unlimited upload and backup sizes by purchasing the plugin’s premium plan for a one-time price of $69.

9. Re-uploading Core WordPress Files

If nothing seems to go right, there is a more extreme option to fix the 500 error. You will be replacing all of the core WordPress files. Here’s how:

1. Download the latest version of WordPress and unzip it on your computer.
2. Go to the unzipped files and delete the wp-config-sample.php file and the wp-content folder to avoid overwriting any important data.
3. Configure FileZilla, move all the WordPress core files to your site’s location, and overwrite the existing ones.
4. Once a confirmation screen pops out, check the Always use this action and Apply to current queue only columns. That way, you won’t need to confirm the overwriting process for each file.
5. That’s it. You just have to wait for the process to finish.

Important! Make sure that you already have a backup of your current website in case anything goes wrong.

10. Contacting your Hosting Provider

If at the end of the day, all the methods haven’t been successful and you still can’t solve the issue of the 500 error, then it’s time for some more help. Contact your web hosting customer success team and get some backup.

They will be able to check the server logs and locate the root cause of your issue.

What Causes the 500 Internal Server Error?

The most common reasons behind the Internal Server Error are corrupted .htaccess files, a new theme and or plugin, incompatible PHP version, or a WordPress update.

One of the best things to do when troubleshooting this error is to trace back your steps. Try remembering what specific event caused your site to stop functioning. When you know exactly what went wrong, find the best solution from the list.

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Since there are different web servers, browsers, and operating systems, the HTTP 500 error can appear in many ways. Here are a few variations that you’ll see:

• 500 Internal Server Error
• HTTP 500
• Error 500
• HTTPS 500 error
• Temporary Error (500)
• HTTPS error 500
• HTTP Error 500 – Internal Server Error
• The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500

In addition to the list, you might see a blank white screen or a longer error message asking you to contact the server administrator.

It is becoming more common to have a custom 500 Internal Server Error page as well.

Conclusion

Most who use WordPress have encountered the HTTP error 500 WordPress problem. However, whether you’re an advanced developer, or a beginner, fixing the error is pretty easy if you know what to do.

Here’s a quick recap of the methods we’ve learned today:

• Disabling a corrupted plugin through the WordPress Dashboard or File Manager.
• Changing the WordPress theme to the default one through phpMyAdmin.
• Increasing the memory limit and the PHP limit value via the .htaccess file.
• Changing the PHP version to the latest one with the PHP Configurations tool on the hPanel.
• Enabling the error display through the PHP Options.
• Using the WordPress Debug.
• Restoring a Backup of your site manually or with a migration plugin.
• Re-uploading the Core WordPress files.

There you have it. The 500 Internal Server Error can be scary, but if you follow the steps we provided carefully, you’ll be able to fix the issue and access your site again in no time. Good luck!

The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come at the most inopportune time and you’re suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust us, we’ve all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might have also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes down, you’re losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it simply looks bad for your brand.

Today we’re going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some ways to get your site back online quickly. Read more below about what causes this error and what you can do to prevent it in the future.

• What is a 500 internal server error?
• How to fix the 500 internal server error

Check Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Error

What is a 500 Internal Server Error?

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) status code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request.

When you visit a website your browser sends a request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server takes this request, processes it, and sends back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they call an HTTP status code. A status code is a way to notify you about the status of the request. It could be a 200 status code which means “Everything is OK” or a 500 status code which means something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of different types of 500 status error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something different. In this case, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request (RFC 7231, section 6.6.1).

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can present itself in a number of different ways. But they are all communicating the same thing. Below are just a couple of the many different variations you might see on the web:

• • “500 Internal Server Error”
  • “HTTP 500”
  • “Internal Server Error”
  • “HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error”
  • “500 Error”
  • “HTTP Error 500”
  • “500 – Internal Server Error”
  • “500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went wrong.”
  • “500. That’s an error. There was an error. Please try again later. That’s all we know.”
  • “The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500.”
  • “Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500.”

You might also see this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Other times, you might simply see a blank white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is actually quite common in browsers like Firefox and Safari.

Bigger brands might even have their own custom 500 internal server error messages, such as this one from Airbnb.

Here is another creative 500 server error example from the folks over at readme.

Even the mighty YouTube isn’t safe from 500 internal server errors.

If it’s an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have additional HTTP status codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

• 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
• 500.11 – Application is shutting down on the web server.
• 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
• 500.13 – Web server is too busy.
• 500.15 – Direct requests for global.asax are not allowed.
• 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
• 500.21 – Module not recognized.
• 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
• 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
• 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
• 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or inbound rule execution error occurred.
• 500.51 – A rewrite error occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution error occurred.
• 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification handling. An outbound rule execution occurred.
• 500.53 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The rule is configured to be executed before the output user cache gets updated.
  500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check back at a later time, a 500 error can have a negative impact on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only down for say 10 minutes and it’s being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even have a chance to re-crawl it before it’s back up. In this scenario, you’re completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of time, say 6+ hours, then Google might see the 500 error as a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you’re worried about repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you start troubleshooting when you see a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might not even know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first is user error (client-side issue), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. So we’ll dive into a little of both.

This is never not annoying 😖 pic.twitter.com/pPKxbkvI9K

— Dare Obasanjo 🐀 (@Carnage4Life) September 26, 2019

Check out these common causes and ways to fix the 500 internal server error and get back up and running in no time.

1. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but one of the easiest and first things you should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply wait a minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is simply overloaded and the site will come right back. While you’re waiting, you could also quickly try a different browser to rule that out as an issue.

Another thing you can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is down or if it’s a problem on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP status code that is returned from the server. If it’s anything other than a 200 “Everything is OK” then it will return a down indication.

We’ve also noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately after you update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren’t set up properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout right afterward. However, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you need to do.

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser cache is always another good troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below are instructions on how to clear cache in the various browsers:

• How to Force Refresh a Single Page for All Browsers
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Google Chrome
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Internet Explorer
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

3. Check Your Server Logs

You should also take advantage of your error logs. If you’re a Kinsta client, you can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help you quickly narrow down the issue, especially if it’s resulting from a plugin on your site.

If your host doesn’t have a logging tool, you can also enable WordPress debugging mode by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, like here at Kinsta might have a dedicated folder called “logs”.

You can also check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are commonly located here:

• Apache: /var/log/apache2/error.log
• Nginx: /var/log/nginx/error.log

If you’re a Kinsta client you can also take advantage of our analytics tool to get a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and see how often and when they are occurring. This can help you troubleshoot if this is an ongoing issue, or perhaps something that has resolved itself.

If the 500 error is displaying because of a fatal PHP error, you can also try enabling PHP error reporting. Simply add the following code to the file throwing the error. Typically you can narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

And you might need to also modify your php.ini file with the following:

display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors can also occur from a database connection error. Depending upon your browser you might see different errors. But both will generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an example of what an “error establishing a database connection” message looks like your browser. The entire page is blank because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is not working properly. Not only does this break the front-end of your site, but it will also prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

So why exactly does this happen? Well, here are a few common reasons below.

• The most common issue is that your database login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses separate login information to connect to its MySQL database.
• Your WordPress database is corrupted. With so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some information was deleted by accident.
• You may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can even happen sometimes due to hackers.
• Issues with your database server. A number of things could be wrong on the web hosts end, such as the database being overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite common with shared hosts as they are utilizing the same resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

Check out our in-depth post on how to fix the error establishing a database connection in WordPress.

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes can easily cause 500 internal server errors. We’ve seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to ad rotator plugins. A lot of times you should see the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is one reason why we always recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates one by one. Otherwise, if you encounter a 500 internal server error you’re suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won’t lose any data if you simply deactivate a plugin. If you can still access your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to “Plugins” and select “Deactivate” from the bulk actions menu. This will disable all of your plugins.

If this fixes the issue you’ll need to find the culprit. Start activating them one by one, reloading the site after each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, you’ve found the misbehaving plugin. You can then reach out to the plugin developer for help or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can’t login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something like plugins_old. Then check your site again. If it works, then you will need to test each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin folder back to “plugins” and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one by one, until you find it. You could also try to replicate this on a staging site first.

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are up to date. And check to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to be a conflict with bad code in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress developer to fix the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files can get corrupted, especially on older sites. It’s actually quite easy to re-upload just the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with 5 different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to take a backup before proceeding. Skip to one of the sections below:

• How to reinstall WordPress from the WordPress dashboard while preserving existing content
• How to manually reinstall WordPress via FTP while preserving existing content
• How to manually reinstall WordPress via WP-CLI while preserving existing content

7. Permissions Error

A permissions error with a file or folder on your server can also cause a 500 internal server error to occur. Here are some typical recommendations for permissions when it comes to file and folder permissions in WordPress:

• All files should be 644 (-rw-r–r–) or 640.
• All directories should be 755 (drwxr-xr-x) or 750.
• No directories should ever be given 777, even upload directories.
• Hardening: wp-config.php could also be set to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

See the WordPress Codex article on changing file permissions for a more in-depth explanation.

You can easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). You could also reach out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to quickly GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they’re setup properly.

8. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused by exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. You could try increasing the limit. Follow the instructions below on how to change this limit in cPanel, Apache, your php.ini file, and wp-config.php file.

Increase PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

If you’re running on a host that uses cPanel, you can easily change this from the UI. Under Software click on “Select PHP Version.”

Click on “Switch to PHP Options.”

You can then click on the memory_limit attribute and change its value. Then click on “Save.”

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings you can use to modify the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file there.

If there is you can edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Most likely it is set at 64M or below, you can try increasing this value.

php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn’t work for you might try editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site’s root directory and open or create a php.ini file.

If the file was already there, search for the three settings and modify them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you can paste the code below. You can modify of course the values to meet your needs.

memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that you add the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the above php.ini file settings to work. To do this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the top of the file:

<IfModule mod_suphp.c> 
suPHP_ConfigPath /home/yourusername/public_html
</IfModule>

If the above didn’t work for you, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have it configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site’s root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. You can then paste in the following code:

memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you can give it a go. First, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and locate your wp-config.php file, which is typically in the root of your site.

Add the following code to the top of your wp-config.php file:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M');

You can also ask your host if you’re running into memory limit issues. We utilize the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to help clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You can also use your own custom New Relic key from your own license.

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, but if you’re using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well be that your .htaccess file has a problem or has become corrupted. Follow the steps below to recreate a new one from scratch.

First, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and rename your .htaccess file to .htaccess_old.

Normally to recreate this file you can simply re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you’re in the middle of a 500 internal server error you most likely can’t access your WordPress admin, so this isn’t an option. Therefore you can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. Then upload it to your server.

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

See the WordPress Codex for more examples, such as a default .htaccess file for multisite.

10. Coding or Syntax Errors in Your CGI/Perl Script

500 errors being caused by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to be. Although it’s still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where there are a lot of one-click CGI scripts still being used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

CGI has been replaced by a vast variety of web programming technologies, including PHP, various Apache extensions like mod_perl, Java of various flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Spring, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Ruby on Rails and many other Ruby frameworks, and various Microsoft technologies.

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

• When editing, always used a plain text editor, such as Atom, Sublime, or Notepad++. This ensures they remain in ASCII format.
• Ensure correct permissions of chmod 755 are used on CGI scripts and directories.
• Upload your CGI scripts in ASCII mode (which you can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
• Confirm that the Perl modules you require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you can always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be difficult to troubleshoot without an expert. Here are just a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have you scratching your head.

PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...

PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array in /www/folder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all client’s sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to be pro-active and start fixing the issue right away. We also utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means that every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% private and are not shared with anyone else or even your own sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, not 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given time. To put it simply, each uncached request for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they start to build up a queue. Once you’ve reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push out older requests which could result in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you’re worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you can also utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP HEAD request to the URL of your choice. You can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you to set check frequencies of:

• 15 seconds
• 30 seconds
• 1 minute
• 2 minutes
• 5 minutes
• 10 minutes

It will send you an email if and when your site goes down. Here is an example below.

This can be especially useful if you’re trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This can give you proof of how often your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the night).

That’s why we always recommend going with an application, database, and managed WordPress host (like Kinsta).

Make sure to check out our post that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, now you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to quickly get your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection issues, problems with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps you have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let us know below in the comments.

The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come at the most inopportune time and you’re suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust us, we’ve all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might have also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes down, you’re losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it simply looks bad for your brand.

Today we’re going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some ways to get your site back online quickly. Read more below about what causes this error and what you can do to prevent it in the future.

• What is a 500 internal server error?
• How to fix the 500 internal server error

Check Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Error

What is a 500 Internal Server Error?

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) status code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request.

When you visit a website your browser sends a request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server takes this request, processes it, and sends back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they call an HTTP status code. A status code is a way to notify you about the status of the request. It could be a 200 status code which means “Everything is OK” or a 500 status code which means something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of different types of 500 status error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something different. In this case, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request (RFC 7231, section 6.6.1).

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can present itself in a number of different ways. But they are all communicating the same thing. Below are just a couple of the many different variations you might see on the web:

• • “500 Internal Server Error”
  • “HTTP 500”
  • “Internal Server Error”
  • “HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error”
  • “500 Error”
  • “HTTP Error 500”
  • “500 – Internal Server Error”
  • “500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went wrong.”
  • “500. That’s an error. There was an error. Please try again later. That’s all we know.”
  • “The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500.”
  • “Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500.”

You might also see this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Other times, you might simply see a blank white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is actually quite common in browsers like Firefox and Safari.

Bigger brands might even have their own custom 500 internal server error messages, such as this one from Airbnb.

Here is another creative 500 server error example from the folks over at readme.

Even the mighty YouTube isn’t safe from 500 internal server errors.

If it’s an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have additional HTTP status codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

• 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
• 500.11 – Application is shutting down on the web server.
• 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
• 500.13 – Web server is too busy.
• 500.15 – Direct requests for global.asax are not allowed.
• 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
• 500.21 – Module not recognized.
• 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
• 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
• 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
• 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or inbound rule execution error occurred.
• 500.51 – A rewrite error occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution error occurred.
• 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification handling. An outbound rule execution occurred.
• 500.53 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The rule is configured to be executed before the output user cache gets updated.
  500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check back at a later time, a 500 error can have a negative impact on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only down for say 10 minutes and it’s being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even have a chance to re-crawl it before it’s back up. In this scenario, you’re completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of time, say 6+ hours, then Google might see the 500 error as a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you’re worried about repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you start troubleshooting when you see a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might not even know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first is user error (client-side issue), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. So we’ll dive into a little of both.

This is never not annoying 😖 pic.twitter.com/pPKxbkvI9K

— Dare Obasanjo 🐀 (@Carnage4Life) September 26, 2019

Check out these common causes and ways to fix the 500 internal server error and get back up and running in no time.

1. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but one of the easiest and first things you should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply wait a minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is simply overloaded and the site will come right back. While you’re waiting, you could also quickly try a different browser to rule that out as an issue.

Another thing you can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is down or if it’s a problem on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP status code that is returned from the server. If it’s anything other than a 200 “Everything is OK” then it will return a down indication.

We’ve also noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately after you update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren’t set up properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout right afterward. However, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you need to do.

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser cache is always another good troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below are instructions on how to clear cache in the various browsers:

• How to Force Refresh a Single Page for All Browsers
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Google Chrome
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Internet Explorer
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
• How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

3. Check Your Server Logs

You should also take advantage of your error logs. If you’re a Kinsta client, you can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help you quickly narrow down the issue, especially if it’s resulting from a plugin on your site.

If your host doesn’t have a logging tool, you can also enable WordPress debugging mode by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, like here at Kinsta might have a dedicated folder called “logs”.

You can also check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are commonly located here:

• Apache: /var/log/apache2/error.log
• Nginx: /var/log/nginx/error.log

If you’re a Kinsta client you can also take advantage of our analytics tool to get a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and see how often and when they are occurring. This can help you troubleshoot if this is an ongoing issue, or perhaps something that has resolved itself.

If the 500 error is displaying because of a fatal PHP error, you can also try enabling PHP error reporting. Simply add the following code to the file throwing the error. Typically you can narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

And you might need to also modify your php.ini file with the following:

display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors can also occur from a database connection error. Depending upon your browser you might see different errors. But both will generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an example of what an “error establishing a database connection” message looks like your browser. The entire page is blank because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is not working properly. Not only does this break the front-end of your site, but it will also prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

So why exactly does this happen? Well, here are a few common reasons below.

• The most common issue is that your database login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses separate login information to connect to its MySQL database.
• Your WordPress database is corrupted. With so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some information was deleted by accident.
• You may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can even happen sometimes due to hackers.
• Issues with your database server. A number of things could be wrong on the web hosts end, such as the database being overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite common with shared hosts as they are utilizing the same resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

Check out our in-depth post on how to fix the error establishing a database connection in WordPress.

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes can easily cause 500 internal server errors. We’ve seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to ad rotator plugins. A lot of times you should see the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is one reason why we always recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates one by one. Otherwise, if you encounter a 500 internal server error you’re suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won’t lose any data if you simply deactivate a plugin. If you can still access your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to “Plugins” and select “Deactivate” from the bulk actions menu. This will disable all of your plugins.

If this fixes the issue you’ll need to find the culprit. Start activating them one by one, reloading the site after each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, you’ve found the misbehaving plugin. You can then reach out to the plugin developer for help or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can’t login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something like plugins_old. Then check your site again. If it works, then you will need to test each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin folder back to “plugins” and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one by one, until you find it. You could also try to replicate this on a staging site first.

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are up to date. And check to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to be a conflict with bad code in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress developer to fix the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files can get corrupted, especially on older sites. It’s actually quite easy to re-upload just the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with 5 different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to take a backup before proceeding. Skip to one of the sections below:

• How to reinstall WordPress from the WordPress dashboard while preserving existing content
• How to manually reinstall WordPress via FTP while preserving existing content
• How to manually reinstall WordPress via WP-CLI while preserving existing content

7. Permissions Error

A permissions error with a file or folder on your server can also cause a 500 internal server error to occur. Here are some typical recommendations for permissions when it comes to file and folder permissions in WordPress:

• All files should be 644 (-rw-r–r–) or 640.
• All directories should be 755 (drwxr-xr-x) or 750.
• No directories should ever be given 777, even upload directories.
• Hardening: wp-config.php could also be set to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

See the WordPress Codex article on changing file permissions for a more in-depth explanation.

You can easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). You could also reach out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to quickly GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they’re setup properly.

8. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused by exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. You could try increasing the limit. Follow the instructions below on how to change this limit in cPanel, Apache, your php.ini file, and wp-config.php file.

Increase PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

If you’re running on a host that uses cPanel, you can easily change this from the UI. Under Software click on “Select PHP Version.”

Click on “Switch to PHP Options.”

You can then click on the memory_limit attribute and change its value. Then click on “Save.”

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings you can use to modify the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file there.

If there is you can edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Most likely it is set at 64M or below, you can try increasing this value.

php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn’t work for you might try editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site’s root directory and open or create a php.ini file.

If the file was already there, search for the three settings and modify them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you can paste the code below. You can modify of course the values to meet your needs.

memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that you add the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the above php.ini file settings to work. To do this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the top of the file:

<IfModule mod_suphp.c> 
suPHP_ConfigPath /home/yourusername/public_html
</IfModule>

If the above didn’t work for you, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have it configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site’s root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. You can then paste in the following code:

memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you can give it a go. First, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and locate your wp-config.php file, which is typically in the root of your site.

Add the following code to the top of your wp-config.php file:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M');

You can also ask your host if you’re running into memory limit issues. We utilize the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to help clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You can also use your own custom New Relic key from your own license.

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, but if you’re using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well be that your .htaccess file has a problem or has become corrupted. Follow the steps below to recreate a new one from scratch.

First, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and rename your .htaccess file to .htaccess_old.

Normally to recreate this file you can simply re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you’re in the middle of a 500 internal server error you most likely can’t access your WordPress admin, so this isn’t an option. Therefore you can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. Then upload it to your server.

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

See the WordPress Codex for more examples, such as a default .htaccess file for multisite.

10. Coding or Syntax Errors in Your CGI/Perl Script

500 errors being caused by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to be. Although it’s still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where there are a lot of one-click CGI scripts still being used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

CGI has been replaced by a vast variety of web programming technologies, including PHP, various Apache extensions like mod_perl, Java of various flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Spring, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Ruby on Rails and many other Ruby frameworks, and various Microsoft technologies.

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

• When editing, always used a plain text editor, such as Atom, Sublime, or Notepad++. This ensures they remain in ASCII format.
• Ensure correct permissions of chmod 755 are used on CGI scripts and directories.
• Upload your CGI scripts in ASCII mode (which you can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
• Confirm that the Perl modules you require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you can always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be difficult to troubleshoot without an expert. Here are just a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have you scratching your head.

PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...

PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array in /www/folder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all client’s sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to be pro-active and start fixing the issue right away. We also utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means that every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% private and are not shared with anyone else or even your own sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, not 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given time. To put it simply, each uncached request for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they start to build up a queue. Once you’ve reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push out older requests which could result in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you’re worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you can also utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP HEAD request to the URL of your choice. You can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you to set check frequencies of:

• 15 seconds
• 30 seconds
• 1 minute
• 2 minutes
• 5 minutes
• 10 minutes

It will send you an email if and when your site goes down. Here is an example below.

This can be especially useful if you’re trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This can give you proof of how often your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the night).

That’s why we always recommend going with an application, database, and managed WordPress host (like Kinsta).

Make sure to check out our post that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, now you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to quickly get your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection issues, problems with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps you have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let us know below in the comments.