Title: Cannot Unset String Offsets in Widgets.php Last modified: August 19, 2016 --- # Cannot Unset String Offsets in Widgets.php * [goldenchaos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/goldenchaos/) * (@goldenchaos) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/) * Hey there – I run [Zelda Universe](http://www.zeldauniverse.net/), a high-traffic fansite that runs WordPress as its CMS. I’ve been running WordPress sites for years, but only recently has Zelda Universe been showing some issues that my other WordPress-powered sites do not. * Seemingly randomly, the following error appears and brings the entire site down, even the admin panel: * Warning: timezone_open() [function.timezone-open]: Unknown or bad timezone (a) in /home/zelda/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 3160 * Fatal error: Cannot unset string offsets in /home/zelda/public_html/wp-includes/ widgets.php on line 1046 * I have no idea what’s causing it. It’s been going on for a few months, and I thought it would be a plugin of some sort, but it’s not. In addition, I heard that turning off Magic Quotes in php.ini would fix this, but I never had Magic Quotes on in the first place. A server restart is the only thing that gets rid of this – and only temporarily does it do so. * Please help! I greatly appreciate everything. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146345) * Have you tried: * – deactivating all plugins to see if this resolves the problem. If this works, re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s). * – switching to the default theme to rule out any theme-related problems. * – [renaming the plugins folder via FTP](http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Troubleshooting#How_to_deactivate_all_plugins_when_not_able_to_access_the_administrative_menus.3F) * – reading [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/279132](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/279132) * Thread Starter [goldenchaos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/goldenchaos/) * (@goldenchaos) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146346) * Yes, I’ve done all of those except switching themes. As the site is live I can’t simply switch themes and wait for the error to happen or not happen – if it is theme-specific, there must be a way to determine this without switching themes. * The problem has actually happened even if we’re not running any third-party widgets at all. I disabled all of the plugins for a few days and determined a plugin wasn’t causing it at all – we still got the error. Although, when I re-enabled the plugins the rate at which the error occurred increased. However, it could still be one of the default widgets… but all we use are Links widgets. * This problem has actually been going on since October, or since WordPress 2.6 about. More recently the “random” attacks seem to be happening more often. It used to happen once a month, now it happens every day or so. * In addition, this fatal error leaves nothing in any error logs, so the folks who run my server can’t pinpoint any possible errors – so I’m really stumped. * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146351) * Sounds like it may be your theme that has the problem. * Thread Starter [goldenchaos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/goldenchaos/) * (@goldenchaos) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146401) * Anything in the theme that might cause it? * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146405) * No idea. Try switching to the default theme and see if the error disappears. If it does, then it confirms that the theme is at fault. * Thread Starter [goldenchaos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/goldenchaos/) * (@goldenchaos) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146415) * I suppose I’ll have to set up a test site and see what happens. I’ll report back when I’ve done so. While I do that, could you think of anything else that might be causing it? If I load up the theme on a new install and nothing happens… well, it can’t be the theme! * Thread Starter [goldenchaos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/goldenchaos/) * (@goldenchaos) * [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146606) * It does not appear to be the theme. I have been running the theme on a test site for two days now and it has not gotten hit by the fatal error. * However, Zelda Universe has in this time been hit again. As I type, the error displays. * If anybody has any idea what else could cause this, please post! Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘Cannot Unset String Offsets in Widgets.php’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [fatal error](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/fatal-error/) * [widgets.php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/widgets-php/) * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 7 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [goldenchaos](https://wordpress.org/support/users/goldenchaos/) * Last activity: [16 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cannot-unset-string-offsets-in-widgetsphp/#post-1146606) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics