Internal server errors (error 500) are often caused by plugin or theme function conflicts, so if you have access to your Dashboard, try deactivating all plugins. If you don’t have access to your Dashboard, try manually resetting your plugins (no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.
If that does not resolve the issue, try switching to the Twenty Nineteen theme to rule-out a theme-specific issue. If you don’t have access to your Dashboard, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel (consult your hosting provider’s documentation for specifics on these), navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename the directory of your currently active theme. This will force the default theme to activate and hopefully rule-out a theme-specific issue.
If that does not resolve the issue, it’s possible that a .htaccess rule could be the source of the problem. To check for this, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel, and rename the .htaccess file. If you can’t find a .htaccess file, make sure that you have set your SFTP or FTP client to view invisible files.
If you weren’t able to resolve the issue by either resetting your plugins and theme or renaming your .htaccess file, we may be able to help, but we’ll need a more detailed error message. Internal server errors are usually described in more detail in the server error log. If you have access to your server error log, generate the error again, note the date and time, then immediately check your server error log for any errors that occurred during that specific time period. If you don’t have access to your server error log, ask your hosting provider to look for you.
Hi,
Thanks for your response. I was unable to access my dashboard so I had performed all of the steps above via cpanel and ftp before posting the question here. The only error log I had listed that the paths for just about everything were wrong.
As I say – I even started again with an entirely new installation and again I performed all the steps you mentioned and I still had the same error.
I wasted a lot of time on this issue and I have given up for now and I am using plain old html now for my page.
I haven’t time for something that doesn’t work and doesn’t report what is actually wrong.
I used dev tools as well to try to locate the problem, but the error was not defined any further than the 500 error. What would be good is if the actual problem were able to be traced by the user.
The only error log I had listed that the paths for just about everything were wrong.
It’s hard to know how to proceed without seeing the quoted errors.
the error was not defined any further than the 500 error. What would be good is if the actual problem were able to be traced by the user.
That’s what the server error log is for. 500s are reported by the server, not WordPress, therefore they are recorded in the server error log.
The logs referred to a list of plugins which I disabled but this made no difference and when I deleted my installation and started again from the scratch I had the same errors. Any residual issues should have been resolved at that point. I worked on it with my hosting provider who disabled the plugins also but all to no avail. The logs were useless as the plugins they referred to had no relevance to my installation.
I can attach one of the earlier logs if you would like to see it – but it is the one before I did the clean install.
It’s huge but here is a snippet:
These options need to match
in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:41 UTC] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘/opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/ixed.5.5.lin’ – /opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/ixed.5.5.lin: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:41 UTC] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘/opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo.so’ – /opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:41 UTC] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘/opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo_mysql.so’ – /opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo_mysql.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:41 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Directive ‘allow_call_time_pass_reference’ is no longer available in PHP in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:47 UTC] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: imagick: Unable to initialize module
Module compiled with module API=20090626
PHP compiled with module API=20121212
These options need to match
in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:47 UTC] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘/opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/ixed.5.5.lin’ – /opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/ixed.5.5.lin: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:47 UTC] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘/opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo.so’ – /opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:47 UTC] PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library ‘/opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo_mysql.so’ – /opt/php53/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/pdo_mysql.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0
[05-Apr-2019 19:28:47 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Directive ‘allow_call_time_pass_reference’ is no longer available in PHP in Unknown on line 0
All of those errors refer to not being able to initialize specific PHP modules required by WordPress, they aren’t errors regarding the WordPress installation itself, and they don’t reference any WordPress plugins.
In short, all of this is happening before WordPress can even run.
It looks like you, or your hosting provider, may need to recompile PHP.
Make sure you’re on at least PHP 5.6, though 7.2 is recommended.
Thanks James- can you explain why it was working right up until I had to renew my domain?
I cannot, no. That should have no bearing on WordPress or your server’s PHP configuration. I suspect a coincidence, probably something changed in the server’s PHP configuration during the few weeks your domain was expired.
I know it didn’t James – my hosting provider is also my friend and he would have told me that. He is also very experienced and would have picked up something like that straight away. WordPress installs with no issues and it is only when I went to the login screen that the server error appeared – hence it would seem to be on the WordPress end of things.
Interestingly I added the linked to WordPress installation from cpanel at one point and it worked – it’s only when I log in with the manual installation that I have an issue – bearing in mind that it tells me it is successful prior to login.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by
mrpicouk.
I understand that your hosting provider is your friend, but I hope you can also understand that I have roughly 15 years of experience in this matter.
Experience or not though, it doesn’t change the fact that all of the errors you listed refer to not being able to initialize specific PHP modules required by WordPress, they aren’t errors regarding the WordPress installation itself, and they don’t reference any WordPress plugins.
It looks like you, or your hosting provider, may need to recompile PHP.
Make sure you’re on at least PHP 5.6, though 7.2 is recommended.
Hi
Thanks for your help – my reference to him being my friend was to tell you we worked together closely on this issue. He has over 30 years of experience in this field.
I also have many years IT experience and I work as a software developer.
There have been no changes to the server my wordpress site is hosted on – neither before, during or after the domain name lapsed.
I appreciate your help, but I have found the situation immensely frustrating and I think I’ll just stick to the plain old fashioned method of writing my own site again.
