Title: Persistent Database Connection Error Last modified: December 11, 2018 --- # Persistent Database Connection Error * [errorslayer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/errorslayer/) * (@errorslayer) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-database-connection-error/) * Hi, * I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this so feel free to move! * I’ve been getting a persistent ‘error establishing a database connection’ error. The error only occurs when I make changes to a page and then try to update it. It lasts for only a few seconds (maybe 30 max) and then stops and I can visit my site as normal. It also doesn’t occur every single time that I try to update a page; it only happens randomly and I’ve been unable to reliably replicate it. * Here’s what I’ve tried to fix it: * -Optimizing/repairing the database -Verifying login credentials in wp-config. php -Painstakingly testing each plugin one by one multiple times -Enabling the error log -Contacting my host multiple times * The error log only showed 3 messages, all of which related to plugins. I tried disabling 2 of the plugins and the error persisted. * The third error message was this: * Notice: Undefined variable: parent_style in /home/x/public_html/wp-content/themes/ NepalBuzz-Child/functions.php on line 13 * I used a child theme plugin to create my current theme so I’m not sure how I would even go about fixing this error. Still, I don’t believe that this error is causing the issue because I’ve been using this theme since the very beginning of my site and never had any problems up until now. * When I contacted my hosting service they ultimately told me that the error was happening because we were using too much disk space and our site wasn’t optimized. I did a ton of work on our site analyzing pages using GMetrix to optimize them( I haven’t had a chance to do every single page yet since I’ve been busy working on other things, but I made a dent), installed a cache plugin that increased our site’s speed by a lot, and also deleted a bunch of unneeded files from cpanel. This seemed to help for a while, but the database connection error came back. * Is my hosting service right? Is it possible that this error is because we’re using up too much space/our site isn’t optimized? What can I do to resolve this? I deleted as many unnecessary files as I could and I’m going to go back to work on optimizing more pages (unfortunately I can’t really delete any plugins because we need all the ones we’re currently using). It just seems strange that this would cause a database connection error, especially since I’ve Googled this issue multiple times and followed many guides trying to resolve this error, and none of them mentioned this as a possible cause. Then again, I’m not a developer so I could be wrong. * Any help/advice on fixing this issue once and for all would be very much appreciated! Thank you! - This topic was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by [errorslayer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/errorslayer/). Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total) * Moderator [Jan Dembowski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jdembowski/) * (@jdembowski) * Forum Moderator and Brute Squad * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-database-connection-error/#post-10974279) * > I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this so feel free to move! * Moved to Fixing WordPress, this is not an Everything else WordPress topic. * > When I contacted my hosting service they ultimately told me that the error > was happening because we were using too much disk space and our site wasn’t > optimized. * I think you need a new host provider. The host plan that you’re using may be too lightweight. That error happening that frequently means the mysql database is coping badly with your load. * You can try a caching plugin that’s based on creating static files for your unchanged content. WP Super Cache does that, there are others. * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/cache/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/cache/) * Essentially your WordPress site is trying to connect to your database server and it’s not picking up the phone. By adding a caching plugin that should keep the queries down and lessen the load to your DB. * Thread Starter [errorslayer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/errorslayer/) * (@errorslayer) * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-database-connection-error/#post-10979297) * Hi, * Thank you! Unfortunately I’ve already been using WP Super Cache for a while now and although it’s definitely helped in some aspects, the error persists. * I will definitely look into a new host provider. Thanks. Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total) The topic ‘Persistent Database Connection Error’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 2 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [errorslayer](https://wordpress.org/support/users/errorslayer/) * Last activity: [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-database-connection-error/#post-10979297) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics