Overview

WordPress is a powerful and flexible platform, but like any software, it can sometimes run into errors. If your site isn't working properly — or has stopped working entirely — don’t worry. Most WordPress issues are common and fixable.

Below are the most frequent WordPress problems and how to resolve them.

1. White Screen of Death (WSOD)

Symptoms: You visit your website and all you see is a blank white screen — no error messages.

Fixes:

• Disable plugins:

  • Access your site via FTP or File Manager in cPanel/Plesk.

  • Navigate to /wp-content/ and rename the plugins folder to plugins-disabled.

  • Refresh your website. If it loads, one of your plugins is the issue.

• Switch to a default theme:

  • Rename your active theme folder (e.g., /wp-content/themes/mytheme) to something else. WordPress will fall back to a default theme like Twenty Twenty-One.

  
  

• Increase memory limit: (see next issue)

2. Memory Limit Issues

Symptoms: You may see errors like:
Allowed memory size of X bytes exhausted

Fixes:

• Add this line to your wp-config.php file:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

• Or try editing your .htaccess or php.ini file if available:

php_value memory_limit 256M

• If that doesn’t work, contact Thamara Cloud support to request a memory increase.

3. Plugin Conflicts

Symptoms: Site crashes, strange behavior after installing/updating a plugin.

Fixes:

• Deactivate all plugins (rename the /wp-content/plugins/ folder).

• Reactivate one plugin at a time until the problem returns.

• Delete or replace the problematic plugin with an alternative.

• Always test new plugins on a staging site first if possible.

4. Broken Themes

Symptoms: Site layout is broken, missing styles, or fatal errors after switching or updating a theme.

Fixes:

• Switch to a default theme (e.g., Twenty Twenty-One):

  • Rename your current theme folder to deactivate it.

  • WordPress will default to the last available standard theme.

• Re-upload or reinstall the theme manually.

• Check functions.php and other custom files for code errors.

5. How to Enable Debug Mode

Why? Debug mode helps you see hidden PHP errors or warnings that might explain the problem.

Steps:

1. Open your wp-config.php file in your site root.

2. Find this line (or add it before the line that says “That’s all, stop editing!”):

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

    3. Visit your website again. Errors will be logged in /wp-content/debug.log.

    4. Once done debugging, turn it off:

define('WP_DEBUG', false);

Bonus Tip

Make regular backups before updating plugins, themes, or WordPress core. Use tools like UpdraftPlus or your hosting control panel’s backup system.