Troubleshooting WordPress and Other CMS

When a WordPress, Joomla or Drupal site breaks, the fix is almost always in one of four places: the error log, a recent change, a file or folder permission, or the database connection. This guide gives you a fixed order to check them in, then the specific fixes for the errors each CMS shows most often on shared hosting.

1. Collect the facts first

Before you change anything, write down:

• The exact message and the URL where it appears. A white page, a 500, a 403 and a 508 have different causes.
• What changed recently. A plugin or theme update, a CMS core update, a PHP version switch, a migration, a new .htaccess rule or an edited configuration file explains most breakages.
• The scope. One page or the whole site? The front end, the admin area, or both? One site on the account, or every site?

2. Read the error log

• The server's error log for your account is in the control panel. Reviewing error logs in cPanel and DirectAdmin shows where.
• A PHP error_log file often appears in the folder where the error happened, for example public_html/error_log.
• The CMS's own log, covered per CMS below.

Look for the last few entries with today's time. "Allowed memory size exhausted", "Call to undefined function", "has been disabled for security reasons" and "Access denied for user" each point straight at a section of this guide.

3. Checks that apply to every CMS

4. WordPress

White screen or "There has been a critical error"

WordPress emails the site administrator a recovery-mode link when a plugin or theme causes a fatal error. Use it first: it logs you in with the faulty plugin paused. If the email never arrives:

1. Turn on logging in wp-config.php, above the line that says to stop editing:

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

2. Reload the page, then read wp-content/debug.log. The plugin or theme folder named there is the culprit.
3. If there is no log, rename wp-content/plugins to plugins-off in File Manager. If the site returns, rename it back and disable plugins one by one. Do the same with the active theme folder under wp-content/themes.
4. Set WP_DEBUG back to false when you are done.

More detail: fixing the WordPress blank page and enabling debugging through cPanel.

"Error establishing a database connection"

Compare DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD and DB_HOST in wp-config.php with the database and user in your panel. On shared hosting DB_HOST is normally localhost, and the database name and user carry your account prefix. Check the user is assigned to the database with all privileges. Full walkthrough: troubleshooting the database connection error.

500 Internal Server Error

Rename .htaccess, then regenerate it from Settings › Permalinks › Save Changes. If memory is the cause, raise WordPress's limit in wp-config.php with define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );; it cannot exceed the PHP limit your plan allows. See troubleshooting HTTP 500 in WordPress.

403 Forbidden in the admin area

If saving a post or a plugin setting gives a 403, the web application firewall may have blocked that one request. Send support the URL and time so we can check it. See resolving 403 Forbidden.

Slow site

Install Query Monitor to find slow plugins and database queries, and use a page cache such as WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache. Our shared servers run Apache, so LiteSpeed Cache is not the right choice here. See my website is slow.

5. Joomla

• Error reporting: in System › Global Configuration › Server, set Error Reporting to Maximum while you test, and set it back afterwards. Debug System is on the System tab.
• Logs: Joomla 4 and 5 write logs to administrator/logs/ by default; the path is set in Global Configuration.
• Database errors: check $host, $user, $password, $db and $dbprefix in configuration.php.
• "404 Component not found": the menu item points to an extension that is disabled, uninstalled or not updated for your Joomla version. Re-enable or reinstall it, or fix the menu item.
• Blank page after an update: disable the newest extension from System › Manage › Extensions. If you cannot reach the admin, rename that extension's folder under plugins/ in File Manager.

6. Drupal

• Logs: Reports › Recent log messages shows PHP and Drupal errors if the Database Logging module is on.
• Show errors while testing: add $config['system.logging']['error_level'] = 'verbose'; to sites/default/settings.php, and remove it afterwards.
• Database errors: check the $databases array in settings.php.
• White screen after a module update: read the log first. Do not simply rename a module's folder in Drupal 8 and later, as Drupal will then fail on the missing code. Uninstall the module with Drush if you have it, or restore the files and database from the backup you took.
• Clean URLs not working: Drupal's own .htaccess must be present in the site root. The Apache rewrite module is enabled on our servers.
• Stale pages after a fix: clear caches from Configuration › Development › Performance.

7. When the CMS says "disabled for security reasons"

Shared hosting blocks PHP functions that start other programs or open raw sockets, so backup plugins that call mysqldump, image tools that shell out to ImageMagick and SMTP mailers can fail. PHP disabled functions on shared hosting lists the workarounds.

8. When to contact support, and what to send

Open a ticket at /support/ticket or from your client area, or use our 24/7 live chat. Tickets get a first response within 15 minutes; how long a fix takes depends on the problem. Include the URL, the exact error, the time it happened, what changed, and what you have already tried. That lets us check the server logs for the same moment.

If you are a reseller, collect the same details from your customer before you open a ticket with us. If the site was hacked rather than simply broken, follow the security checklist for a hacked website instead.

9. Where Domain India fits

Our cPanel, DirectAdmin and Webuzo shared plans run WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. Softaculous is installed on the cPanel and DirectAdmin servers, cPanel adds WP Toolkit, you choose the PHP version per account, and JetBackup takes weekly backups on cPanel and DirectAdmin. The cPanel and DirectAdmin servers run Imunify360, and the cPanel servers add a web application firewall. Fixing your site's code, plugins or content remains your job, and our support team can help you read the logs.

Prices on the card are Domain India list prices and exclude 18% GST.

Ready to get your site back? Work through the WordPress blank page guide, check the 500 error guide, or open a support ticket with the error message and the time it happened.