The WordPress White Screen of Death is not only one of the most common WordPress errors but also one of the most frustrating ones. Nothing can be more annoying than not able to access your website with no information about why this might be happening.
Since we know how bad this problem might be, we have decided to help you guys with the situation. In this article, we are going to talk about what is it and why it occurs along with the most possible solutions available.
What’s Actually the WordPress White Screen of Death?
You can probably guess from the name that a White Screen of Death means when you are trying to access your webpage, you get a blank window instead of your content. Also, it can show various types of error messages depending on the browser you are using.
In most cases, this is caused by the PHP code error in your theme or the memory limit exhaustion. Poorly coded plugins can be a huge cause in this case. Or, your web hosting server can create the problem due to its own issues.
In some cases, you might get an email explaining why you got the White screen of death. But if not, we are here to help you get rid of the problem in the simplest way.
How to Fix the WordPress White Screen Of Death
There are a number of ways you can do that. We are writing about the most effective ways to solve the problem according to us.
Method#1: Disable the Plugins
Disabling the plugins is the most common and simplest way to fix the WordPress White Screen of Death. Bad plugins will not only cause your site to slow down but also crack.
So, if you can still access your admin area, quickly make your way to the Plugins from the dashboard and select all the plugins. After that, click on the Deactivate option from the dropdown menu named Bulk Actions.
This is how you can disable all of your plugins. Now, you will get enough time to find which one of these was causing you the problem.
You can find out by activating each of them eventually and then reloading your site after each of the activations. If your frontend stops working after a certain activation, that’s the one you will have to delete.
Also, you can ask for help from the plugin’s developer or get a support ticket if it’s really important for your site.
Now, in case you are unable to access your dashboard, you will have to use a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client to get to the files directory.
Firstly, you will have to get to your site using the FTP client and then go to the wp-content of the root directory. From there, get to the Plugins folder and rename them to plugins-deactivated.
In this way, when WordPress looks for the plugin and fails to locate it, it will automatically deactivate it.
Now, reload the site again. If it works, you will have to test each of the plugins one by one and then rename them back. Continue to do this until you find the faulty one.
Method#2: Switch the Theme To a Default One
If none of the plugins are responsible, your WordPress theme can be the root cause of your problems. So, to ensure that you can switch back your theme to the default one by WordPress.
If you are able to access your dashboard, go to the Appearance followed by Themes. Then, locate one of the default WordPress themes like the Twenty Twenty and activate it.
Now, test your website. If it works perfectly, you need to change your theme.
You can go through almost the same process as the plugins if you can’t access your admin panel. Get to the FTP client and rename the wp-content/themes folder.
In that case, WordPress will convert to the latest default theme. If by any chance, you don’t have any themes there, download one from the WordPress theme directory and then upload it to the folder.
Then, check the sire again. If it works, check for any bad updates on your theme or ask the developer for help.
Method#3: Enable the Debug Mode
If your problem isn’t solved yet, try enabling the debug mode to solve the caching error in WordPress. You need to write the following code into your wp-config.php file:
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );After you have added this, your blank screen will start showing some warnings, errors, and notices. You can now search for the main cause among these.
If it doesn’t show any errors, you might want to check the debug log. You can access it through the FTP client. Find the debug.log file that contains all the errors.
Method#4: Clear Cache
If you are having a front-end white screen of death and the backend is working properly, it’s almost like a problem in the caching plugin. In this case, clear out the cache to get rid of the problem. You can use WP Rocket which is the best premium plugin but for free WP-Optimize is good.
Method#5: Fix the Long Articles
This technique will work if you are getting a white screen of death only on a rather long page or post. In this case, you will have to increase the test processing capability of your site’s PHP by increasing the backtrack and recursion limit. Write the following code in the wp-config.php file:
ini_set('pcre.recursion_limit',20000000);
ini_set('pcre.backtrack_limit',10000000);Method#6: Increase the Memory Limit
Sometimes, your website just needs more memory to work perfectly and efficiently avoiding the white screen of death. You can do that with the wp-config.php file. So, open the file and add this code:
define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);
If it fails for any reason, you can also use the .htaccess file to increase the memory limit. You can add the following line:
php_value memory_limit 64MAlso, you can do the job using your php.ini file which you can find in the FTP client. Once you find the file, write the following code anywhere inside:
memory_limit = 64MConclusion
We know exactly how you feel when you encounter a WordPress white screen of death. It’s probably the most frightening error there for WordPress users. If it has also reached you, don’t worry too much. Just keep calm and follow the instructions we gave in the article. We hope that these steps were able to fix your problem.
If you still got the problem, it’s better if you talk with a professional developer to help you get out of the problem.
