HELP – Not the Usual Error 500 REALLY NEED HELP

  • Hi there. I’ve been using WordPress for years now. I run a dedicated server for most of my sites and thus, I can control them and fix them when they go wrong. One site I manage is hosted on a different server, not mine.

    So I went in to help them today, tried to automatically upgrade to 2.9.2 – it immediately turned into an internal server error. So I dumped the database and tried to reinstall the software.

    I got it to where I could access the back end, but the front page and index pages were all giving me an error 500. An html page works fine.

    I upped the memory in the wp-config. I tried to up it in the php.ini but I think that file is protected and therefore I didn’t end up changing it.

    I deleted the .htaccess file. Now I think I might need that file and I don’t have a copy of it.

    Can one just use a blank page for that file or does something have to be on it? Also, can you think of ANYTHING else it might be?

    PLEASE HELP!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    .htaccess usually isn’t necessary unless you were using it for permalinks. If you were, they can be re-generated via the admin panel.

    Your server error log (ask your hosting provider if you don’t know where it is) should tell you exactly what’s going on. Trigger the error 500 again and then immediately check your server error log for anything useful.

    Thread Starter bipedalist

    (@bipedalist)

    Thanks. All of the error messages seem to say the same thing, “Premature end of script headers”

    Thread Starter bipedalist

    (@bipedalist)

    The weird thing is that when I install wp fresh into a subfolder most of it seems to work just fine, no script errors at all – so it’s something in the main site….ARGH!!!

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Are any specific files mentioned with the errors?

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Also, try disabling all plugins and switch to the Default Theme. If the problem is resolved, re-activate the plugins one-by-one until you find the cause. If the problem has not yet appeared, switch back to your previous theme.

    If one of your plugins or your theme is causing the problem, let us know the name of it, and we can probably move forward from there.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Yet another solution suggests re-generating the permalinks, so you might as well try that too.

    Thread Starter bipedalist

    (@bipedalist)

    Thanks. I tried so many things and finally it turned out to be something really simple like I had set the main html folder to 777. Who knew that could cause the problem but that’s what it was. Thanks for your help!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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