Updating PHP crashes site, MySQL claims to be missing but isn’t

  • Resolved futureisfiction

    (@futureisfiction)


    1 year, 1 month ago

    I wanted to use a plugin that requires the latest version of PHP so I updated my PHP and the whole site went down.

    When I go to the site, I see this error message:

    Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress.

    Please check that the mysqli PHP extension is installed and enabled.

    If you are unsure what these terms mean you should probably contact your host. If you still need help you can always visit the WordPress support forums.

    In cPanel, installing the mysqli plugin is as simple as checking a box. To be sure, I unchecked it to uninstall it and rechecked it to reinstall. So even though according to my web host I have it, the error message says I don’t and the site goes down completely (no back end, no front end, no css, just that message).

    I also tested to see if this error was related to my plugins and theme so I put the site in maintenance mode, turned off all the plugins and switched to twenty twenty three theme. Even in this context, I still get this message when I upgrade PHP to 8.0 or 8.2.

    What I don’t understand is how so many people are able to use a plugin that requires 8.0 (Convert to Blocks plugin) if 8.0 crashes WP with no plugins and the default theme.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Please contact your host, as PHP and its associated packages are managed by them and not WP.

    Thread Starter futureisfiction

    (@futureisfiction)

    I think you have misread my post.

    My issue is not with updating PHP. I was able to upgrade and downgrade PHP no problem. It is just that when I do upgrade it, all of WordPress breaks.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    mysqli probably needs to be installed (or enabled) each time you change the PHP version. Again, please ask your host about this as neither PHP nor mysqli are part of WP, but are part of the hosting stack.

    Thread Starter futureisfiction

    (@futureisfiction)

    ok well I took your advice and contacted my host again and got this sorted. Figured I’d update for anyone else having this trouble.

    When I updated to 8.0, the mysqli plugin was installed (and it was trivial to uncheck and recheck to be sure). However, it turns out there is another box called nd_mysqli.

    Turns out you can’t have mysqli and nd_mysqli at the same time. So I unchecked the box for the latter and checked the box for the former and the site came back!

    This is not the end of the tale though… for some reason when I had PHP at 8.0, when I would go to nameofmysite.com/phpinfo, it would still show 7.3 rather than 8.0. I was not able to install the needed plugin that requires a newer version. But when I upgraded to 8.2 (and again selected the nd_mysqli) WordPress was able to recognize it and everything is gravy.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Sometimes you want to just grab the people who name things confusingly and explain things to them, LOUDLY.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • The topic ‘Updating PHP crashes site, MySQL claims to be missing but isn’t’ is closed to new replies.