Updated to 4.2.1 – Now site is 404 – Can still access data from dashboard tho.

  • Help please. I updated to WP 4.2.1 this afternoon and immediately after my website is gone…. All pages show a 404. The really odd thing is that I can still access all of my date from my dashboard.

    I contacted BlueHost and they said I needed to change scripts!?! When I asked for assistance they tried to restore the site from a backup – No dice

    I’ve tried turning off all plugins, switching to a default template (twenty14).

    My site runs Genesis with Minimum Pro as a Child’s Theme. Everything else is basic out-of-the-box stuff. I’m not a coder, but can do simple stuff if I have super detailed instructions. I can access my FTP in the cPanel….

    Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I’m starting to loose my mind here.
    Thanks a million!!

    My site is https://www.shanalafore.com

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    404 indicates failure to communicate with the server.
    – it could be configuration issue
    – it could be memory issue
    – it could be permalinks issue, try reviewing this: How to fix 404 error when using Pretty Permalinks?
    – it could be optimization issue
    – it could be a conflict with plugin: try resetting the plugin folder
    – it could be a conflict with theme: try switching to the default theme for a moment via FTP and see if that resolves the issue.
    – check for .htaccess file presence and check if the default wordpress mod-rewrite code is there or not. There are times when .htaccess file is not writeable or gotten deleted
    – Check the server error log for your hosting account for any specific error message. Ask your webhost for assistance to locate them.

    Thread Starter shanalafore

    (@shanalafore)

    Hi Tara,
    Thanks so much for responding. I’m gong to copy your suggestions below and share what I’ve tried:

    – it could be configuration issue – Not sure what this means
    – it could be memory issue – Not sure what this means
    – it could be permalinks issue, try reviewing this: How to fix 404 error when using Pretty Permalinks? – I can access my WP dashboard, and have tried switching to default permalink. Still getting the 404
    – it could be optimization issue – What needs to be optimized?
    – it could be a conflict with plugin: try resetting the plugin folder – I can access the dashboard and have turned off all plugins – Still 404
    – it could be a conflict with theme: try switching to the default theme for a moment via FTP and see if that resolves the issue. – Switched to the default twenty 14 theme – Still 404
    – check for .htaccess file presence and check if the default wordpress mod-rewrite code is there or not. There are times when .htaccess file is not writeable or gotten deleted – Is there a tutorial on this. I think I can do this if I have a step-by-step guide. I’m just a little nervous to try changing things if I miss a step…
    – Check the server error log for your hosting account for any specific error message. Ask your webhost for assistance to locate them. – My web host (BlueHost) already tried to “fix” it by retiring to a previous backup – Still 404

    Thread Starter shanalafore

    (@shanalafore)

    Um…could I have been hacked in the few minute between upgrading to 4.2.1 and then checking my site???

    I just checked my index.php in the cPanel fro my site in the themes folder and it says the:
    <?php
    // Silence is golden.
    ?>

    Is it supposed to say that??? Ugh. I think I know just enough about the tech side of websites to mess things up royally. I haven’t changed anything in the FTP…Just poking around a bit to see if I can find the errors mentioned.

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    Yes, that’s okay.

    Thread Starter shanalafore

    (@shanalafore)

    My .htaccess file only says:

    # BEGIN WordPress

    # END WordPress

    Thread Starter shanalafore

    (@shanalafore)

    Ok…. SO for the umpteenth time I switched my permalink to default, then saved, then back to what I’d had them (date name) and it’s back. Some of the layouts on the pages are a little wonky…but at least it’s back. Gees that was really really frustrating.

    So going forward…should I avoid updates? How do I make sure I don’t create this mess again???
    Thanks!!

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    My .htaccess file only says:

    # BEGIN WordPress

    # END WordPress

    If you are using pretty permalink structure then that’s not the complete snippet. There is a piece of code that goes in between these two lines.

    If the default permalink setting works, and if you want use the pretty permalink structure, than try reading Using_Permalinks before setting a custom permalink structure again.

    So going forward…should I avoid updates? How do I make sure I don’t create this mess again???

    You don’t have to avoid updates.

    My suggestion would be updating manually (as oppose to automatic updating). Read the Manual Update directions first.

    Thread Starter shanalafore

    (@shanalafore)

    Thank you!

    I had this same issue.
    I have also had it occur in other circumstances and have always been able to uncomment two lines of code in my functions.php file to get my permalinks rewritten.

    //global $wp_rewrite;
    //$wp_rewrite->flush_rules();

    after these lines get a chance to execute everything is fixed and I can continue on with life.

    With this WP 4.2.1 update even these lines of code do nothing to resurrect my site from the 404 page not found graveyard.

    In the end I had to restore backups from before this update and rollback my wordpress install to 4.2.

    I wont be doing anymore wordpress updates until I can ensure my site doesnt break on a localhost install.

    Oh Boy…..

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    You are welcome ??

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    @krakerjak,

    My suggestion would be to start your own thread. That way you stand a good chance of getting full attention to your specific issue. Despite any similarity in symptoms, your issue is likely to be completely different because of possible differences in physical servers, accounts, hosts, plugins, theme, configurations, etc. Thus one problem, on one setup is not indicative of the functionality and reliability of an application as a whole. So, please review how and where to post in this support forum: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Forum_Welcome#Where_To_Post

    thanks, ill do that.

    I`ll make a point to find a chance to reproduce the problem on a localhost install where I can afford to poke around and make suggested changes with settings and whatnot.

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    You are welcome ??

    Intermittent Problem with 4.2.1 NO DATA RECEIVED ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

    I have been trying for days to find out why my URL https://www.trescoolgadgets.com has been returning the above error. (On Firefox the error will appear as “Connection to the Server Reset”). This has happen to not only this site, but other URL’s of mine that were AUTO UPDATED by wordpress from 4.2 to 4.2.1 (you should disable this auto-update imo). After spending hours troubleshooting with my host, disabling plugs, resetting .htaccess NONE of this worked.

    So, I finally found the solution by DOWNGRADING WORDPRESS back to 4.2. An easy way to do this is overwrite the files that changed in this version (listed below) but the culprit of this poor update I found to be the wp-db.php. I downgraded 2 of my blogs with this issue and FINALLY after a week of frustration, the sites now loads.

    To stop Auto-updating your WP site, there is a plug-in to do that. Search for DISABLE WordPress Updates in the WP Plugins depot. I use: https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/disable-wordpress-updates/

    Hope this helps people. Here are the files that were replaced in the 4.2.1 release.

    wp-includes/version.php
    wp-includes/wp-db.php
    wp-admin/about.php
    wp-admin/includes/upgrade.php

    @tara I will post this fix to a new thread.

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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