500 error when updating *some* users

  • Resolved Milamber

    (@milamber)


    15 years, 3 months ago

    WP Ver: 2.8.4

    When attempting up update some users via the admin panel the site is throwing a 500 error. This only occurs with user id’s below 138, users with higher id’s appear to be unaffected.

    Things I’ve tried so far:

    • Compared all files in /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ to a fresh copy of wp. They’re identical.
    • Disabled all plugins. Error still occurs.
    • Reverted to default theme (with plugins disabled). Error still occurs.
    • Looked through wp_usermeta and wp_users in the db to see if there’s something in common among the id’s having a problem. Nothing jumped out.
    • Also enabled debugging to see if I could get a more detailed error report. Still throws a 500 with no additional info.

    I’ve run out of ideas on how to troubleshoot the issue and haven’t been able to find anything through searches. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • 500 errors (Internal Server Error) can be triggered by all sorts of things. Some have nothing to do with WordPress.

    I assume you are using a web hosting company. If so, they may have some sort of resource manager software that can create the 500 errors by stopping (“killing”) some process that WordPress is running at the moment. Most of these software packages get very aggressive if the processor utilization on the web server that you are running on is busy doing other things for other people.

    The first step to determining if this is the case is to monitor the processor workload at the time you get the 500 errors. And compare it to the time that you don’t get them. And sometimes it just takes complaining to them at the time the problem is occurring, so they can figure out what other customer has the “runaway processes”, and take appropriate measures to deal with them.

    If your web host provides cPanel for you, click on Service Status, and watch the Server Load (be sure to Refresh the page frequently so you see the current status).

    If there appears to be a correlation, it is time to talk to your web host. If all else fails, you may have to change web hosting companies. I did. But, before that, explore getting moved to another of their web servers.

    Thread Starter Milamber

    (@milamber)

    There doesn’t appear to be any correlation between the two.

    Then, in my experience, the next step is to contact your web host directly. Tell them you are trying to diagnose 500 Internal Server errors. And wondered if they could help by looking at their available logs, most of which you cannot see. You will need to give them exact dates and times when you observed the 500’s, also telling them what time zone you are in, so they can convert.

    Even with my troublesome previous web host, they did show me their logs and explain what was going on.

    If you haven’t asked for Support with your web host previously, my suggestion would be to report it directly and privately, usually through some sort of Trouble Ticket system where you fill in an on-line form. Rather than publicly in a Support Forum. Some web hosts are sensitive to the publicity.

    Thread Starter Milamber

    (@milamber)

    I’ve narrowed the problem down to being a db issue… somewhere.

    Yay, fun! /shudder
    Time to go play in phpmyadmin.

    Thanks for the advice adiant.

    Thread Starter Milamber

    (@milamber)

    Resolved.

    Issue was with some tables and some keys in wp_usermeta leftover by the YourMembers plugin.

    Removed all instances of ym_user and ym_status from wp_usermeta and removed the other orphaned tables.

    I have no idea what version of the plugin was installed so this problem may no longer occur with current version.

    thanks Milamber – im guessing its the issue i have then – i just reactivate the plugin and update our users profile and everything is fine !

    Thanks !

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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