Critical error message – No email – Troubleshooting didn’t work

Let’s start from here:

1) Please make sure ALL plugins are deactivated. The easiest way to do this is to rename the plugins folder inside /wp-content/.

2) Rename your active theme’s folder to deactivate it as well. The folder should be in /wp-content/themes/

3) Enable WordPress debugging.

After doing ALL three above, try logging in to the WordPress dashboard. If you get any error, please copy and paste the full error message here so we can take a look and advice on your next troubleshooting steps.

Standing by.

Hi @hillaryaa

Since your hosting provider was unable to provide you with further assistance, I recommend that you follow these steps to diagnose and resolve the issue:

1. Check your debug logs: This can help you identify any issues with the server configuration that may be causing the error. You can access your debug logs through your hosting provider’s control panel or via FTP.
2. Disable custom code: If you have added any custom code to your website, such as in the functions.php file, try disabling it to see if it resolves the issue.
3. Contact your theme or plugin developer: If you suspect that the issue is related to a specific theme or plugin, contact the developer for assistance.
4. Reinstall WordPress: If all else fails, you may need to reinstall WordPress from scratch. Be sure to back up your website before doing this. So you process will be: Take backup → repalce everything in wp-admin and wp-includes folder → check the site.

I understand that this can be a daunting process, but we are here to help you every step of the way.

For more information on troubleshooting WordPress errors, you can refer to the official WordPress documentation: https://www.ads-software.com/support/article/common-wordpress-errors/

George – I’ve had DEBUG enabled for a while. I just deactivated the plugins and themes at the same time. No change. Same error message. This is the latest entry in the DEBUG LOG:

[12-Apr-2023 15:08:04 UTC] PHP Warning: require_once(/home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/lib/namespaced.php): Failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/autoload.php on line 55
[12-Apr-2023 15:08:04 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Failed opening required ‘/home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/lib/namespaced.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/alt/php81/usr/share/pear:/opt/alt/php81/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php’) in /home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/autoload.php:55

Shameem –

This is the latest entry in the DEBUG LOG:

[12-Apr-2023 15:08:04 UTC] PHP Warning: require_once(/home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/lib/namespaced.php): Failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/autoload.php on line 55
[12-Apr-2023 15:08:04 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Failed opening required ‘/home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/lib/namespaced.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/alt/php81/usr/share/pear:/opt/alt/php81/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php’) in /home/ii52nq66ke5s/public_html/wp-includes/sodium_compat/autoload.php:55

The file: /wp-includes/sodium_compat/lib/namespaced.php is showing a “permission denied” (HTTP response code 403/Forbidden).

This is likely a permission/ownership issue. And it’s quite likely this is not the only file with this problem.

To move forward, you need to recursively set ALL your WordPress folder permissions to 755 and file permissions to 644. I’m just not sure how you’d do this in the cPanel File Manager that your host provides.

Ok. Thanks! I will Google how to do that on CPanel.

@gappiah I reset the permissions on all of the folders and files. It’s still not working. According the debug log, there still a permission issue on this line of code in the autoload.php file:

require_once dirname(FILE) . ‘/lib/namespaced.php’;

How do I change this code to resolve the issue?

@gappiah @shameemreza I’ve tried everything y’all suggested and it didn’t work. It’s showing the same error on the debug log about the failed opening of the file and the denied permission. Please help!

Hi @hillaryaa

Thank you for providing additional information. Have you replaced both the wp-admin and wp-includes folders, including all internal files? If not, please follow these steps:

• Download Fresh WordPress core files and extract it.
• Compress both the wp-admin and wp-includes folders and upload them to your server.
• Backup and delete the old wp-admin and wp-includes folders from the server.
• Extract the newly uploaded folders and check if the issue has been resolved.

If the issue still persists, please contact GoDaddy’s technical support team to fix the permission issue for you.

I hope this helps! Thanks!

I have uploaded them. I did made a backup before I did it. Shouldn’t the new core files overwrite the old core files when you upload them into the public.html folder? Can you please clarify what you mean by “extract the folders”?

Yes, I recommend extracting the zip file(because I suggested uploading it as a zip file to avoid missing file issues) and moving the wp-admin and wp-includes folders to the root (public folder) directory. Just make sure to replace only the wp-admin and wp-includes folders and their respective files. This will ensure that your website runs smoothly without any glitches.

And if the issue still persists, please contact GoDaddy’s technical support team to fix the permission issue for you. Or you can share this thread link with them to understand the scenario.

I hope this helps! Thanks!