Database Export for Server Transfer

maybe the site URL?
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Moving_WordPress

Keeping the same URL, just moving the files. I know that you can set various settings on exports from phpmyadmin, didn’t know if any of those may help. I’ve tried all the usual WSOD stuff, so I thought I’d ask if I needed to customize the DB export.

Nate,

First, White Screen of Death is not so white after all. You need to turn display_errors on for php. It’s possible using php.ini or .htaccess file. Access your website again and you’ll see an error message which will lead to a solution. I bet you have wrong database info in wp-config.php file on new server.

There are no special settings required to export database.

Also don’t forget to turn display_errors off after you fix the problem.

So I tried what you said with display_errors and got a 500 Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Never had one of these before–what does it mean (or what might it mean in this situation)?

Review Moving_WordPress.

I’ve read that page many times and have successfully transfered 5 other WP sites. I’ve also tried all the standard WSOD fixes (plugins, themes, memory in wp-config) that I could find.

Have you checked the site’s error logs?

I want to, but right now am not sure where to look for them.

Error logs come back as clean.

natebarlow,

Possible cause of 500 error:
1. Syntax error in .htaccess. Try rename .htaccess (if exist) to .htaccess1 and access website again.
2. 777 permissions or wrong file ownership if you have PHP-cgi with suPHP. Permissions for files should be 755, for folders 644.
3. Apache mod_security (contact hosting support)
4. Suhosin. Try to turn suhosin.simulation On with .htaccess or php.ini
5. Other server stuff.

The 500 error has been cleaned up (the attempt to display errors itself in .htaccess caused it)–thanks!

But I still get my original problem, the dreaded White Screen of Death on all pages–can’t see site, can’t login into admin. Any thoughts? As I said, I’ve deactivated plugins, deactivated all themes except default, tried the memory increase…

You still need to know exact error. Did you use the line below in .htaccess?

php_flag display_errors on

Yes. According to my host, that line was registering as a syntax error (and it was typed correctly), and may itself have been part of the 500 Internal…?

There was nothing in error logs when I took that line out again and just got the white screen. I also tried the alternate approach of turning on errors in a php.ini and that didn’t come up with anything.

I’ll go back over that list and see about those in case both the flag and whatever is causing WSOD both cause the 500 (I had already done #1 and checked some of #2, though not an exhaustive recursive look), but according to the server at least, it appears to be something else–with no known errors being logged. Grr.