Error establishing a database connection

Hi, houndawgy & welcome to the WordPress support forum. I’m afraid we really need more information here.
How did you install WordPress, i.e., did you use an installer through your web control panel or did you do it yourself?

If you did it through a web control panel aplet like Softaculous or Fantastico Deluxe, then the details of that installation should’ve been emailed to you. If you did it yourself, then you should’ve created a database, the name of which you need to insert into your WP-Config.php file. In that event, you’ll also need to create a database user, making sure to give that user full privileges. Your wp-config.php should contain the hostname, database name, database username, & password. Note that the password in that file is generally encrypted, so it will look weird. You should check w/your hosting provider regarding the hostname for the database, i.e., often it’s localhost, but other hosts use other names. Since we don’t know whom you host with, it’s impossible for us to provide that information, but your provider’s knowledge base generally has it.

So your first order of business is to look at your wp-config.php file & check to be sure the information therein is correct.

Please let us know if you need mor help, or, if your problem is solved, please mark the topic as resolved so we can assist others also. Thanks.

Jackie,

The site has been up for 3 years. Simply….I can’t login in the admin even after requesting and changing my password. I tried wp-admin and wp-login.php.

…Still getting

Are you sure you have the correct username and password?
Are you sure that you have typed the correct hostname?
Are you sure that the database server is running?

I dumped and reinstalled the DB
*Changed DB password master and config.php
*Deactivated Plugins (via FTP)
*Emptied wordfence data
Nothing seems to be working.

What to do?

The site is running…but I can’t log into the backend.

Houndawgy, do you know of anything that may have occurred prior to this, i.e., an update, etc?

Also, please rename your wordfence plugin folder, & please paste a copy of your .htaccess file in your next reply. If you’re not sure how to do that, please ask.

Please also provide the url to your site. If you’re concerned about SEO, etc, please use an url shortener, (I’ll trust you), but we really need the information.

I did an WP update about 2 months ago.
It seems to be working fine then.

.htaccess
# Use PHP5.4 as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php54 .php

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

Site Url:
https://www.claudetterobinson.com/

Jackie,

Something’s strange….After clicking the sites URL, It shows that I’m logged in. (Maybe the Cached password…Dunno) however once I try to access the dashboard , profile or any other option. I get the same error message.

Are you sure you have the correct username and password?
Are you sure that you have typed the correct hostname?
Are you sure that the database server is running?

Well, this for sure is not a database problem, else your site wouldn’t be running at all; period. I can get a login screen using wp-login.php, though not w/wp-admin. This suggests to me that something is redirecting queries incorrectly, & my prime suspect here is WordFence. It could possibly also be a cache plugin, though I don’t see any evidence of one being run. However, your theme also appears to be old & no longer supported.

So:
1) Please rename your plugins folder by adding a 1 or a .old (or whatever you’d like) to the end.
2) Please rename your themes folder in the same way.

Pleas note–this *absolutely will* break the front end of your site!!!!! Once you’ve done that, please try logging in again, & please let us know how that goes.

If you were successful logging in, then please rename your theme folder to its original name & try logging in again. If that was successful, then please go ahead & rename your plugins folder, but rename all plugins inside it w/a .old or a 1 or whatever except for Akismet, since it’s core. Then try logging in again. Rename each folder, clearing your cache & logging in each time, & see which plug breaks it.

If your theme folder prevented you from logging back in, then, unfortunately, you’ll probably need to consider a theme change.

The homepage rather seemed to stop in the middle, i.e., it kept saying it was loading, right after a call to tumblr. Here again, disabling a plugin or theme is likely the solution.

Keep in touch, if you would, please, & let us know your progress.