Fatal error – no changes!

Do you have FTP access?

Well, that’s what I have been trying to figure out. I… think so? Maybe? Or maybe I have it for another blog? I know that when I search for FTP in my gmail, where I am a meticulous digital packrat, I can’t find it… any other ways I might locate that?

ETA: wait, got it. Now what?

Uh oh. So the site must be hosted somewhere and the hosting company will be able to help you with the FTP details.

My suggestion would be to reset the theme manually to something beginning with “twenty” – these are standard WordPress themes that shouldn’t break anything. Next thing to try would be to disable all plugins.

Can you access the admin area at https://www.yoursite.com/wp-admin?

Ok – you have FTP.

Navigate to public_html/wp-content/themes. You should see a bunch of folders. If you remember the name of the theme you had activated, rename it to BACKUP_whateverthethemenamewas. If not rename all like that unless they start with “twenty”.

wp-admin access would remove the need for this.

OK, I’m in now and into the folder/code where it says the error is (see I almost know what I’m doing!)… this is what I see around the line where their claims to be an error

_______________________

function do_action($tag, $arg = ”) {
global $wp_filter, $wp_actions, $merged_filters, $wp_current_filter;

if ( ! isset($wp_actions[$tag]) )
$wp_actions[$tag] = 1;
else
++$wp_actions[$tag];

// Do ‘all’ actions first
if ( isset($wp_filter[‘all’]) ) {
$wp_current_filter[] = $tag;
$all_args = func_get_args();
_wp_call_all_hook($all_args);
}

if ( !isset($wp_filter[$tag]) ) {
if ( isset($wp_filter[‘all’]) )
array_pop($wp_current_filter);
return;
}

if ( !isset($wp_filter[‘all’]) )
$wp_current_filter[] = $tag;

$args = array();
if ( is_array($arg) && 1 == count($arg) && isset($arg[0]) && is_object($arg[0]) ) // array(&$this)
$args[] =& $arg[0];
else
$args[] = $arg;
for ( $a = 2; $a < func_num_args(); $a++ )
$args[] = func_get_arg($a);

// Sort
if ( !isset( $merged_filters[ $tag ] ) ) {
ksort($wp_filter[$tag]);
$merged_filters[ $tag ] = true;
}

reset( $wp_filter[ $tag ] );

do {
foreach ( (array) current($wp_filter[$tag]) as $the_ )
if ( !is_null($the_[‘function’]) )
call_user_func_array($the_[‘function’], array_slice($args, 0, (int) $the_[‘accepted_args’]));

} while ( next($wp_filter[$tag]) !== false );

array_pop($wp_current_filter);

__________

Line 476 = first blank line under } after //do all
Line 505 = “call_user_func_array($the_[‘function’], array_slice($args, 0, (int) $the_[‘accepted_args’]));”

Thoughts? Something easy to fix in the code editor??

Don’t mess with any of that. load.php is a core WordPress file and should never be edited. Try renaming (and therefore disabling) the themes first. If that doesn’t work, let’s try plugins.

Renamed all the theme folders to BACKUP_name except for the twenties.

No go.

Plugins?

Still no wp-admin?

Ok. Go to public_html/wp-content/plugins and rename everything to BACKUP_whatever. This will disable all plugins.

If that doesn’t work, try downloading a fresh copy of WordPress, take a full backup of your public_html folder, and the upload the fresh WordPress copy. This will overwrite a bunch of files, but only core WordPress files. Your wp-config (database details) etc will stay intact. You’ll be left with a fresh install of WordPress, except for the database.

wp_admin gives me the same fatal error. Hence my confusion.

Will try the plugins now

Just to be sure, it’s wp hyphen admin not wp underscore admin.

Yep, saw my typing error and double checked, but I had copied and pasted your suggestion (with my domain name). Wish that were it.

Plugins failed. Do I need to undo any of the renaming before I try to download a fresh copy? Will have to do it later tonight.

Nope – you can always undo renaming. Just be sure you get a full backup of the public_html folder (and database ideally) before uploading a fresh WordPress over the top.

To backup, I’m just downloading all the files in the public_html folder onto my computer, right? Nothing complicated I’m missing here?

ETA: aha, found the backup button on the main FTP control panel page. All good.

Alright. This is going to make me crazy. I did the following:

1) Used cPanel’s “backup” option to backup my website.
2) Downloaded the most recent version of wordpress.
3) Changed the config_sample document as prescribed in installation instructions.
4) Downloaded Cyberduck, connected it correctly with my website on the first try (MY ONE WIN) and used it to upload the new version of wordpress into my website’s files. Overwrote all old files.
5) Went to my website and got an error message.
6) Thought “maybe I need to do the installation step”, and pointed my browser at the installation address. Got the same error message.
7) Thought “maybe I need to redirect to the right subfolder”. Retyped address with subfolder included (wordpress). Got the same error message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘}’ in /home/susanv/public_html/wordpress/wp-includes/option.php on line 1442

8) Went to code of that file. Took out the line 1442 } just for kicks. Got same error message, except in line 1444. Put the line 1442 } back. Line 1442 error message returned.

NOW WHAT?

Bumping this in hopes that someone might know what to do next…