Fatal error when trying to do anything

Where are you hosting this site. Using a version of WP that old is totally not a good thing to do – you’ll likely be hacked in no time.

Which is why I need to be able to update WP. Do you have any idea what the error code means please?

I would say is due to the PHP execution time. You need to talk to your host support to find out why or increase the time limit.

Is that free hosting?

See: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Common_WordPress_Errors#Maximum_execution_time_exceeded

You cannot do an auto update from 3.3 to 4.1 – see:

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Upgrading_WordPress_Extended#Upgrading_Across_Multiple_Versions

You’d be better off to start over and install the current version – don’t use their auto install.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Installing_WordPress#Famous_5-Minute_Install

Thank you Jono for an answer that addresses the issue.

I have no idea what your answer means but it gives me a place to start researching. Honestly, not one thing has gone smoothly so far and not having any technical knowledge is a nightmare! I haven’t even started building the site yet either haha. Thank goodness for people like yourself!

Here’s how to fix that – as I posted above:

See: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Common_WordPress_Errors#Maximum_execution_time_exceeded

Ok Wpyogi – I will try doing it manually. Thanks. Yes its free hosting. I just wanted to get the site built and then I will transfer to something better in time.

Thanks for the links – I will look.

At least I have somewhere to start now. I don’t know what I would do without helpful people in forums! Do you think it could be a php timing issue like was suggested?

You should know that free hosting very often does not work well at all to run WP – especially if you want to use plugins. And many free hosts won’t let you change settings like the one that is causing the errors you are running into.

We really don’t recommend using free hosting, sorry.

If you need free, have you considered WP.COM?

https://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

You can’t use plugins there, but a lot is possible irregardless.

Ah, I didn’t know any of that about free hosting. I read up on it too but nothing was mentioned about plugins not being supported or issues with WP.

I will read your links and educate myself on the issue. It’s not an issue to pay for hosting. I just didn’t have money on my card and was impatient to get the site built. I had read that if my site got busy then free hosting wasn’t likely to cut it.

Thanks for the information. This has been a complete learning curve for me. I didn’t own a computer or have access to the internet until two years ago. Everything I have learned has been since then, so considering where I started, I am not doing badly for self taught. However there is just SO much that I need to learn yet!

Not using plugins won’t work for my needs so it looks likely that I will have to top up my online card and pay for some hosting.

Thanks to both parties who answered me – it’s really appreciated.

I forgot to mark the answer as resolved. Thanks again to the two users that took the time to help me.