May I suggest a few other troubleshooting options to try before changing anything? Try to isolate the problem source while changing as little as possible to minimize risk of breaking more code.
HTTP 500 is a status code telling you:
The [web] server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request.
but without any other data than this, we can’t even be sure it has anything to do with your WordPress installation.
You say
each time I attempt to browse my blog I see this error message
so you need to narrow down what you can and can’t do.
- Can you ping your site domain? If not, then it’s probably a server problem and you need to contact your ISP.
- Can you connect via FTP? If not, then it’s probably a server problem and you need to contact your ISP.
- If you can do the first two, then upload the most bare-bones HTML file you can (
<html><body>hello world</body></html>
) named index.html to your blog’s root directory. Can you see that (https://www.yourblog.com/index.html
and be sure to type the file name explicitly) in a browser? If so, then the source of the problem more likely on your PHP or WordPress end than on the ISP’s end.
- If you can see the index.html file in the browser, than try to upload and view a test.php file that contains only `<?php
phpinfo();
?>`
- You can’t browse the blog, but can you access the WP admin?
Keep trying tests that narrow in on the pain point. Then you’ll be better equipped to fix it yourself, or to give more detail in this forum when asking for assistance and ideas.
Also, check out this thread
Hope this helps. [Edited to fix link text]