Update from 3.6.1 to 3.7.1 failed…

Try:
– switching to the default theme by renaming your current theme’s folder inside wp-content/themes and adding “-old” to the end of the folder name using FTP or whatever file management application your host provides.

– resetting the plugins folder by FTP or phpMyAdmin.

– re-uploading all files & folders – except the wp-content folder and the wp-config.php & root .htaccess files – from a fresh download of WordPress. Make sure that you delete the old copies of files & folder before uploading the new ones.

– running the upgrade manually via wp-admin/upgrade.php

Renaming the “Plugins” folder to “plugins_old” via FTP did allow login to the site, both the renamed admin and user accounts, but other issues remain. For example, under the “Manage Themes” tab in the admin panel only the “Twentyeleven Child” theme shown. The actual Twentyeleven theme is not shown, neither is the “Twentytwelve” and the “Twentythirteen” themes. The “themes” folder does have these themes, verified via FTP.

Selecting any of the tabs under “Install Themes” results in the “Internal server error…” message. The same error message comes up, when clicking “Search Plugins”, under “Install Plugins” tab.

The other place where the internal server error comes up, when clicking on the admin panel indicated three updates icon.

I have not tried uploading the files and rerun the upgrade. I am kind of gun shy and not sure, if it would work? Maybe reinstalling 3.7.1 from scratch and restoring the database is a more reliable method at this point. What do you think?
Thanks for your help…

Switch to the default theme by renaming your current theme’s folder inside wp-content/themes and adding “-old” to the end of the folder name using FTP or whatever file management application your host provides.

And then follow the rest of the steps I suggested above.

I have followed your direction, re-uploaded all files except the the wp-content folder (renamed as wp-content_old) and the wp-config.php & root .htaccess files – from a fresh download of WordPress 3.7.1. Connecting to the blogsite.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php brings up the update windows that states:

No Update Required

Your WordPress database is already up-to-date!

Clicking on the “Continue” button, redirects the browser to the blogsite.com page, that is broken. In another word, it is a blank page now. Renaming the wp-content_old folder to wp-content via FTP does bring back the blog pages; however, trying to login gives gives the original internal server error message. It seems like a catch-22…

Do you have any other suggestion? Thanks for your help…

Did you switch to the default theme?

Yes, renaming the the folder “themes” to “themes_old” does the same. After clicking “Continue”, the browser is redirected to the broken blog site. Reversing the naming brings back the blog pages, just like previously…

renaming the the folder “themes” to “themes_old” does the same

No. Switch to the default theme by renaming your current theme’s folder inside wp-content/themes and adding “-old” to the end of the folder name using FTP or whatever file management application your host provides.

I cannot actually manage the themes within the admin pages. I see the “twentyeleven child” theme in the admin page, but no other themes are shown. All the default themes are in the “themes” folder.

Maybe I should mention…

This is not a default installation of WP in a sense. The admin account had been changed and so was the database prefix during installation. The site has also been protected by Better WP Security (BWS), that was active during installation. In previous version updates through the admin panel had no issues with BWS. This is the first time I’ve encountered the error. I also have two other WP sites that had not been updated, due to this issues. The installation for these WPs was pretty much the same as the broken one, including changes at setup and plugins. These sites are hosted by the hosting company…

I cannot actually manage the themes within the admin pages.

Switch to the default theme by renaming your current theme’s folder inside wp-content/themes and adding “-old” to the end of the folder name using FTP or whatever file management application your host provides.

“renaming your current theme’s folder inside wp-content/themes and adding “-old”
That would be the child theme, correct?

Yes! And the parent theme’s folder, if necessary.

OK, renaming the child theme folder does not break the site; however, it shows the blogs in a single column. Renaming the theme’s parent folder breaks the site. It does not seem to switch to the default theme.

Within the admin panel managing the themes results in internal server error message…

Re-upload a fresh, unpacked, copy of the Twenty Thirteen folder to wp-content/themes using FTP or whatever file management application your host provides.
https://www.ads-software.com/themes/twentythirteen

Trying to run the wp-admin/upgrade.php does state that the database up-to-date and clicking on continue redirects the browser to the home page of the blog site. Which, in the case of renamed parent&child themes, is a blank page.

It’s the same, after “Continue” the browser is redirected to the blank home page of the blog.