Pádraig ó Beirn

Thanks Steve,

That did it! I had updated a few plugins along with 4.9.6 and assumed, because GDPR was a large part of the 4.9.6 update, that the message was a core notification. The culprit is Tribulant newsletter. I usually follow the steps you outlined above when troubleshooting but didn’t this time because the WP update was GDPR focused. Thanks for your time and prompt response. I really appreciate it. I’ll contact the plugin authors and let them know.

The notification appears at the top of each page in the admin panel. If I go to the dashboard, for example, it appears and I can dismiss it. However, when I visit any other area of the admin it re-appears. It contains a button to click in order to ‘Check the GDPR requirements to make sure you comply.’ If I click the button I get ‘Sorry you are not allowed to access this page.’ even though I am logged in as the admin.

On my live site and wamp install the notification also appears after updating to 4.9.6 but does not re-appear after it’s dismissed.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by Pádraig ó Beirn.

?I’m extremely disappointed that, despite the release notes acknowledging a fix and my help identifying the file causing the issue, this is still not resolved in 4.6.9. Had to revert again to 4.6.7.4. Tested on 3 different browsers, wamp, development site and live site. Disabled all other plugins, cleared cache and tested with 2017 theme. Still the issue persists.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by Pádraig ó Beirn.

This is still an issue with 4.6.8.5.

An option is to go with Gutenberg and if it doesn’t meet your needs you can always revert to the classic editor using this plugin: https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/classic-editor/
I would suggest that there are quite a few iterations to go before Gutenberg is merged into core.

@clorith I have discovered that if you open and save any of your theme files in Notepad++ just once it “unlocks” the WP theme and plugin editors. No more errors when saving theme or plugin files.

Originally I had to make a quick edit to my theme using Notepad++ which, unknown to me, actually solved my ‘Unable to communicate’ error – I had solved the problem by editing theme files in Notepad++ but assumed my last troubleshooting step was the reason the error went away which I shared on page 6 of this thread.

My own solution didn’t work on my other three sites so I kept digging. On reading the comment from @don_alejandro at https://core.trac.www.ads-software.com/ticket/42573 I tested three other sites (2 Apache and 1 localhost Wamp) that were getting the communicate error. Made a tiny edit using Notepad++ to one of the files in each theme on each site and the communication error has gone on all three.

The error seems to apply to sites that are not under development and have not made recent template changes which may be why you were not able to replicate it in tests. Once a template change is made using something like Notepad++ the WP admin editor works.

@debresser mentioned on page 6 of this thread that his error disappeared and he doesn’t know why. I suspect that he edited one of his theme files in a text editor and was subsequently able to use the WP editor.

It would be great if someone else could try this and confirm that it works.

This finally solved it for me…

Even though I had deactivated all plugins, changed the theme to Twenty Seventeen and cleared browser cache I was still getting the following error when trying to edit theme or plugin php files: “Unable to communicate back with site to check for fatal errors, so the PHP change was reverted. You will need to upload your PHP file change by some other means, such as by using SFTP.”

I had to delete advanced-cache.php in the wp-content folder and in wp-config set:
define(“WP_CACHE”, false);

Then I could edit the theme and plugin php files without the error.
So, then I re-set my wp-config to:
define(“WP_CACHE”, true);
re-activated my plugins, including Hyper Cache Extended (which restored the advanced-cache.php file in the wp-content folder), and I can still edit my theme and plugin files without a problem.

Thanks @clorith for not asking us to open our own support threads. This thread now has different solutions to the same error in one location which, hopefully, will be a great help to others who experience the issue. ??

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Pádraig ó Beirn.

Hi @t10cricket,

Download a copy of Notepad++ (it’s free).
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.5.1.html

Watch this video showing how to use Notepad++ to connect to your site and edit your theme or plugin files: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5Z4YXlqp4c
You may have to re-start Notepad++ a few times. Just be patient and follow the prompts. Your ftp details should be in the original email from your host.

MAKE SURE you have a backup of your site before you make any changes.

Despite disabling all plugins, switching to TwentySeventeen theme and checking htaccess, I’m still experiencing the issue on Wamp localhost and Apache but using the Notepad++ method for now.

Hope it works for you.

Thanks @dpsachou for letting us know it was a plugin.
It would be great @petrichorpost if you could let us know how you resolved it.

If it’s an emergency @t10cricket update your header.php offline and upload via ftp.
To find out where exactly the problem lies I would suggest following these steps:

1. Download the free Health Check plugin – https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/health-check/
2. Make a backup of your website (I recommend Updraftplus – https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/updraftplus/)
3. Run a Health Check using the Health Check plugin. Do any fields have a red X? You may see a message which reads: “Unable to perform a loopback request to your site, this may prevent WP_Cron from working, along with theme and plugin editors.”
4. Download the Twenty Seventeen theme and activate it. Run the Health Check again. Do you see a loopback or any other failed response? If so, disable all plugins (except Health Check) and run the Health Check. You may see “The loopback request to your site completed successfully.” This probably means one of your plugins is the problem: re-activate them one by one, running Health Check each time, or in small groups if you have lots of plugins, to isolate the problem.
5. If you still see the loopback request error in Health Check post some of your server debug information here (see mine below) including your webhost, which hosting package, server, php and mysql version.

@clorith With all plugins disabled and the Twenty Seventeen theme activated I still get the following error on trying to edit a theme or plugin php file: “Unable to communicate back with site to check for fatal errors, so the PHP change was reverted. You will need to upload your PHP file change by some other means, such as by using SFTP.” Also getting a failed loopback request in Health Check with all plugins deactivated. Is there anything I can ask my host to check? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. ??

Just so you don’t have to search for it again in this thread, here are my details:

Webhost: Blacknight (Maximus shared hosting package)
Exact Error: Unable to communicate back with site to check for fatal errors, so the PHP change was reverted. You will need to upload your PHP file change by some other means, such as by using SFTP.
When does it occur?: A few seconds after clicking the Update button on editing an active Theme php file or active plugin php files (css or txt files are not affected) in the WP theme or plugin editor.

Error still occurs with plugins de-activated and 2017 theme activated. Re-activated plugins and ran Health Check with the following results:

Server architecture: Linux 2.6.32-673.26.1.lve1.4.30.el6.x86_64 x86_64
PHP Version: 7.0.25 (Supports 64bit values)
PHP SAPI: cgi-fcgi
PHP max input variables: 2048
PHP time limit: 120
PHP memory limit: 256M
Upload max filesize: 32M
PHP post max size: 32M
cURL Version: 7.54.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2k
SUHOSIN installed: No
Is the Imagick library available: No

MySQL
Server version: 5.5.57
Client version: 5.6.37

Your PHP install supports JSON.
Your MySQL version supports utf8mb4
www.ads-software.com is reachable from your server.
You are using HTTPS to access this website.
Your WordPress install can communicate securely with other services.
No version control systems were detected.
Your installation of WordPress doesn’t require FTP credentials to perform updates.
All of your WordPress files are writable.

– A scheduled event (nxs_querypost_event) has failed to run. Your site still works, but this may indicate that scheduling posts or automated updates may not work as intended.

x The WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE constant is defined and enabled. [I have this set intentionally].
x WordPress security and maintenance releases are blocked by define( ‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, false );. [I have this set intentionally so I can review updates on a test site first]

x Unable to perform a loopback request to your site, this may prevent WP_Cron from working, along with theme and plugin editors.

Thanks Marius for your patience and help.
Webhost: Blacknight (Maximus shared hosting package)
Exact Error: Unable to communicate back with site to check for fatal errors, so the PHP change was reverted. You will need to upload your PHP file change by some other means, such as by using SFTP.
When does it occur?: A few seconds after clicking the Update button on editing an active Theme php file or active plugin php files (css or txt files are not affected) in the WP theme or plugin editor.

Error still occurs with plugins de-activated and 2017 theme activated. Re-activated plugins and ran Health Check with the following results:

Server architecture: Linux 2.6.32-673.26.1.lve1.4.30.el6.x86_64 x86_64
PHP Version: 7.0.25 (Supports 64bit values)
PHP SAPI: cgi-fcgi
PHP max input variables: 2048
PHP time limit: 120
PHP memory limit: 256M
Upload max filesize: 32M
PHP post max size: 32M
cURL Version: 7.54.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2k
SUHOSIN installed: No
Is the Imagick library available: No

MySQL
Server version: 5.5.57
Client version: 5.6.37

Your PHP install supports JSON.
Your MySQL version supports utf8mb4
www.ads-software.com is reachable from your server.
You are using HTTPS to access this website.
Your WordPress install can communicate securely with other services.
No version control systems were detected.
Your installation of WordPress doesn’t require FTP credentials to perform updates.
All of your WordPress files are writable.

– A scheduled event (nxs_querypost_event) has failed to run. Your site still works, but this may indicate that scheduling posts or automated updates may not work as intended.

x The WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE constant is defined and enabled. [I have this set intentionally].
x WordPress security and maintenance releases are blocked by define( ‘WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE’, false );. [I have this set intentionally so I can review updates on a test site first]

x Unable to perform a loopback request to your site, this may prevent WP_Cron from working, along with theme and plugin editors.

Marking as resolved.

@crzyhrse It appears that this is a bug. Some users, including myself, are getting that error when we try to edit active theme php files or plugins. Non-activated themes or plugins can be edited fine in the WP Editor.
See the discussion here – https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/cant-edit-main-theme-php-files-after-upgrading-to-4-9/

@clorith @backups
Yes, activated plugins return the error.
Deactivated plugins can be edited without a problem.

@backups Blacknight https://www.blacknight.com/

Hi Ajay,

That worked! Tested on wamp and live server. Widget performs in the sidebar as expected with the correct number of posts.

Thanks for the prompt fix. ??