How to Fix the WordPress White Screen of Death

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Have you ever heard of the White Screen of Death for WordPress?

I recently had a deal with a customer. That was in the end council.

Your website is then no longer visible. No, you only see a whole white page.

And worse: You can also no longer log in to the WordPress website.

And you have no idea where the problem is.

It is the biggest fear of many website owners.

There are several variations of the white screen of death. For example, you have a white screen for all your pages, but you can still log in. Or the white screen will only be visible on certain pages.

But be sure, there are several ways to fix this problem.

White screen of death for WordPress

Let's review the most important solutions. You can do this in principle, but you need to be aware of the download and download via FTP.

Of course, you must first make a backup of the website.

Disable all plugins

A plugin may not work properly after an update. What you can do is to deactivate all plugins individually. This way you can find out which plugin is no longer working properly.

If you do not have access to the cms, you can access the website via FTP.

If you do not know how that works, you can first look at this freak:

If you have access via FTP, proceed as follows:

First, you can rename the plugins directory, for example, 'plugins_oud'.

If then the white screen disappears, you know that here is the problem.

Then you rename the plugins directory until 'plugins' check each plugin to find out where the error is.

Again, you can rename any plugin directory by pressing '_oud'.

Deactivate Theme

The problem can also be with the theme of the website. Try to deactivate the current theme you use for the website.

Then you can activate another theme, such as the Twenty Seventeen theme that is standard.

If you do not have access to the cms, you can access the website via FTP. You go to the folder where the themes are, usually 

/wp-content/themes/ and then delete the theme you are using.

It is advisable to download a copy of this theme folder to your computer.

After that, WordPress automatically switches to another theme.

Increase PHP memory limit

A shortage of memory is one of the most common causes of a white screen of death for WordPress. You have too little memory limit to run your site.

But you can increase the memory limit yourself. For this, you need some programming knowledge and you need to reach the website via FTP.

The root of your website has a file: wp-config.php. In this you need to add the following code to a new line:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M');

You can increase the memory limit to 128 or as per example to 128MB. If this does not help, you can also enable your hosting party. Ask them if they can set the limit, even more, maybe 256MB or even 512MB.

Update Permalinks

Whatever you want to do is update your permalinks. You can find these permalinks by visiting:

Settings> permalinks.

Then click 'Save Changes' and then check if the site is accessible again.

Cache subjects

Often you use a cache plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache. Perhaps this is the cause, and by caching, the problem could also be solved.

If that fails, you may be able to remove the entire plugin. How to remove all files from the plugin, for example,

Debug mode

You can also try to turn on WordPress debug mode. You can also do this in the wp-config.php file. You are following the following:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', false);

is becoming:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);

To find out where the error is, you can also add the following line, just above:

error_reporting (E_ALL); ini_set ('display_errors', 1);

The white screen will then display errors and other notifications when viewing the page again. You may also find the cause.

Reinstall WordPress

If it does not work then you can still try to reinstall WordPress. Then replace the "wp-admin" and "wp-includes" folders on your website with the newer version.

Conclusion

The white screen of death for WordPress sounds rather ominous, but there are several ways to solve this.

Try one of the above solutions and may make your website work flawlessly.

If you do not really mind, then you can consider making a specialized company do it. A good and reliable party is WP Fixit, which can solve any problems with websites.

Often they come out.