500 Internal Server Error ONLY when publishing a new post

  • Hi everyone.

    We are having a super weird problem with a clients site. In short: Every time he publishes a post, a 500 internal server error happens that kills the site for 5 minutes or so.

    This happens every single time a post is published and ONLY when publishing post – it is fine when editing posts, making drafts, publishing new pages – but publishing a post triggers … something that does this.

    So far I have

    1. Installed a fresh new WP admin and WP includes folders
    2. Moved the entire site to a new server – same problem
    3. Created a new htaccess – no difference
    4. Disconnected jetpack and reconnected

    The site runs X-theme with only 9 active plugins, we have exact duplicates of this site setup which runs just fine! Only happens on this site!

    EDIT: Forgot to mention – there is not a single error to be seen logged anywhere on the webserver! But it does appear that I/O and Memory usage goes to max for a short while after publishing.

    Anyone encounter anything like this ?

    Regards,

    Flemming

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    Internal server errors (error 500) are often caused by plugin or theme function conflicts, so if you have access to your admin panel, try deactivating all plugins. If you don’t have access to your admin panel, try manually resetting your plugins (no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.

    If that does not resolve the issue, try switching to the default theme for your version of WordPress to rule-out a theme-specific issue. If you don’t have access to your admin panel, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel, navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename the directory of your currently active theme. This will force the default theme to activate and hopefully rule-out a theme-specific issue.

    If that does not resolve the issue, it’s possible that a .htaccess rule could be the source of the problem. To check for this, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel, and rename the .htaccess file. If you can’t find a .htaccess file, make sure that you have set your SFTP or FTP client to view invisible files.

    If you weren’t able to resolve the issue by either resetting your plugins and theme or renaming your .htaccess file, we may be able to help, but we’ll need a more detailed error message. Internal server errors are usually described in more detail in the server error log. If you have access to your server error log, generate the error again, note the date and time, then immediately check your server error log for any errors that occurred during that time period. If you don’t have access to your server error log, ask your hosting provider to look for you.

    Thread Starter coffeeandmagic

    (@coffeeandmagic)

    Hi Tara, thank you for this – to address your many great ideas:

    We run the site so we have full access to wp-admin, ftp, cpanel etc etc.

    1. all plugins and themes have been disabled and enabled – problem persists

    2. Htaccess has been deleted and recreated – problem persists

    3. There are no server errors, which is so weird! The server spits out error 500 to the browser yet it logs nothing at all in the server log, nothing! So weird!

    The client just informed us today of this further development:

    “I posted 4 blog posts in a row without leaving the admin panel with no problems at all. On the 5th blog posts I posted it fine and THEN I clicked the link to the post to read the post – then I got the 500 server error and the site died for 10 minutes.”

    So it appears to be triggered NOT when posting, but when visiting this new post right after posting.

    Even weirder – the site and the new posts works perfectly fine now! The problem correct itself after 5-10 minutes.

    It is almost like the permalink to this new post does something, triggers something … I have no idea what though.

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    This is weird!

    What your hosting provider has to say about this issue as to what might be causing it?

    Also, if you don’t find any helpful info in the error logs, try Enabling debugging and post the results.

    Thread Starter coffeeandmagic

    (@coffeeandmagic)

    Thanks Tara, I won’t waste time with Godaddy support, they just give you the usual “disable all plugins etc” as the host server itself is running fine it seems, it is definitely related to this particular wordpress site as it happened on the previous host too with this site (we recently moved it).

    It is a super weird WordPress problem. I will try the debugging, thanks!

    Thread Starter coffeeandmagic

    (@coffeeandmagic)

    So, this just got weirder!

    It turns out it has nothing to do with publishing a blog post – that works perfectly fine.

    The 500 internal server error is triggered by posting a link to the blog post on Twitter! We have tried it twice now, and it happens everytime – post a blog post, load it over and over again, the site is perfectly fine! Then take the link to the post, and post it on twitter.

    The site will then get hit by twitterbots, yahoo, etc just after this and in no time, will start spitting out 500 internal server error because the web server runs out of memory.

    This is so weird, I have no idea what to look for or do now – anyone have any ideas?

    Did you ever get this resolved? I have been having same issue. I use the Jetpak module publicize connected to twitter.

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    @toby04,

    If the troubleshooting already posted made no difference for you, then, as per the Forum Welcome, please post your own topic.

    Now, i have this issue too. 500 internal server error each time I publish a post. The post goes live though

    Moderator t-p

    (@t-p)

    @orphicpixe,
    It’s been over 10 months week since the OP posted!

    If the troubleshooting already posted made no difference for you, then, as per the Forum Welcome, please post your own topic. That way you stand a good chance of getting the assistance you want.

    This topic is closed now.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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