504 GatewayTime-out

Hi, chattan, & welcome to the WordPress support forum. Have you perchance tried using wp-login.php? I seem to be getting a login screen when I do that.

Could you please:
1) Post your .htaccess; &
2) Study your error logs, both in your control panel, if available, & also in the folder where you installed WordPress, as well as any you might find in theme & plugins folder, to see what sort of error(s) is/are being generated?

You might also try reverting to a default WordPress theme, such as 2015. You can do that, either by logging in using the wp-login.php, or by renaming your 2010 theme folder by appending a 1 or a .old.

Please let us know if any of that helps, won’t you?

Hi Jackie – thanks for your interest.

I’ve tried using wp-login.php as well as clicking login on the home page. Both methods give me a login screen and both give me the 504 message after a minute or so. If I do a browser backspace after the 504, the home page meta indicates the logout option – suggesting I have actually logged in. If I then click site-admin, I go through the 504 routine again. If I click logout, it logs me out and gives me the login screen again.

Here is my .htaccess file (I believe it’s part of 4.2.2):

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]

# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ – [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

I can’t see any error logs in my control panel, the root directory, or in the plugins or themes folders.

If I rename the twentyten theme folder, I can’t get the home page to display at all. The theme seems current – folder date is 24 April.

OK, chattan, I’m sorry, but I have more questions.
1) What sort of hosting do you have, i.e., shared, virtual, dedicated, etc? Who with?
2) Is it Windows or Linux?
3) What is the name of your control panel?

You might try asking your host to update your site to the latest version of PHP. I just recently saw a case where that was the cause of the problems they were having, though they were getting 500 as opposed to 504 errors.

Also, have you tried this, say, on your mobile phone or another computer not on your network, i.e., an office computer, etc–please–no hotels, cafes, or other public hotspots.

Hi Jackie

Shared, Linux, with easyspace.com (based in Glasgow, Scotland). I login to https://controlpanel.easyspace.com/controllers/domain_management/main.cfm using an id and password provided by the supplier. This gives me access to basic controls, e.g. email, ftp, domain administration. No sign of error logs though.

phpinfo.php reveals PHP Version 5.4.41 being used. What should I ask for?

I only have a desktop and operate a home office. My partner uses a laptop, with no browsing history for this site, and a different browser (IE opposed to Chrome). We access the internet through the same wireless router. She gets 504 as well.

Chattan, can you ask your host if they could provide you w/error logs for your site?

Hi Jackie

I’ve contacted my host who say they will escalate the issue and get back – I noticed from phpinfo.php that a new server build had been implemented on May 14, just before I started to get 504 messages. I think maybe they want to look at the error logs first! More as I get it…

I do hosting, chatton, & I’ll guarantee you that’s what I’d be doing, & in a New York heartbeat at that!

Please do keep in touch & let us know. It always helps the forum volunteers learn something when we know how an issue was resolved.

Hi Jackie

A 3-day gap where my host didn’t manage to find anything. They won’t release error logs – here’s their reply:

I’m afraid my colleague is correct, we can’t provide log entries as the logs for the server are for all sites on the system.

I have, however, checked through the logs using tail -f and I can confirm that there are no errors output at the time of the issue. Additionally, I have checked for anything in our access logs for my IP while I load your site and there are no error codes output, only a 302 status (which is simply a “found” status, your page was found and whatever was on it was done). Additionally, I note that there is nothing returned in Firebug to suggest this is going to any other host. This is configured by a curl check which outputs the following:

=============
[root@abbadon ~]# curl -v https://www.soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-admin/
* About to connect() to https://www.soutarwriters.co.uk port 80
* Trying 62.233.121.36… Connection timed out
* couldn’t connect to host
* Closing connection #0
curl: (7) couldn’t connect to host
=============

Since there are no errors here, there is nothing we can troubleshoot, but I would recommend trying to bring your installation to a bare-bones install. Try removing your plugins and themes one by one (if you have any) and see if that resolves the issue? If not, I’m afraid this would be something WordPress would need to assist you with.

I’ve tried the plugin/theme disabling but will do so again if you think it would help. Meantime, still getting 504 messages every time I login.

Ok, chattan, they just weren’t real helpful, huh? Arrgg!

I know you’ve stated you’ve disabled themes & plugins, but let’s try this, if you would, please.

1) Append a 1 or a .old to the end of your plugins folder name.
2) Rename your theme folder–yes–I am aware it will break your website, so you might wish to do this when you expect fewer visitors. It really is necessary, though, so please…
3) Now try logging in.

Could you please report the results? & thanks for your indulgence of these requests.

If you were successfull logging in, go ahead & reset your theme to 2015 or similar.

Hi Jackie

I renamed the root plugins folder to plugins.old
I renamed the twentyten theme folder within the root themes folder to twentyten.old
I logged in and could see the site favicon + url in the tab, but the screen was completely white and there were no error messages.

One correction – I didn’t login; I just clicked on the bookmark for the site which didn’t display.

By way of variation, I stayed with plugins.old, but reinstated the twentyten theme. Result – I saw the home page, clicked meta login, got the login panel and clicked the login button – a couple of minutes wait time, then 504 again.

Chattan, you said at 1 point you tried to revert to wp 4.21. Could you ensure that all files are installed? I’m specifically thinking a manual install would be good–but please back up your wp-config.php before doing that.

I’d also like to know what you’re being redirected to. So when you receive the 504 error, could you please copy the address that’s in the address bar & post it here?

I know you’ve got to be getting tired of what must seem to you to be an endless & fruitless parade of my questions, so thanks for your forebearance.

Hi Jackie

I always do manual installs of WP releases, having experienced difficulties with auto-install on multisite a few releases ago. So, 4.2.1->4.2.2->4.2.1->4.2.2 were all manual during this problem span. My wp-config.php file on the server was last updated in Oct 2014, while .htaccess is dated Nov 2014. All other files are per my last install of 4.2.2 (on 22nd May as requested by my host who were hoping that would cure things).

The url sequence is as follows: bookmark the site (www.soutarwriters.co.uk), click Meta login on home page (www.soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-login.php); click login button in panel (www.soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-admin) after 2-3 min wait and 504 message.

Hi, chattan. I’m really sorry for the delay–we had a holiday yesterday in the States, & I was w/my family having a barbecue.

In your wp-config.php, you should see the following line:
define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);
Please change the false to TRUE, save the file, & let’s see if it produces any errors that might be helpful.

Also, do you have a php.ini file–likely in your root? If so, might we see the contents?

Thanks.