"An unidentified error has occurred" throughout most of site after DNS change

hey there

let’s start with a server-config path if thats cool with you

do you have ssh/panel/ftp access?

if yes, please access the site’s .htaccess file

copy the file to .htaccess-TEMP

make a new blank file and name it .htaccess & place in it these generic wordpress settings:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

(the .htaccess file should be located in the same folder as your wordpress installation, but you may have to select to display hidden files depending on how you are connecting)

at this point, check the site

if that doesn’t work, we’ll want to check permissions on files and folders. this is easy to reset if you have ssh access, and many hosts will set good permissions for you with a phone call

in general, folders should be 755, and files should be 644

check back in after the htaccess stuff and we’ll come up with some ideas

Thank you very much for your help so far!

The .htaccess already had those lines in them so it already looks exactly like that. The folders are mostly set to 777 and 755 because earlier in the stages of the dev site, things weren’t being allowed to install and such, for example, installing a plugin through the wordpress backend instead of manually installing through FTP. The files are set to 644.

ok, thanks for the info

next step i would do is temporarily deactivate all plugins
–> you can do this via ftp by moving the /wp-content/plugins folder to /wp-content/plugin.HOLD

test and inform!

thanks!

Thank you! I appreciate your help with this very much so far thanks!!

I had temporarily deactivated all plugins, and unfortunately that still didn’t help with anything.

ok, thats for the info

with plugins deactivated, please try switching to twenty-fifteen theme temporarily and retest

are you on wp 4.1.1?

Thank you!

Yes we are on version 4.1.1. I just tried switching themes with plugins deactivated, but no luck. Still saving anything in settings gets redirected to options.php and doesn’t save, as well as trying to update/add new posts/pages and getting redirected to edit.php also with no saves.

cool, thanks for testing

do you know how to use the chrome console (F12)? if not I would be happy to provide some help, or if you use another browser

open the console

please access the last page for editing post right before your redirect

look for errors in console, paste any you see through to us here

did you do the update to 4.1.1 automatically or manually (via ftp)?

Thanks!

I did not see any errors in the console besides two lines of CSS styling tips. Also, we automatically updated 4.1.1 automatically.

ok, since .htaccess is clean wp basic lines, plugins are disabled, basic clean theme has been tested, then i think it’s time to try a manual reinstall of the wordpress core files

to manually update wp 4.1.1

0. take a backup of your existing system

1. download the latest wordpress

2. unzip it locally on your computer

3. connect to your server using an ftp client, selecting option to see hidden files if available

4. delete from your server everything in wordpress’s install folder except wp-config.php and wp-content/

5. upload from the newly unzipped wordpress files all files and folders except wp-content/ (there will not be a wp-config.php in the newly unzip wordpress)