Broken WordPress Site – Fatal Error?

  • Hello – I just updated WP and all plugins for a site I manage, and all seems to have gone OK; I added a new menu item, did some minor CSS code updates, and installed a bit of PHP code that’s been tested extensively and is used on many of our WP sites. Something about this particular theme (which was designed by a third party) didn’t like one of these updates, and has taken over the whole site – WP admin, home page, everything – with the following error:

    Fatal error: Cannot redeclare getsource() (previously declared in /home/n25wes6/public_html/wp-content/themes/325westlake/inc/menu.php:4) in /home/n25wes6/public_html/wp-content/themes/325westlake/inc/scripts.php on line 43.

    Normally I use a WP plugin to recover a backup, but of course that’s inaccessible as well, and unfortunately this is one of very few sites we manage where I don’t have access to the hosting account or FTP. Does anyone have any clues to help resolve this before the long weekend ahead? Is there some way to get into WordPress without using the web interface, using just the login credentials I have? I’d like to do anything I can to recover the site since it seems the original designers are out of the office.

    Thanks for any help!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    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, 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 (theme functions can interfere like plugins).

    Thread Starter xtiana

    (@xtiana)

    Thanks so much for the quick response! Sadly only the original designers have access to FTP or the Cpanel (with PHP MyAdmin, file manager, and that whole enchilada). We tried contacting the hosting company but even the passwords, security verification questions, billing info are all mysteries to us. They’re all handled by the third-party designers.

    It looks like because the code I was adding contained a getsource() function, I may have tried to install that in two PHP files and caused a conflict. We may just have to wait until next week when we can reach the original design firm, but I just wanted to see if there were any other ways to edit WP PHP files with just the general WP credentials. Let me know if you think of any other tricks! Thanks again.

    Moderator James Huff

    (@macmanx)

    Yeah, the problem is now in the WordPress site, so you’ll need some form of access *outside* of the WordPress site to fix it.

    If you know what files you modified, and can get access, then the fix would be to access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel, and edit the files with a plain text editor.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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