Home page stuck for 5 days

Currently I do not even have the plugin installed.

But assume any settings that are made are set on the server?

I need to find the references in my database and remove them.

Just looking into how I do that

Something in my wordpress database is pointing to a cached resource as I don’t understand how when pointing to a deleted folder it still shows as live

I see.

Yep your header is still showing an expiry of 1 month.

Do you have other cache plugins installed? Or used in the recent past?

Try searching 2592000 in your database (no of seconds in 1 month).

No only ever used W3 –

What is the relationship with the .htaccess file?

If I make a change to W3 to I need to bounce the permalinks to update the .htaccess

.htaccess now updated – should be 300 seconds

# BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
AddType text/html .html .htm
AddType text/richtext .rtf .rtx
AddType image/svg+xml .svg .svgz
AddType text/plain .txt
AddType text/xsd .xsd
AddType text/xsl .xsl
AddType text/xml .xml
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType text/html A300
ExpiresByType text/richtext A300
ExpiresByType image/svg+xml A300
ExpiresByType text/plain A300
ExpiresByType text/xsd A300
ExpiresByType text/xsl A300
ExpiresByType text/xml A300
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary
</IfModule>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css text/x-component application/x-javascript application/javascript text/javascript text/x-js text/html text/richtext image/svg+xml text/plain text/xsd text/xsl text/xml image/x-icon application/json
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
# DEFLATE by extension
AddOutputFilter DEFLATE js css htm html xml
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Browser Cache
# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
RewriteRule .* – [E=W3TC_ENC:_gzip]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} w3tc_preview [NC]
RewriteRule .* – [E=W3TC_PREVIEW:_preview]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} =””
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \/$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !(comment_author|wp\-postpass|w3tc_logged_out|wordpress_logged_in|wptouch_switch_toggle) [NC]
RewriteCond “%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}” -f
RewriteRule .* “/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}” [L]
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Page Cache core
# 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

Depending on your settings in W3TC, such as how much the expiry is for various file types and some other settings, such as redirecting to cached files, the plugin writes to htaccess files.

It’s possible sometimes that these entries aren’t written/changed/erased if you change settings or remove the plugin.

Does your htaccess file have entries made by the plugin?

Yes – this is what it looks like right now

# BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
AddType text/css .css
AddType text/x-component .htc
AddType application/x-javascript .js
AddType application/javascript .js2
AddType text/javascript .js3
AddType text/x-js .js4
AddType text/html .html .htm
AddType text/richtext .rtf .rtx
AddType image/svg+xml .svg .svgz
AddType text/plain .txt
AddType text/xsd .xsd
AddType text/xsl .xsl
AddType text/xml .xml
AddType video/asf .asf .asx .wax .wmv .wmx
AddType video/avi .avi
AddType image/bmp .bmp
AddType application/java .class
AddType video/divx .divx
AddType application/msword .doc .docx
AddType application/vnd.ms-fontobject .eot
AddType application/x-msdownload .exe
AddType image/gif .gif
AddType application/x-gzip .gz .gzip
AddType image/x-icon .ico
AddType image/jpeg .jpg .jpeg .jpe
AddType application/json .json
AddType application/vnd.ms-access .mdb
AddType audio/midi .mid .midi
AddType video/quicktime .mov .qt
AddType audio/mpeg .mp3 .m4a
AddType video/mp4 .mp4 .m4v
AddType video/mpeg .mpeg .mpg .mpe
AddType application/vnd.ms-project .mpp
AddType application/x-font-otf .otf
AddType application/vnd.ms-opentype .otf
AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.database .odb
AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.chart .odc
AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.formula .odf
AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics .odg
AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation .odp
AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet .ods
AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text .odt
AddType audio/ogg .ogg
AddType application/pdf .pdf
AddType image/png .png
AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint .pot .pps .ppt .pptx
AddType audio/x-realaudio .ra .ram
AddType application/x-shockwave-flash .swf
AddType application/x-tar .tar
AddType image/tiff .tif .tiff
AddType application/x-font-ttf .ttf .ttc
AddType application/vnd.ms-opentype .ttf .ttc
AddType audio/wav .wav
AddType audio/wma .wma
AddType application/vnd.ms-write .wri
AddType application/font-woff .woff
AddType application/vnd.ms-excel .xla .xls .xlsx .xlt .xlw
AddType application/zip .zip
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType text/css A300
ExpiresByType text/x-component A300
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript A300
ExpiresByType application/javascript A300
ExpiresByType text/javascript A300
ExpiresByType text/x-js A300
ExpiresByType text/html A300
ExpiresByType text/richtext A300
ExpiresByType image/svg+xml A300
ExpiresByType text/plain A300
ExpiresByType text/xsd A300
ExpiresByType text/xsl A300
ExpiresByType text/xml A300
ExpiresByType video/asf A31536000
ExpiresByType video/avi A31536000
ExpiresByType image/bmp A31536000
ExpiresByType application/java A31536000
ExpiresByType video/divx A31536000
ExpiresByType application/msword A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-fontobject A31536000
ExpiresByType application/x-msdownload A31536000
ExpiresByType image/gif A31536000
ExpiresByType application/x-gzip A31536000
ExpiresByType image/x-icon A31536000
ExpiresByType image/jpeg A31536000
ExpiresByType application/json A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-access A31536000
ExpiresByType audio/midi A31536000
ExpiresByType video/quicktime A31536000
ExpiresByType audio/mpeg A31536000
ExpiresByType video/mp4 A31536000
ExpiresByType video/mpeg A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-project A31536000
ExpiresByType application/x-font-otf A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-opentype A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.database A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.chart A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.formula A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text A31536000
ExpiresByType audio/ogg A31536000
ExpiresByType application/pdf A31536000
ExpiresByType image/png A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint A31536000
ExpiresByType audio/x-realaudio A31536000
ExpiresByType image/svg+xml A31536000
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash A31536000
ExpiresByType application/x-tar A31536000
ExpiresByType image/tiff A31536000
ExpiresByType application/x-font-ttf A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-opentype A31536000
ExpiresByType audio/wav A31536000
ExpiresByType audio/wma A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-write A31536000
ExpiresByType application/font-woff A31536000
ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-excel A31536000
ExpiresByType application/zip A31536000
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary
</IfModule>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css text/x-component application/x-javascript application/javascript text/javascript text/x-js text/html text/richtext image/svg+xml text/plain text/xsd text/xsl text/xml image/x-icon application/json
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
# DEFLATE by extension
AddOutputFilter DEFLATE js css htm html xml
</IfModule>
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Browser Cache
# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
RewriteRule .* – [E=W3TC_ENC:_gzip]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} w3tc_preview [NC]
RewriteRule .* – [E=W3TC_PREVIEW:_preview]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} =””
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \/$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !(comment_author|wp\-postpass|w3tc_logged_out|wordpress_logged_in|wptouch_switch_toggle) [NC]
RewriteCond “%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}” -f
RewriteRule .* “/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_PREVIEW}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}” [L]
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Page Cache core
# 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

I am assuming the above is while W3TC is installed and active.

Seems like a difficult issue. You should contact your host about it.

My host is useless they said ask google to re-index your site.

My assumption is that there is a static file that has been created for my home page that is cached with the host with an expires time of 1 month.

It is in my database somewhere as if I delete the entire site and re-install wordpress starting with a blank database I get the correct home page.

Which would indicate not a problem with my host.

As soon as I point back to my database the stuck home page reappears.

Now looking into searching the database

If I go to view-source:https://www.rogerperkin.co.uk/

at the bottom of the page, it says your database cache is on and so is object cache.

Try disabling them and then purge your caches.

You can disable them in General Settings in the Performance tab of the plugin.

See if it changes anything.

This is my problem!

I have completely removed W3 Total Cache from my site – followed the instrucions to disable everything first – deactivated / deleted and then deleted the cache folders from the server and still the home page is being served from Saturday

I have disabled everything and purged caches numerous times to no avail.

The only way to remove it is with a blank install of wordpress.

It is a cache issue as logged into wordpres I see the new site fine.

Which means I am not caching

My hosting say that they cache server side for 1 hour and will not flush their cache.

Thanks for your help but I don’t think this is going to be solved easily – might just have to wait 30 days which seems crazy

Yeah understand your problem: that if you use another database, things seem fine. However if you switch back to the original database, this problem seems to appear again.

Hope you are able to figure out something.

Ok the problem is finally fixed!

I deleted everything and called my hosting and said look all files are deleted and yet you are still serving this 6 day old home page

I was on hold for a few minutes and then the home page is gone!

Thanks for your help

That’s great.

I however see that W3TC is not working.

Go to this page https://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/#!/b1OVyE/https://www.rogerperkin.co.uk/

and expand out the first few items.

It doesn’t show W3TC entries such as cache headers etc.

Anyway, things are much better now.

Ok the problem is finally fixed!

I deleted everything and called my hosting and said look all files are deleted and yet you are still serving this 6 day old home page

I was on hold for a few minutes and then the home page is gone!

They said they had to flush their cache and the page as you said had an expire header of 30 days
Thanks for your help