RSS Trouble

Seems to be an error in the XML, try Firefox not IE

Firefox shows this

XML Parsing Error: xml declaration not at start of external entity
Location: https://melbenson.com/blog/feed/
Line Number 2, Column 1:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
^

Yup! I use Firefox. That’s what I get. But I have no idea where or how to fix this! ??

Is there an empty line at the start of any of your WordPress rss files? I don’t know which one it could be… feed-rss2.php?

As iridiax notes, I’d check for empty lines in plugin files or wp-config.php (or even functions.php if your theme has one).

Make sure there are no spaces or returns before each file’s first <?php or after the final ?>.

In my functions.php there are no lines above the <?php or after the closing one.

Do I have to go into my ftp to get the wp-config.php file? I can’t view or edit it in my theme editor in wordpress.

Yep.

If it looks OK, then on to the plugin files.

Another approach: Switch to Default theme. Disable ALL plugins. Check feed? Does it work right? If so, start looking at the plugin files.

I went back to the default theme and deactivated the stats plug in. It was the only active one on…SAME THING!

UGH, any other ideas? Anything I can do to fix it or work around it by adding a different type of feed – feedburner? Please help! ??

https://melbenson.com/blog/ is the blog again..I left it on the default theme so anyone can check it to make sure it’s not just not working for me.

Your feeds work for me when I click on their links in the footer.

What browser/version are you using? IF you’re using Firefox 3 can you click the RSS icon in the URL address bar on the right?

I’m using Firefox 2 for Mac, and the RSS icon in the address bar works as well.

What? Weird.. I am using Firefox 3 and IE7 – when I click on the bottom RSS Entries link it gives me the parsing error but when I click on the RSS comments link it works.

Is it working for other people?

My RSS doesn’t work either. I’ve tried deactivating the plugins and using the default theme.

I’m using IE and when I try the link in the address bar I get, “Internet Explorer does not support feeds with DTDs.”

When I try the footer link I get, “404 Error – Not Found
The resource you have requested could not be found on the server. There are many possible reasons for this. Either the file does not exist, there is an error in your request, or the file is not accessible in the requested directory. Please verify that:

You have used the proper case; requests ARE case-sensitive!
You have entered the URL correctly. (i.e. proper directory/filename)
You used the FULL URL. (i.e. proper file type: .html, .gif , .jpg, etc.)
You use a tilde (~) before user directories. (i.e. https://www.furcen.org/~jurann/ )
The user/file still exists on this server. “

Both footer links give me the same error.

I’ve gone through my wp-config and rss files to get rid of blank lines with no luck.

Any ideas?

melbenson: Disable all plugins or addons that affect feeds like TrackBack Module for RSS (I see evidence of this one from madskills.com in your code).

JoeSpirit: Without a link I can’t tell, but you may be having permalinks problems.

My blog site is https://www.radiocontroltoysblog.com