Site Won’t Appear: 500 Error

Error 500: Internal Server Error

Internal server errors (error 500) are often caused by plugin or theme function conflicts, so if you have access to your admin panel, try deactivating all plugins. If you don’t have access to your admin panel, 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, try switching to the default theme for your version of WordPress to rule-out a theme-specific issue. If you don’t have access to your admin panel, 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.

If that does not resolve the issue, it’s possible that a .htaccess rule could be the source of the problem. To check for this, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel, and rename the .htaccess file. If you can’t find a .htaccess file, make sure that you have set your SFTP or FTP client to view invisible files.

If you weren’t able to resolve the issue by either resetting your plugins and theme or renaming your .htaccess file, we may be able to help, but we’ll need a more detailed error message. Internal server errors are usually described in more detail in the server error log. If you have access to your server error log, generate the error again, note the date and time, then immediately check your server error log for any errors that occurred during that time period. If you don’t have access to your server error log, ask your hosting provider to look for you.

The plugins didn’t resolve the issue.

So I’m trying to find “themes” on my admin panel, but I can’t. I have access, but I don’t know where they are, and I don’t know what my currently active theme is. How do I find this out?

try looking here:
/wp-content/themes/

Yes, but what comes before the /wp-content/themes/? For my site, would it be https://artwatchinternational.org/wp-admin/wp-content/themes/ ? Or https://artwatchinternational.org/wp-content/themes/ ?

Neither of those links take me anywhere.

where have you installed your WordPress? In the root directory (e.g., example.com? or, In it’s own directory (e.g, example.com/WP/)?

What’s your site URL?

I didn’t install the WordPress, so I was given no instructions on this when I came to the office. My site URL is: artwatchinternational.org
My WP dashboard is: https://artwatchinternational.org/wp-admin/index.php

try looking wp-content directory in the root:
/wp-content/themes/

I just get a blank screen when I type in this: https://artwatchinternational.org/wp-content/themes/

What else are you suggesting? Isn’t it a WordPress problem? I don’t have any info to log in to update any themes and cannot see how to navigate to it from the Dashboard. I do have a message saying “PHP 5.2 will be deprecated in a future version of NextGEN. Please upgrade your PHP installation to 5.3 or above.” But then there’s no directions to upgrade it, so I don’t know how to do that either.

Please use this procedure to switch to an another theme.

Since you don’t have access to your Dashboard’s Appearance page, use FTP/ SFTP , or your web-host’s cPanel or whatever file management application your host provides (no Dashboard access required). Navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and switch to the default theme by renaming your current theme’s folder by adding “-old” to the end of the folder name. Alternately, you can remove other themes except the default theme (Twenty Seventeen.). That will force your site to use it.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by t-p.

I downloaded FileZilla, but I don’t know the login and password to get it to work with my site’s files. I don’t think one was ever set up. I just upload everything through my WP Dashboard. If my login won’t work using this FTP, then how can I find one that will?

Since you don’t have access to Dashboard, you need FTP access.

Try contacting your hosting provider and see if they can help you with this

They couldn’t help me at all with this. They said it’s all good on their end, and a WordPress issue.

I found my “themes” page. Can you follow it here: https://artwatchinternational.org/wp-admin/themes.php

And tell me what to do from here? Your instructions aren’t clear enough for changing the name of the folder with “old” and all that.

I’m showing this in my “Edit Themes>setup.php” page in the Dashboard. Does it address the problem?

/**
* REQUIRE THE FRAMEWORK FILES
* — This is some checking, and you should not have to touch this code (unless directed) —
*/
$theme_data = get_theme_data(STYLESHEETPATH . ‘/style.css’);
$parent_folder = $theme_data[‘Template’];

$init_file = WP_CONTENT_DIR .’/themes/’ . $parent_folder . ‘/functions.php’;

if ( file_exists( $init_file ) ) require_once( $init_file );
else
add_action( ‘template_redirect’, create_function( ”, ‘echo “<p>Unable to locate the main framework files! Make sure the parent theme folder is named correctly.</p>”;’ ) );

To switch theme, you need access to FTP/ SFTP , or your web-host’s cPanel or whatever file management application your host provides.

Since you don’t have that info and since your hosting provider is not helping you, there is not much we volunteers here can do because we don’t have access to that personal and private info.