Knowledge Base

WordPress White Screen of Death

The "White Screen of Death" (WSOD) shows a blank white page instead of your WordPress site. This usually indicates a PHP error.

Causes

• Plugin conflict
• Theme issue
• PHP memory exhaustion
• Corrupted core files
• PHP syntax error

Solutions

1. Enable Debug Mode

See what's causing the error. Edit wp-config.php:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

Check wp-content/debug.log for errors.

2. Increase PHP Memory

Add to wp-config.php:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

3. Disable All Plugins

Via FTP or File Manager:

1. Navigate to wp-content
2. Rename plugins to plugins.disabled
3. Check if site loads
4. If yes, rename back and activate plugins one by one to find the culprit

4. Switch to Default Theme

Via FTP or File Manager:

1. Navigate to wp-content/themes
2. Rename your active theme folder (e.g., mytheme to mytheme.disabled)
3. WordPress will fall back to a default theme

5. Re-upload WordPress Core

1. Download fresh WordPress from wordpress.org
2. Delete wp-admin and wp-includes folders (NOT wp-content)
3. Upload fresh wp-admin and wp-includes
4. Upload fresh files in root (except wp-config.php and .htaccess)

6. Check PHP Version

Some themes/plugins require specific PHP versions:

1. In DirectAdmin, check current PHP version
2. Try switching between PHP 7.4 and 8.x

Recovery via JetBackup

If all else fails, restore from a backup:

1. In DirectAdmin, go to JetBackup
2. Select a backup from before the issue
3. Restore Files and Database