Troubleshooting the Blank White Screen on WordPress

If your WordPress website is loading a blank white screen (also known as the “WordPress White Screen of Death”), it may seem troubling because there is no indication as to what went wrong. This blank white screen is a very common issue and can likely be solved with some further investigation. Plugins, themes, and memory limits are common culprits of this issue.

Before moving forward, check if you have access to your admin panel by appending /wp-admin to the end of your website’s URL (for example http://mywordpresswebsite.com/wp-admin). If you are able to see a login portal, you should be able to log in to your WordPress admin panel for further troubleshooting.

If you do not have access to your admin panel, you can still troubleshoot your website by accessing your files from your File Manager in your Bravenet account. If you are not able to log in to your admin panel, see the “No WordPress Admin Access” sections for parts 2 and 3 in this article.

Note: Before performing any major changes to your WordPress website, it is always good practice to backup your website and database.

1. Expand WP Memory and Limits

A simple cause for the white screen you are seeing is that your WordPress website has exhausted its allowed memory. Try increasing your memory limit to a higher value such as 512 MB to see if this resolves the issue.

1. Login to Bravenet.
2. Go to your Web Hosting tab and click ‘Manage’ next to your website.
3. Access the File Manager.
4. Go to your WordPress folder for your active WordPress installation.
5. Locate ‘wp-config.php’ and click ‘Text Edit’.
6. Add the following line to the file and ‘Save Changes’.

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', 512);

It may also be helpful to add the following to your .htaccess file. Please note that these values will not work for every case, as each case is unique, however the limits specified below have worked for many of our members in the past.

1. Login to Bravenet.
2. Go to your Web Hosting tab and click ‘Manage’ next to your website.
3. Access the File Manager.
4. Go to your WordPress folder for your active WordPress installation.
5. Locate ‘wp-config.php’ and click ‘Text Edit’.
6. Add the following code to the file and ‘Save Changes’.

<IfModule mod_php5.c>
php_value max_file_uploads 100
php_value max_input_vars 5000
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300
php_value post_max_size 128M
php_value upload_max_filesize 256M
php_value session.gc_maxlifetime 1200
php_value memory_limit 512M
</IfModule>

2. Rule out Plugin issues

Another common cause for the white screen is a faulty plugin. A quick way to determine if your website is being affected by a plugin is to disable all plugins. If your website appears again after disabling plugins, the culprit is a bad plugin. If this is the case, you can test them individually to find the faulty plugin.

No WordPress Admin Access: Manually Disable Plugins

1. Login to Bravenet.
2. Go to your Web Hosting tab and click ‘Manage’ next to your website.
3. Access the File Manager.
4. Go to your WordPress folder for your active WordPress installation.
5. Open the ‘wp-content’ folder.
6. Click ‘Rename’ next to the ‘plugins’ folder.
7. Rename the folder to ‘plugins-disable’ and Save Changes.
8. Try reloading your WordPress website, if you can see the website, the issue is due to a plugin. Rename the folder, and test each plugin individually, you can do this using the same method from above.

With WordPress Admin Access: Disable Plugins through the WordPress Admin Panel

1. Login to your admin panel by appending /wp-admin to the end of your website’s URL (for example http://mywordpresswebsite.com/wp-admin) Note: Some security plugins disable this URL, if this is the case please use your usual URL to access the login portal.
2. Go to Plugins > Select all plugins > Bulk actions > Deactivate > Apply
3. Try reloading your WordPress website, if you can now see your website, the issue is a plugin. Reactivate the plugins and test each plugin individually, you can do this using the same method from above.

3. Rule out Theme issues

If disabling all plugins did not fix the issue, themes are another common cause for the white screen on WordPress. Themes can become incompatible with your current version of WordPress, or other components on your website. If you disable your current theme, WordPress should load your website with the default theme, or if you have access to your admin panel, you can try installing a default theme onto your website.

With WordPress Admin Access: Change Theme through WordPress Admin Panel

1. Login to your WordPress admin panel.
2. Go to Appearance > Themes.
3. Activate a default WordPress theme (for example: try the theme ‘Twenty Twenty Two’).
4. Try reloading your WordPress website, if you can see the website, it is a theme issue. To quickly resolve the issue, install a new theme of your liking that is compatible with your website.

No WordPress Admin Access: Manually Disable your Theme

1. Login to Bravenet.
2. Go to your Web Hosting tab and click ‘Manage’ next to your website.
3. Access the File Manager.
4. Go to your WordPress folder for your active WordPress installation.
5. Open the ‘wp-content’ folder.
6. Click ‘Rename’ next to the ‘themes’ folder.
7. Rename the folder to themes-disable and Save Changes.
8. Your website should revert to the last default theme, if you are able to see your website, it is a theme issue. To quickly resolve the issue, install a new theme of your liking that is compatible with your website.

4.  Enable Debugging

If your website is still showing a white screen after following all of the steps above, it may be helpful to see what errors are appearing on your website. If it is not already enabled, you can enable debugging mode from your ‘wp-config.php’ file. This should help display any error messages that you can then research further.

1. Login to Bravenet.
2. Go to your Web Hosting tab and click ‘Manage’ next to your website.
3. Access the File Manager.
4. Go to your WordPress folder for your active WordPress installation.
5. Locate ‘wp-config.php’ and click ‘Text Edit’
6. If debugging is disabled, you should see a line that says define( 'WP_DEBUG', false ); Change the value to true define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); and Save Changes.
7. Reload your website to view potential error messages.

If you are still unable to determine the cause or fix the white screen on your WordPress website, it may be worth restoring a recent backup of your website. Please see the following articles on how to restore a backup from your SFTP account.

• Backing Up Your Websites Files
• How to Backup and or Restore your MySQL Database Using phpMyAdmin