Blank page when trying to create new post or edit old post in Wordpress
February 1, 2020 9:20 AM   Subscribe

My periodically neglected blog has been up since 2011. Hacked a couple times, but recently fine, I believe. Hosted at DreamHost, all plugins/themes updated. I have been trying to add a new post for a few days and though I can see a list of all the existing posts in the Dashboard, when I hit "New Post" or even try to edit an existing post, I just get a blank page.

Could it be a problem with a plugin? I have the following installed: Akismet, Jetpack, MailPoet2, Sucuri Security, Wordfence Security, Wordpress Database Backup, Wordpress Related Post Thumbnails, WP Super Cache. (If you have insider knowledge that one/some of these are crap please let me know, it's been a while since I did much bloggin)

Dreamhost rep suggested the following:
If you're getting the blank pages when in the WordPress
dashboard, you can enable wp_debug to display any errors:
https://wordpress.org/support/article/debugging-in-wordpress/


I went to this link but really it is a bit beyond me. Is wp_debug a plugin? Do I need to display the code and turn this thing on? Hoping someone here can explain it as if to an 8-yr old?

Also suggested by rep:
Additionally, you can also look into accessing your server logs and
enabling php error logging reviewing the links below:

https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/216512197

https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/214199378


Ideally someone reading this will have had a similar problem recently which they fixed easily with a few simple steps they are happy to share with us. (I understand that may be a longshot!)
posted by Glinn to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)
 
Do you know if you're trying to create a new post in the new Gutenberg way?
If so, and you're not used to looking at it, it can look like a blank page until you start adding boxes (text, photo, etc) to the post, and start putting content in those boxes.
My recommendation is that until you get used to it, install the "Classic Editor" plug in, and it should look MUCH more familiar.

Hope this helps!
posted by Bill Watches Movies Podcast at 9:31 AM on February 1, 2020 [2 favorites]


You place the wp_debug code in your wp-config.php file. But honestly, if that's beyond you, then the result probably won't be helpful.

The easiest and best thing to do right now is deactivate all plugins and then turn them back on one by one, testing the Add New Post with each activation. Once you've identified the problem plugin, then you can plan your next move.

Chances are 98% that this is a plugin incompatibility. You really should run updates on a copy of the site in a test environment first.

Feel free to memail me if you need help.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:00 AM on February 1, 2020 [4 favorites]


Turn off all your plug-ins and try to create a new post. If you can, it's a plug-in so turn them on one by one to determine which. If it isn't a plug-in, do a reinstall of WordPress.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:07 AM on February 1, 2020


Response by poster: DANGIT. Just going to reply here once (probably!): Thank you. I deactivated all my plugins - still blank pages. Re-started computer - still blank. And I just reinstalled Wordpress (twice) - still blank. Changed my theme, still blank. (Both when trying to edit an existing page and trying to create a new one.)
posted by Glinn at 10:26 AM on February 1, 2020


What process did you use to reinstall WP? What database were the new installs connected to?

To confirm, you reinstalled WP with a fresh database, assigned a theme like twentytwenty, and you still get a blank page?

Or, if you're still working the original database, you have all the plugins off, and running twentytwenty, and still get a blank page. The database is the likely culprit.

If you're comfortable with phpMyAdmin, you can try repairing the database. Or you can use a plugin like WP Sweep.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:09 AM on February 1, 2020 [1 favorite]


The blank page is generally a result of a PHP error. Looking in the Apache error log will tell you which part of the code is causing the problem, but you're probably going to need to find someone to help you resolve the issue.
posted by Candleman at 12:18 PM on February 1, 2020 [1 favorite]


Nthing corrupted database. If you don't have money to throw at this, try running an anti-malware plugin. We use this one occasionally, and have had some success with it. And if the plugin finds and removes any malware, then a database cleaning plugin like WP Sweep could potentially help.

If that doesn't work, install a totally fresh WordPress somewhere else, export your posts and pages, and start over. Chances are that this will fix the problem, although it's not a totally sure bet.

Ongoing database woes are common after a site has been hacked -- it's often really hard to totally get rid of the damage.
posted by nosila at 2:20 PM on February 2, 2020 [1 favorite]


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