How to Fix “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” Error in WordPress

How to Fix “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” Error in WordPress

Last modified: January 5, 2021

FAQ
Cloudways

Since the launch of WordPress 5.2, this error has been appearing more and more frequently. It often appears during a core, plugin or theme update. You will see the message on a blank screen or on the update screen.

There are two main reasons that cause this error related to the updates. The first is that there is a PHP memory limit error. Or you have a plugin conflict. These typical causes are very easy to solve, here are some steps.

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Step 1 – Check the Memory

The first step is to log into your WordPress website files through an FTP client, like FileZilla. From there, head into your main folder. Within this folder there should be three other folders and lots of other files. On the files there should be one that is labeled wp-config.

Open up the wp-config file into a text document and then look for the line that details your WordPress memory limit, it should look something like this with the XXX replaced by a number.

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', 'XXXM' );

Now you need to change your WordPress memory limit to something that is higher. Try doubling the number.

Once you’ve done that, save the document, ensuring that it is saved into the files on your server and not just to your desktop. Then check to see if the error is still present. If it is still down, then you need to try something else.

Disabling your Plugins

The next most common reason for the error is that there is a conflict with a plugin. For this to be resolved you will need to disable all the plugins on your website and then re-activate them, one at a time to find the culprit.

To disable them you will need to go into your WP-Content file through the FTP client and then rename the Plugins file to Plugins_inactive. Once this is saved, rename the file again to Plugins.

Now you should be able to access your WordPress website again. You can then activate the plugins one at a time to find out which plugin was causing the problem. When you activate a plugin that causes the error to come back, then you can go and disable that plugin.

To disable a specific plugin from your site through FTP, simply go into the WP-Content folder, then the plugins folder and then rename the plugin file to something like ‘plugin_inactive’. Then you should be able to uninstall the file through your WordPress dashboard.

Disabling your Themes

If a theme is causing the problem, then you can do the same as the plugins. All you need to do differently in this case is to go into the WP-Content folder and rename the themes folder to something like Themes_inactive and then rename it ‘Themes’.

This will revert your WordPress website to a default theme. You can then check out what is causing the problem with a theme. If it is your theme, you can always contact the theme developer to see if they have a fix.

Final Word: How to Fix “The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties” Error in WordPress

If you’ve got this error on your WordPress website, be assured this is an easy fix. All you need to do is to add more memory to your WordPress website or disable the plugins/themes to find the software causing an error.

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