My website is showing an error

My website is showing an error

What you'll learn: what to check (in order) when your site shows a blank page, an error message, or won't load.

First — what kind of error?

Check what's actually on the screen. The fix depends on the symptom.

What you see Most likely cause
Blank white page PHP error — see "White screen" below
"500 Internal Server Error" Server error — see "500" below
"404 Not Found" Wrong URL or missing file — see "404" below
"Database connection error" Database issue — see "Database errors" below
"This site can't be reached" DNS or server down — see "Site unreachable" below
"Your connection is not private" SSL certificate issue

White screen (no error visible)

Usually means PHP crashed. Common causes:

  1. A plugin or theme update broke something. If you just updated something, undo it. WordPress users: rename the offending plugin's folder via the File Manager to disable it.
  2. PHP ran out of memory. Raise the memory limit in PHP settings to 256M.
  3. Switched to a PHP version your site doesn't support. Switch back.

500 Internal Server Error

Usually a misconfigured .htaccess file or a fatal PHP error.

  1. Open the File Manager and look in the root of your website for .htaccess.
  2. Rename it to .htaccess.old temporarily.
  3. Reload your site. If it loads, the .htaccess was the issue (in WordPress, you can regenerate it from Settings → Permalinks → Save).
  4. If still broken, see "white screen" above — same causes apply.

404 Not Found

The page or file isn't where the URL says it is. Common causes:

  1. You typed the URL wrong. Try the home page first.
  2. You deleted a page in your CMS. Restore from a backup if needed.
  3. WordPress permalinks broke. Go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save (no changes needed). This regenerates the rewrite rules.

Database connection error

Your site can't talk to its database.

  1. The database password may have changed. Check your app's config file (in WordPress, wp-config.php).
  2. Your database might have hit its limit (rare). Check usage in the panel.
  3. If you just renamed the database or user, your config needs the new name.

Site unreachable

The browser shows "This site can't be reached" or similar.

  1. Check from another network (use your phone on cellular data). If it loads there, your local network is having issues.
  2. Check DNS — type the domain into https://www.whatsmydns.net to see if it's pointing where it should.
  3. Check your panel — if you can log in to the panel, the server is up. Your specific site might be configured wrong.

SSL warnings

Your browser warns about an unsafe connection.

  1. Certificate expired — your panel should auto-renew Let's Encrypt certificates. Re-issue from SSL settings if not.
  2. Mixed content warning — your page loads some images or scripts over plain http://. Switch them to https://.

When to ask for help

If you've worked through the relevant section above and the site is still broken, take a screenshot of:

  • What's on the screen
  • The exact URL
  • Any error message in full

Send that to your hosting provider. The screenshot saves a lot of back-and-forth.

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