Check your website error log and apply common fixes
Definitions
Your website error log provides a report of triggered errors on your website along with their dates and times.
Before you start
✅ When you see an error on your website, always check your error log first.
🚨 Fixing website errors can be straightforward but may require a website developer.
⚠️ The errors and fixes provided below are the most common and typically solve 99% of website issues.
ℹ️ Time stamps in your error log are in EST (Eastern Standard Time).
Step by step
Check your website error log
1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the Stats / Error Logs button
3. Find your website name
4. On your website name row, click on Error Log
5. Scroll to the bottom of the error report to find the most recent date and time, which is your latest error log entry. Remember, timestamps are in EST (Eastern Standard Time).
6. Once you’ve scrolled all the way to the bottom, scroll to the right (horizontally) to see the full error.
- Here is an example of the ‘scrolling’ process:
7. The error report identifies the specific problem on your website, which could be due to a plugin, theme, PHP version, or Modsec security trigger.
8. You’ll want to note down your most recent error(s) on a secure note or keep your page open here to reference back.
Below are examples of common errors and how to apply a fix for each.
Identify a plugin error
If a plugin is triggering an error, it will be shown in the format below. The plugin name will appear after “plugins/”—for example, “akismet“
2023-11-09 19:37:32.076020 [NOTICE] [1681121] [T0] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function hello_world() in /home/domains/cloudhelpcenter/public_html/wp-content/plugins/akismet/functions.php:50Fix a plugin error
1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the File Manager button
3. Double click on the domains folder
4. Find your website folder and double click on it
5. Look for the public_html folder and double click on it
6. Look for the wp-content folder and double click on it
7. In the wp-content folder, you will see a plugins folder, double click it
8. Inside the plugins folder, find the folder for the plugin you are trying to disable (it will have the same name as from your error log, the one you noted down).
9. Right-click on the folder and from the dropdown and select Rename, we’ll use a plugin called akismet as an example:
10. In the Rename popup, add -old to the existing name of your plugin. In our example, we’ll rename akismet to akismet-old
11. Once you’ve added –old to the plugin folder name, click the Rename button to save it
12. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
13. You can also reload your website and you should now see it fine
Identify a theme error
If a theme is triggering an error, it will be shown in the format below. The theme name will appear after “themes/”—for example, “astra“
2023-11-09 19:37:32.076020 [NOTICE] [1681121] [T0] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function hello_world() in /home/domains/cloudhelpcenterp/public_html/wp-content/themes/astra/functions.php:50Fix a theme error
1. Log in to your hosting control panel
2. Click on the File Manager button
3. Double click on the domains folder
4. Find your website folder and double click on it
5. Look for the public_html folder and double click on it
6. Look for the wp-content folder and double click on it
7. In the wp-content folder, you will see a themes folder, double click it
8. Inside the themes folder, find the folder for the theme you are trying to disable (it will have the same name as from your error log, the one you noted down).
9. Right-click on the folder and from the dropdown and select Rename, we’ll use a theme called astra as an example:
10. In the Rename popup, add -old to the existing name of your theme. In our example, we’ll rename astra to astra-old
11. Once you’ve added –old to the theme folder name, click the Rename button to save it
12. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard
13. You can also reload your website and you should now see it fine
Identify a PHP version error
If a PHP version is triggering an error, it will be shown in the format below. The error will normally appear as “PHP FATAL ERROR“ If there is a PHP version error on your website, you will see it indicated in the format below.
2023-11-12 17:33:44.649211 [NOTICE] [1361089] [T0] [127.0.0.1:47160-5#APVH_www.cloudhelpcenter.com>69.156.120.236:lsapi] [STDERR] PHP Fatal error: Exception thrown without a stack frame in Unknown on line 0\nFix a PHP version error
1. Go to this guide: Change the PHP version on your hosting account – this updates the PHP version on your entire hosting account.
2. If you need to apply a specific PHP version to one website only, you will need to use multi-PHP, go to this guide instead: Apply specific PHP versions to different domains (multi-PHP)
Identify a Modsec security error
If a Modsec security rule is triggering an error, it will be shown in the format below. The error will normally always appear as “[MODSEC] mod_security rule” followed by its rule ID.
Modsec errors indicate an action performed on your website triggered a firewall rule on the hosting network. If there is a Modsec trigger, you will see it indicated in the format below.
2023-11-12 09:22:26.457356 [NOTICE] [1812847] [T2] [70.126.138.244:36962-H3:C76CDF23F821D4EE-0#APVH_www.cloudhelpcenter.com:443] [MODSEC] mod_security rule [id "77350123"] at [/etc/modsecurity.d/011_i360_1_infectors.conf:568] triggered!Note: In the example above, the rule ID is: 77350123
Fix a Modsec security error
1. Take note of the Modsec rule ID in your error log. If there are multiple IDs, note all of them down.
2. Submit a ticket to our team and your website domain name and triggered Modsec rule ID(s)
3. Wait for our team to review and provide a rule exception for your website
4. Once our team confirms the rule exception(s), reload your website