In part 1 of our short guide with solution to common Wordpress errors and messages, we had discussed some WordPress errors which occur commonly. If you have not read that post, then I recommend you to have a read because that post has basic solutions to the problems which we may be using in this post.

Let us continue our short guide to WordPress error list and their solutions.

Syntax Errors in WordPress

This error does not occur regularly. Generally, this mistake is made by user while editing codes on the site.

It happens because a snippet of code is incorrectly placed or the code itself has an error like character within or you have forgotten to add a character in the code while adding code in the page or function.

Most of the time it is a bracket or a semicolon.

Solution for Syntax Errors in WordPress

To solve this error, you have to simply edit the file where you have made the changes.

To edit the file you can go to Appearance>Editor.  

Generally (in my experience) things aren’t that easy, as you may get locked out of admin dashboard after this error. To make changes to the file, you have to use an FTP client or CPanel access.

You can either download and edit the file or replace it with default file from backup.

WordPress white screen error or WordPress White Screen of Death

This error usually is very confusing as it results into a plain white screen with no error message. White screen  makes it more puzzling because they have no clue except making perceptions.

This error occurs when a script’s PHP memory limit exhausted or due to a configuration error on the server.  It can also be possible that the user see’s white screen error on certain sections of the site.

Solution for WordPress white screen error or WordPress White Screen of Death

• Increase PHP memory limit of your site. (Solution for increasing PHP Memory Limit in WordPress.) In my experience low PHP limit is the main culprit.
• Disabling all the plugin: If you have set limit of 256M or above and still the error is unresolved, then it’s time to dig deep.
  Disable all the plugins and cross check it by enabling one plugin at a time. This may help you rectify most memory sucking plugin.
• Changing the theme: If disabling the plugins didn’t work, revert back to default theme and verify for the error.
  If you do not have access to admin dashboard, then goto PHPMyAdmin and change the value of template, stylesheet, and current_theme to a default theme like Twenty Twelve or Twenty Thirteen
• Other Resort: You can enable debug mode in wp-config.PHP. Enabling debug mode will display error warning on the page and help you rectify the problem.
  
  Add this code to enable debug mode in WordPress.
  
  error_reporting(E_ALL); ini_set(‘display_errors’, 1);
  define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true);

Maximum Execution Time Exceeded error in WordPress

This error occurs because of time limit on how long a PHP script can execute. To protect web servers from abuse, by default 30 seconds execution limit is set for PHP scripts and exceeding this limit will cause maximum execution time exceeded error.

Solution for Maximum Execution Time Exceeded error in WordPress

• Increasing maximum execution time in WordPress using .htaccess:  Add this line in.htaccess to increase default limit on PHP execution time.
  
  PHP_value max_execution_time 300
  
  This code will increase PHP Execution time to 300 seconds. You can set any value according to your needs.

Increasing maximum execution time in WordPress using WordPress plugin:  If you don’t want to risk editing .htaccess file manually, then you can install WP Maximum Execution Time Exceeded plugin.

RSS Feed Errors in WordPress

Most WordPress RSS feed errors are caused by poor formatting.

You might see error like this:

XML Parsing Error: XML or text declaration not at start of entity

Location: http://mydomain.com/feed
Line Number 2, Column 1:

Or it can appear like this:

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/cody/mydomain.com/wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen/functions.PHP:433) in /home/cody/mydomain.com/wp-includes/pluggable.PHP on line 1753

Depending upon browser type, RSS feed error will vary.

Solution for RSS Feed Errors in WordPress

To fix RSS feed error the easy way, use Fix My Feed RSS Repair plugin.
After installing and activating this plugin, go to Tools » RSS Feed Fix page.

Click on the Fix feed button.

Congratulations, You just repaired your broken RSS feed.  Use an online feed validator tool to validate your feed after fixing.

Page not found 404 Error in WordPress

This error occurs in WordPress site when a resource like a page or post does not exist. Non existence of resource can be because someone has removed it or tweaks made on the WordPress site.

 Solution for Page not found 404 Error in WordPress

Permalinks: If a resource exists but still the resource link is getting 404 error, then  you have to flush the URL rewrite rules.
Simply navigate to settings>permalinks and hit save.

.htaccess:   Incase this doesn’t get the job done, you can use .htaccess file to rewrite rules.

Add this code to your .htaccess.

# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.PHP$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.PHP [L]

# END WordPress

The reason changing of rewriting rules by permalink doesn’t work out is because of file permissions on .htaccess. So, you can temporarily change the file permissions to 666 from 660, follow the steps again and after saving the changes, change file permissions to 660 again.

Missed Schedule Post Error in WordPress

WordPress offers feature of scheduling posts to automatically get published at specified time.

The error of “Missed Scheduled Post” occurs because of Cron Jobs. Cron jobs are tasks that are performed automatically in intervals in background.

Sometimes WordPress becomes fuzzy about these cron jobs and misses to execute a cron job.

Solution for Missed Schedule Post Error in WordPress

Use a WordPress plugin called  Scheduled Post Trigger. This plugin checks for pending posts to be published, whenever someone visits your site.
So if there are any pending posts, it publishes them immediately.

These are some more WordPress errors and messages which occur on a WordPress site and how we can solve them.

Still it isn’t it to our short guide with solution, we have our final guide coming up next week.

If you have any queries to ask, do share them with us below.