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Didn’t Discover!!
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By
Aman Bhati
6 min
A worst nightmare for a WordPress site owner is the 500 Internal Server Error.
Just imagine, on a fresh day, you open your browser and try to navigate to your site, but instead, a blank white page pops up saying, “This Page isn’t working HTTP ERROR 500!”
Clueless about why it happened, the first thought you may get is: ‘What if I never recovered the site?’
Don’t panic, because there are multiple ways to overcome this problem. In this blog, you will find some of the tried and tested solutions for fixing internal server error 500.
Sometimes a DIY solution can help, but for complex backend issues, you will need professional guidance. In such cases, you can hire WordPress developers for a quick and minimal downtime.
The server throws a 500 – internal server error when it encounters an unexpected configuration problem, preventing it from loading the client/browser-requested website.
In short, when you request the server to load your site, and at the same time, if something isn’t working in the background, WordPress will show the 500 internal server error.
This error isn’t just prone to WordPress; it can appear on any website when its server gets into an unexpected problem.
The 500 error can look different for different servers.
For example, if you are using an Apache server, the error message pops up like:
“INTERNAL SERVER ERROR
The server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request.”
For the Nginx server, the error message reads:
“This page isn’t working
The server is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 500”
For beginners, this feels overwhelming as no message shows what the actual problem is and what is broken. But solving this problem is essential. Let’s look at some common reasons that can cause 500 Internal Server Errors in WordPress.
As error 500 is a broad spectrum, it can be caused by multiple factors. Here are the most frequent culprits:
An outdated or faulty plugin can break your site’s backend. It conflicts with the site’s core files and results in a 500 : Internal Server Error. The chances of plugin conflicts are high after installing new, updating existing, or running PHP version-incompatible ones.
If you choose a theme that is poorly coded or has vulnerabilities, it can result in a 500 internal server error. Theme conflicts may arise after a theme update or when custom code is added to its core files incorrectly.
.htaccess is the main file that controls site permissions and redirections. If it is modified incorrectly or is damaged, your site may result in an HTTP 500 error and stop responding.
WordPress needs enough PHP memory to run scripts. A low memory limit can trigger an internal server error, and the site may crash when loading heavy pages or running complex processes.
An internal server error can also be the result of server downtime, resource overload, or misconfigurations from your hosting provider.
Though these five are the most common reasons behind error 500, we suggest you check the points below before making potential changes in your site’s core files.
Before you deactivate, update, or remove anything from your WP site, try implementing these quick checks:
If the error persists, you can implement the following step-wise process to get rid of the 500 Internal Server Error.
Before you begin troubleshooting, make sure that you have a complete backup of your WordPress site. After that, you can implement the following steps to fix the 500 Internal Server Error on your site:
Check with your hosting provider whether they are experiencing any issues. Many of them have a status page where they report downtime. If you see a downtime reported, wait till it’s resolved.
You can also directly contact support and ask them to review your site’s error logs for details on internal server error 500.
If there’s no error from the hosting side, disable all plugins. For that, you can:
If you can’t access the dashboard, just rename the current theme’s folder in /wp-content/themes. This commands WordPress to revert to a default theme and fixes theme-related crashes.
If the 500 internal server error is due to configuration corruption, a clean .htaccess often resolves the error. For that, you can:
Some hosts allow you to do this via wp-config.php by adding:
define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’ );
Open your WordPress dashboard, then go to Updates, and click on Reinstall Now. This lets you replace core WordPress files without affecting your posts, media, or pages.
By this, you’ve covered the simplest and most effective ways to fix a 500 internal server error in WordPress without touching complex code.
If the 500 internal server error persists, it’s best to hire dedicated WordPress developers who can perform advanced diagnostics and ensure your site runs smoothly without further downtime.
You might see slightly different messages, including:
Despite the wording differences, they all mean your server encountered an unexpected problem.
Despite all the no-code fixes tried, if the internal server error continues to show up, the reason may be something more complex, like:
In such cases, it’s wise not to waste time anymore and hire an expert to prevent further downtime or data loss.
At TRooInbound, quickly diagnose and resolve stubborn 500 internal server errors. We not only fix the issue but also optimise your site to prevent it from happening again.
Here you'll find the answers to all of your questions.
Error 500 is usually caused by plugin conflicts, theme issues, corrupted files, low PHP memory, or server problems.
Yes. Most solutions can be done without coding, such as deactivating plugins, switching themes, or increasing PHP memory.
Repeated 500 errors often mean an unresolved underlying issue, like incompatible plugins or server misconfigurations.
If your site is down for a long time, search engines may drop rankings and reduce crawl frequency.
Check server status, disable plugins, switch themes, fix .htaccess, increase PHP memory, or reinstall WordPress core.
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