Fix · Emergency
WordPress down or throwing a critical error? We find the real cause and fix it.
When WordPress shows "There has been a critical error on this website", a white screen, or locks you out of wp-admin, the fastest way back is to read the real PHP error behind it — not to rebuild the site. We turn on WP_DEBUG, open wp-content/debug.log, and isolate the exact plugin, theme, core file or database issue that's actually failing, then repair that one cause and re-test the pages that were broken. It's senior WordPress help on the site you already have, remote and worldwide, from 30 minutes with no subscription and no maintenance retainer — and we reply within two business hours.
The situations people call us in for
- Your site shows "There has been a critical error on this website" — on the front end, in wp-admin, or both — with no hint as to which plugin or theme caused it.
- White screen of death: pages load completely blank after an update or a newly activated plugin, with no error text visible.
- You're locked out of wp-admin — the login redirects in a loop, or the dashboard itself throws the critical error.
- An automatic plugin, theme or core update broke the layout, a page builder (Elementor, Divi, Gutenberg) or a key feature.
- "Error establishing a database connection" appears and the whole site is unreachable.
- WooCommerce checkout, cart or payment suddenly stopped working, often right before a busy sales period.
- Your host switched PHP versions and the site now fatal-errors because a plugin or theme isn't compatible with the new one.
- You suspect the site is compromised: unexpected redirects, injected spam, admin accounts you didn't create, or a "deceptive site" browser warning.
How we diagnose and repair it, in order
- We read the real error instead of guessing from the front end. We set define('WP_DEBUG', true) and define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true) in wp-config.php and read wp-content/debug.log alongside the server PHP error log — a "critical error" almost always maps to a single "PHP Fatal error:" line naming the exact file, class and function that failed.
- We take a safe copy and a backup before touching anything on production, and work on a staging copy when the risk warrants it, so a clean rollback is always available.
- We isolate the failing layer by bisection: deactivate every plugin (WP-CLI `wp plugin deactivate --all`, or rename the wp-content/plugins folder over SFTP when the dashboard is unreachable), switch to a default theme (`wp theme activate twentytwentyfour`), then re-enable one at a time until the exact culprit reappears.
- We confirm the environment: PHP version and compatibility, memory_limit, the wp-config.php constants, file permissions, and disk and database quotas — a large share of "WordPress broke" cases are really a host or PHP change, not WordPress itself.
- When the database is implicated we check it directly: `wp db check`, repair where needed, verify DB_NAME, DB_USER and DB_HOST in wp-config.php, and look for a corrupted or out-of-sync table behind "error establishing a database connection".
- We apply the targeted fix, restore wp-admin, re-test the exact flow that was failing (checkout, login, a form, a media upload), turn WP_DEBUG back off, and hand you a short written summary of what was wrong, what we changed, and how to avoid it recurring.
Technologies & environments — examples, not a limit
This isn't a compatibility checklist. Whatever your plugins, theme, page builder or host, tell us the symptom and describe your environment — WordPress version, host, and what changed just before it broke — and we'll confirm scope fast, usually in the first reply. We work from the problem down through the layers, not from a fixed list of plugins we agree to support.
Frequently asked questions
Can you fix the WordPress critical error without losing my content?
Yes. That message hides the real PHP error, so we read wp-content/debug.log to name the failing plugin, theme or file, then disable, patch or roll back only that one thing. Your posts, pages, media and WooCommerce orders live in the database and aren't touched by fixing a code fault, and we take a backup before making any change.
I'm locked out of wp-admin — can you still get in and fix it?
Yes. We don't need your dashboard login to start. With hosting, SFTP or cPanel/Plesk access we reach the files and database directly, disable the plugin or theme causing the lockout, reset access if needed, and restore the dashboard from there.
Do I need a maintenance subscription or a monthly plan?
No. There's no subscription and no day minimum. You're billed in 30-minute increments for the time the fix actually takes, so a single critical error or one broken page is a completely normal request.
My WooCommerce checkout suddenly stopped working — can you fix just that?
Yes. We reproduce the exact checkout step that fails, read the debug log and any payment-gateway error, and isolate whether it's a plugin conflict, a recent update, a PHP incompatibility or the gateway itself. Then we fix that one cause and test a real order end to end before handing it back.
How fast can you start?
We reply within two business hours and work remotely, worldwide. For an outage we can usually begin diagnosis in the same session once we have access, because the first step is simply reading the real error behind the symptom.
What access do you need to fix my WordPress site?
Ideally hosting or SFTP access, plus the WordPress admin if you still have it; cPanel/Plesk and database access (phpMyAdmin) help for deeper issues. If you're locked out, file and database access alone is enough to diagnose and repair. We tell you exactly what we need before we start.
You don't need to rebuild your site, and you don't need to commit to a monthly plan. Tell us what WordPress is doing — the error, the blank screen, or the feature that stopped working — and describe your setup. We'll confirm we can take it on and start with a clear diagnosis: remote, from 30 minutes, no subscription, reply within two business hours. Describe your problem and we'll take it from there.
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