https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin Gravity Support Forums Topic: Site's entire backend disappears when I activate the plugin... en-US Mon, 20 Apr 2026 01:05:39 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.1 q https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/search.php https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-12253 Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:25:34 +0000 ty111 12253@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Thanks, Alex. I got my web host to help me out by reading PHP error logs. It was a timeout, so they increased the memory. Everything back to normal.</p> <p>Not a plugin problem fortunately :)</p> <p>Thanks for your reply.<br /> Tracy </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-12252 Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:20:38 +0000 Alex Cancado 12252@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Tracy,<br /> Unfortunatelly, I think your only alternative is to delete or rename some plugins via FTP. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-12178 Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:16:33 +0000 ty111 12178@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>I am having the same problem. After instaling update I was unable to access WP admin dashboard.<br /> How can I deactivate plugins if I can get to admin?</p> <p>Thanks,<br /> Tracy </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-9866 Tue, 14 Sep 2010 20:47:26 +0000 iconrad 9866@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>We just had the same problem and solved it by adding this to wp-config.php</p> <p>define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M');</p> <p>It was a site with a lot of plugins, deactivated a few but couldn't really go any further because they were required to run the site (not our site). I'd say it had too many plugins that could have been done without if building from scratch, but unfortunately that's how it was when we got it :) Anyway hope that helps anyone, talk about frustrating! </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-8045 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:25:23 +0000 Chris Hajer 8045@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>@TheUnlockr - it *is* a topic for another forum, for sure. Unfortunately, it's not even really a topic for the WordPress.org forums. The advice there is frequently to disable all plugins as well. While that normally works to isolate the problem, I still think it's impractical for many sites, and doesn't actually solve the problem with the plugin (it just tells you which plugin is causing a problem.)</p> <p>Depending on the level of hosting you have, you may already have access to Apache or PHP error logs. The error code will be 500 and it will be logged somewhere. If you don't have access to those logs, then you need to set up PHP error logging. If you search for "PHP error logging .htaccess" you will find many ways to enable php error logging. Different methods work on different hosting environments.</p> <p>Here's one:<br /> <a href="http://perishablepress.com/press/2008/01/14/advanced-php-error-handling-via-htaccess/" rel="nofollow">http://perishablepress.com/press/2008/01/14/advanced-php-error-handling-via-htaccess/</a></p> <p>If your host does not allow php ini directives in .htaccess (and adding them will result in a white screen as well!) then you can enable logging of errors on your own by including a logging script. Then check the errors out in your own log. A google search for "custom error logging php" brings this as the first result (and I use something similar to this, so it may work):</p> <p><a href="http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_error.asp" rel="nofollow">http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_error.asp</a></p> <p>It is certainly more complicated than one plugin's support is responsible for, and possibly beyond the ability of many WordPress users, but I'm with you in that I cannot disable every plugin on my site to isolate a problem. That would probably be the last thing I do. For me, I would rather take more time to isolate the problem by examining the actual error (from the logs) than take the site down to determine the conflict. In your case, you were lucky that it is a plugin you can live without. But if it were not, you'd still need to find the logs and the error that this plugin was causing. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-8042 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:57:04 +0000 Carl Hancock 8042@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>@TheUnlockr You would have to have access to your hosts error logs and then you would have to look at them and see what errors were fired at the time you activated the plugin and see what caused the error. Then you would have to try and determine why the error occurred.</p> <p>Unfortunately WordPress doesn't have good error handling, especially after the fact. There are plugins for debugging but if you can't access the dashboard you can't install the plugin so it doesn't help after the fact.</p> <p>The reason why we suggest deactivating/activating plugins is explained above. It's the quickest and easiest way no matter how impractical it may seem with a live site. Rather than spending what could be hours examining log files, searching Google, posting on the WordPress support forums, etc. you can spend 5-10 minutes and pinpoint which plugin causes the issue to occur.</p> <p>Depending on how many plugins you have running this issue can also be triggered by a lack of memory. Although usually you get a timeout error when this happens. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-8041 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:52:59 +0000 TheUnlockr 8041@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Ok, so I didn't deactivate all of them (just the ones that I figured wouldn't make a huge difference to the end users (like fblikebutton plugin, things in the backend that only I see, etc.)<br /> And after doing that and reactivating them one by one (after activating Gravity Forms) that plugin that gave a blank page was the Google Analytics Dashboard plugin (this just displays my Google Analytics info in the Right Now Section of the backend).<br /> So I deleted that plugin and everything's working now.</p> <p>I guess I got lucky that it is a plugin that I can live without, but I agree with illinoisharley in that there has to be another way to test what the issue is and figure out what the actual conflict is instead of finding what plugins are conflicting and have to choose between which of the two you want to keep, you know?<br /> I guess this is more of a topic to discuss in a Wordpress forum etc. but if you have any insight on to how to check for the errors etc would be appreciated by a lot of people, I'm sure. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-8040 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:51:07 +0000 Carl Hancock 8040@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>@illinoisharley Unfortunately for 99% of our users it's the quickest and easiest way to do it. Most of our users don't know where to start when it comes to looking at error logs, etc. </p> <p>Just like it may not seem practical to deactivate plugins (or themes) on a live site it's not practical to expect the majority of our users to be savvy enough to dig much deeper than that. </p> <p>Typically it takes 5-10 minutes or so to deactivate plugins and do a complete plugin conflict resolution test where it would take far longer to scour log files, etc. and Unfortunately WordPress doesn't display friendly errors in this situation. It shows the white screen of death. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-8039 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:43:31 +0000 Chris Hajer 8039@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>I understand that this is maybe the BEST way to find a plugin conflict, but it's not the only way, or the easiest way, or even practical for a live site.</p> <p>With access to Apache or PHP error logs, you can determine what error is being thrown and then figure out whose fault it is (i.e. which plugin.) I cringe whenever I hear "deactivate all the plugins and revert to the stock theme." It's not practical for 99% of people out there working with live sites; small sites, or even larger sites, who don't have the benefit of a testing environment. I understand it's probably not the fault of Gravity Forms and that it is beyond the scope of support for your plugin, but it is impractical in a lot of cases to "deactivate all the plugins and activate them one by one" when you're working with a live site. </p> <p>So, how about some other suggestions for troubleshooting that don't require completely taking a site offline? Logging the PHP errors, displaying errors to the screen, just google it, the Codex, etc.</p> <p>I love Gravity Forms and understand this is the easiest way for you to track down conflicts with other plugins, but it's not practical for many people with live sites. </p> https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/topic/sites-entire-backend-disappears-when-i-activate-the-plugin#post-8038 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:36:58 +0000 TheUnlockr 8038@https://legacy.forums.gravityhelp.com/ <p>Ok, I'm trying it now. Will report back shortly. Thanks! </p>