Job wordpress-critical-error-after-update · revised 9 October 2026
Bring back a WordPress site showing a critical error or HTTP 500
Find the PHP fatal error behind a site that stopped loading after an update, fix it on a copy, and hand over a tested change with rollback steps.
You might be seeing
- “There has been a critical error on this website.”
- A blank white page where the site used to be
- HTTP 500 Internal Server Error
- An email to the admin address titled “Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue”
No passwords, keys, card details or admin invites needed to start.
What usually happened
Right after an update, WordPress hits a PHP fatal error and pages stop loading, sometimes including the admin. Visitors see an error instead of the site, and rolling back everything risks losing posts, form entries or orders added since the last backup.
Who it’s for: Owner or manager of a WordPress site whose pages or admin stopped loading.
Usually starts when: A plugin, theme, WordPress or PHP version update, after which pages show a critical error, a blank page or HTTP 500.
The result: The pages you name load again on a copy of your site with no fatal error, the cause is named, and you get the tested change with steps to apply it live and to undo it.
Check whether this job fits
Five questions, about two minutes. Your answers stay on this page unless you choose to email them.
Checks you can run yourself
Read the recovery email
Search the site admin's inbox, including spam, for “Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue”.
Look for: Only the plugin or theme name and relevant error details. Before sharing, remove recovery links, login tokens, file paths, email addresses and personal information. Do not forward the recovery email.
Ask your host for the error log
Most hosts show a PHP error log in their control panel, or will send it if asked.
Look for: Lines starting “PHP Fatal error” from the time the site broke. The file path in that line usually points at the plugin or theme involved.
What you get
- A short note naming the cause, with the redacted log line
- The change as files or a patch, with exact steps to apply it
- Before and after status and a screenshot for each agreed page
- Rollback steps
Included
- Finding the fatal error behind one failure, even if it shows on many pages
- Reproducing it on a staging copy of the site
- The smallest change that fixes it: a compatible plugin or theme version, a code patch, or a PHP-version compatibility fix
- Re-testing the agreed pages, the admin and login
Not included
- Malware cleanup or hacked-site recovery
- Database repair or restoring lost content
- Recurring 503s, timeouts or slowness from server load
- Hosting moves, DNS or email delivery
- Redesign or new features
- Changing the live site ourselves; your site holder applies the fix
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
Each agreed page returns HTTP 200 on staging and shows its normal content
Evidence: Before and after status code and a screenshot per page
curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' https://staging.your-site/agreed-page/No new PHP fatal error appears in the staging error log during the test run
Evidence: Redacted log excerpt for the test window
The admin login and the Plugins and Appearance screens load
Evidence: Screenshots of each named screen
After your site holder applies the fix, the same public pages return HTTP 200 on the live site
Evidence: Your check, or a status check we run on the public pages
Sign-off. You sign off after staging checks pass, your authorised site holder applies the fix, and the agreed live public pages pass their checks.
If it fails. If the checks don't pass, you don't pay, and we hand over what we found so anyone can continue.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- You or your host can make a staging copy or a full backup of files and database
- The error started after a change you can roughly date: an update, a PHP switch or a new plugin
- Someone can read the PHP error log or the recovery email WordPress sends, or let us read the log on staging
- The site's files and database can be reached, directly or through your host's staging tool
We stop and tell you if
- Signs of a hack: admin users you don't know, injected code or spam pages
- No staging copy or backup can be made safely
- The host's server is at fault, such as a database server that is down or limits only the host can change
- The error is inside a paid plugin whose code or licence we can't get: we hand the evidence to its vendor
What could go wrong
The fix is a file or plugin-version change listed in the handover, so your site holder can reverse it. We don't restore or edit the live database.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| Restoring or editing the wrong copy loses recent posts, form entries or orders | We only work on staging. The live fix is a file change, not a database restore, unless you decide otherwise. |
| Error logs can contain personal data or keys | We ask for redacted logs and remove secrets before anything goes into our notes. |
| Rolling back an update reopens a security hole | We prefer a compatible version or a patch over rolling back a security release, and flag it if rollback is the only route. |
| Staging differs from live in PHP version or caching | We confirm versions match first; your site holder re-checks the live pages after applying the fix. |
A second reviewer checks the cause, the change and that your site holder can apply and reverse it.
How we deliver
We arrange the work and independent review, then show you the result against the agreed checks. You keep authority over your systems.
- Confirm the staging copy runs the same WordPress and PHP versions as live
- Reproduce the error and capture the log line
- Trace the fatal error to the plugin, theme or version change that causes it
- Make the smallest compatible change and re-test the agreed pages, admin and login
- Independent review of the change and the rollback steps
- Hand over the change, the evidence and rollback steps; your site holder applies it live
This is a one-off job, not emergency cover or a subscription. We confirm eligibility, the total price, a start window and a delivery date before you accept. Work starts only after agreed inputs, secure access, any licences and necessary permissions are in place. Hosting, platform and supplier charges are excluded unless the written quote includes them. No charge or booking is created by an enquiry.
Need to keep it working?
Discuss testing site updates on staging and checking agreed pages after each approved release.
Ongoing work is separately scoped and quoted: no monitoring, response-time guarantee or automatic subscription is included in this job.
Explore an ongoing engineering lane, or mention the responsibility you need in your enquiry.
What you can check
This is a new service. We have not delivered this job for a client yet.
Other ways to get this done
- If nothing important has changed on the site since your last backup, your host may restore it for you, often at no charge. You lose everything added since, so check first.
- The recovery email's link lets the authorised site holder log in and pause the plugin or theme at fault. Keep that login link private; never include it in an enquiry. This may restore the site while the underlying fix is found.
Questions
Will you need my WordPress admin password?
Not to start. After you agree, we need a login to the staging copy only, never your live admin.
Can't I just restore last night's backup?
Often, yes, if nothing important changed since. A restore loses newer posts, entries or orders, and the same update may break the site again.
What if it turns out to be a hack?
We stop and tell you. Hacked-site recovery is a different job, and your host should be the first call.
Do you fix the live site?
No. Your site holder applies the tested change with our steps, which also say how to undo it.
Start with an email
Send us
- The exact message or a screenshot, with personal details removed
- Pages that fail and pages that still work
- What changed, and roughly when
- Only the plugin or theme name and relevant error details from any recovery email, with recovery links, login tokens, file paths, email addresses and personal information removed; do not forward the email
- WordPress, PHP and theme versions, if you know them
- Whether your host offers staging
Later, once you agree
- A staging copy or backup shared the way you choose, such as an invite to your host's staging site
- The PHP error log from staging
- A staging admin login, not your live one
- A company-controlled secure handoff agreed before access: no live passwords, keys, private code or customer records by ordinary email.
You keep the live site, hosting account and admin passwords. We work on a staging copy, and your site holder applies the fix to the live site.
Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “wordpress-critical-error-after-update” as the subject.