To see the errors that Wordpress throws at us, it is better to enable WP Debug mode. To do this, you can follow the guide on how to activate it by clicking here.

Wordpress has many plugins, themes, different versions... and this can cause some errors on the website due to incompatibilities, code errors when modifying them directly... For this, we have this guide that indicates how to solve some of the most common Wordpress errors.

Error establishing a database connection

This error usually appears because some of the data of the database connection may be incorrect. To check the database data, we can see the connection in the wp-config.php file, which can be found in the root of Wordpress. Within this file we have the following lines:

define('DB_NAME', 'dbname'); > Here we find the name of the database to which Wordpress will connect
​define('DB_USER', 'dbuser'); > This is the user that will be used to connect to the database
​define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); > The user's password
​define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); > Indicates the machine to which it will connect (normally localhost is sufficient)
​$table_prefix = 'wp_'; > Prefix of the database tables

Usually, if any of this data is incorrect, it gives the indicated error of Error establishing a database connection.

Wordpress is not displayed or error 500

Usually, when Wordpress is not displayed correctly it is due to some incompatibility of some plugin or theme, or some modification that has been made to the files and that is why it is not working properly. If we have DEBUG mode disabled, it will only show us a blank screen or a 500 error.

With DEBUG mode enabled, it shows us exactly the file and line that is causing the error. This way we can locate the plugin or theme and we can deactivate it so that it is displayed correctly. This usually happens after updating Wordpress or plugins and/or themes.

Wordpress installation with an existing database

In the case that we have an already imported database on the server, but it shows us an installation to make of Wordpress, it can be caused by several reasons.

It may be that the table prefix has been changed, and it is connecting correctly to our database, but the prefix does not match and it decides to install Wordpress again. It can also come from the fact that the connection data is wrong and it is connecting to another database.

We will be adding more errors.