Crashed WordPress Database: Instantly Repair With Full Security Messurement

When it comes to CMS (Content Management Systems) like WordPress, database is one of the most important component. This database stores all your posts, pages, and also your settings which makes it very important. Everything that you do is written in the database but sometimes this database can also get corrupted due to some reason and if that happens, then your website will start to malfunction. In this short guide, you will learn how to repair a crashed WordPress database, and get your website working again.

So why does this problem happen in the first place? This WordPress posts table can get corrupted due to any unexpected event, or any technical reason in the server. This causes website to malfunction, and you will find that all your data from Posts and Pages are gone. However, there’s no need to worry as your data is still there, and this problem happened because of a crashed posts table in the database. Because of this, you might also see 404 errors on existing pages where there was content before. So if you are facing such strange issues, then don’t worry, just follow the below instructions and you will be up and running in no time.

What did you do?

Most of the time a crash happens right after you’ve changed something in your blog. Maybe you’ve installed a new theme, or a new plugin, these are the basics. Maybe you’ve been doing something more complicated, like implementing a hack, or even altering the WordPress core files.

Simply take a piece of paper and write down everything you’ve done most recently. It’s most likely the first item on the list that caused the crash. Simply reverting it will get the job done 90% of the time.

Anyway, in my case the crash was caused by two plugins not willing to work with each other. Here’s what I did, and what I think is a good strategy for dealing with most crashes of this kind.

1. You need FTP access

You need a way to get to your hosting account and access all the files directly, hence FTP.

2. Delete the plugins

Delete all the new plugins you’ve installed lately. If your WordPress admin has crashed also (which it did in my case) then you don’t have a way of doing it properly. In such a case just connect to your site via FTP and delete the subdirectories in your plugins directory. Don’t worry, you won’t lose the settings of your plugins. Those are stored in the database.

Nothing? Still crashed?

3. Move the theme

Actually, just change the name of your theme’s directory. This will force WordPress to switch to the default theme. This should solve the problem. The default theme is not the default theme without a reason. It has been constructed to be 100% in tune with all the other parts of WordPress and cooperate with everything else without a glitch.

Still nothing?

4. Restore from a backup

At this point, I’d advise to simply grab a backup and restore the site using it. If it’s not the theme or the plugins then who knows what it is. Using a backup is often the easiest and fastest way out.

Now, this is really unlikely, but if your site is still not working it means that your core WordPress files are in some way corrupted. So take the final step.

5. Remove WordPress

This sounds big but actually, it isn’t. What you do is make a copy of your wp-config.phpfile and then delete the whole WordPress directory from your hosting account.

By the way, I hope you still have your backup of the wp-content directory. It will come handy in a minute.

Then you take a fresh ZIP file of WordPress and extract it where the old one used to sit. Next bring back your wp-content directory. Finally copy the old wp-config.php file into the main directory. After doing all this your blog simply has to give some signs of life again.

0. Turning everything back on

If at any point your blog has started to work again you need to be careful when enabling all the plugins back and activating the old theme.

Activate one plugin at a time carefully observing all effects it has on your blog. At some point your blog will crash again but this time you can identify the cause of this crash immediately and eliminate it.

What if you didn’t do anything?

You’ve simply woken up and your blog isn’t working, and it’s not related to anything you’ve done? Well, this is the real fun stuff.

Three main things might have happened:

• You got hacked. • The crash is due to a server error (check how to deal with them) • The site crashed because there was too much traffic to it.

The last two scenarios on the list is where you should start your investigation. Contact your hosting company and ask what’s going on. Remember when I said that 24/7 support by phone is something to search for? That’s why.

If it was a server error or a traffic crash then it’s something the hosting company should handle on their own. And you should use this time to search for a new hosting provider or selecting a more expensive hosting plan. If your site has crashed due to any hosting related issues then it’s likely to crash again in the future.

If the host says that everything is fine you’ve probably been hacked. A hack can be a tough thing to deal with. In my opinion using your backup is the best way out of it. You should also change your passwords immediately after bringing the site back up. Now, why am I telling you not to fight with hacks by trying to go into the source code and looking for changes? This is simply not worth it. You never know how deep the hack goes. Even if you manage to remove the direct cause of the crash you never know what else is still sitting in other places. Therefore, you can never be 100% sure that all changes have been reverted until you use a backup.

As far as I can recall I think I brought my blog back up within one hour. This was the time it took me to delete all plugins, and then turn them back on, one by one until I identified the problem. From that point on I am very careful when installing anything new on my blog. It’s like a box of chocolates … you never know what you’ll get.

I hope a situation when you have to use any of these techniques never occurs. An odd thing to say for a post’s author, but anyway, I really wish this to be the case.

Were there any epic crashes in your WordPress career? Feel free to share.