Wordpress Internal Server Error 500

How to fix a 500 Internal Server Error in Wordpress

I received a 500 Internal Server Error this afternoon on my batangyagit.com, a wordpress 2.7 blog.  A 500 Internal Server Error occurs when there is misconfiguration within your server settings or Apache generates a general error.  A 500 Internal Server Error looks similar to this:

What to do when an Internal Server Error Occurs?

1. Log Files – Don’t panic.  Searching the web for answers without knowing the problem first is not a good idea.  You must first know the root of your problem.  Check your Log Files.  Apache uses several types of log files but the most common are the access and error logs.  Check your error log file.
   If you get an error similar to this, proceed to the next step:

   [Sun Mar 22 02:21:01 2009] [error] [client 122.55.206.251]
   SoftException in Application.cpp:252:
   File "/public_html/index.php" is writeable by group

   This error generates an Internal Server Error since the CHMOD Permission for index.php was set to 777.  In my case, the hacker changed all my files’ CHMOD to 777.

2. SSH/Telnet – Most web administrators are aware of SSH/Telnet.  SSH or Telnet is an application which allows the web administrator to login to the webserver’s shell through a remote terminal.  Onced login, it allows the web administrator to manipulate several server parameters such as files and processes among others.If the hacker changed your files’ CHMOD to 777, then you should change it back to its default setting to eliminate the 500 Internal Server Error.From your SSH/Telnet Terminal (Putty.exe), type in the following commands:

   find DIRECTORY_NAME -type f | xargs chmod 644

   find DIRECTORY_NAME -type d | xargs chmod 755

   These commands will chmod all the files, folders and subdirectories.
   Change DIRECTORY_NAME to the target directory, public_html in most cases.

3. FTP – If you don’t have access to SSH/Telnet, you must manually change the CHMOD of your files from your FTP Application.  In most FTP Applications, CHMOD can be found by right-clicking on the desired file(s) and choosing Properties from the menu.  Set all folders to CHMOD 755 and all files to CHMOD 644.
   



4. Server Administrator or Web Host – If everything comes to worst, contact your server administrator immediately.  Nobody knows best on what to do other than your web host or server adminsitrator.
5. Back-up – Don’t forget to back-up after your blog is fixed.  Creating a back-up regularly for your site is a good practice. It’s always good to know, if worse comes to worst, that you have a back-up which you can immediately deploy.

Tagged with: 500 internal server error, chmod 644, error 500, internal server error, wordpress chmod, wordpress errors