Why Is My Website Showing a Blank Page? Print

A completely blank white page (often called the White Screen of Death) means PHP has encountered a fatal error but is set not to display the error message. Here is how to find the cause.

Fix 1: Enable Debug Mode (Best First Step)
This will force WordPress to show the actual error on the page.

1. Access your site via FTP or cPanel File Manager.

2. Edit the wp-config.php file.

3. Find the line that says define('WP_DEBUG', false); and change it to:

   php

   define('WP_DEBUG', true);
   define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
   define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);

4. Reload your site. Instead of a white screen, you should now see a specific error message (e.g., "Parse error in /plugin-name/file.php").

5. Once you fix the issue, set WP_DEBUG back to false.

Fix 2: Increase PHP Memory Limit
Sometimes the script simply runs out of memory.

• Add this to your wp-config.php file (above the "stop editing" line):
  define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

Fix 3: Check Error Logs
If you can't get debug mode to work, check the server error logs.

1. Go to cPanel > "Error Log" .

2. Look at the most recent errors. They will usually point to a specific file and line number.

Fix 4: Deactivate All Plugins / Switch Theme
Use FTP (as described in Article 81) to rename your plugins folder and themes folder to isolate the issue.