[Resolved] "The site is experiencing technical difficulties." GP Premium bug?

[Eric]

Hi guys, my theme has broken and I am seeing the error message on my frontend displaying: “The site is experiencing technical difficulties.” The site itself is working, meaning I can still access the functions and different pages but all my customizations have disappeared from the theme and overall it just looks broken?

I checked your other threads about this issue but my site is already using the up-to-date PHP version and I’ve even asked my hosting to double check. Unfortunately, the only thing that causes the issue is the actual GP Premium plugin. When it is deactivated the theme then returns to normal. Is there a bug in the plugin with this latest version of WordPress (5.2)?

[David]

Hi there,

not experienced these issues on any of my installs or here on this site.
There have been a number of reported issues on wordpress dot org. Some users have had different degrees of success with:

1. Updating to PHP 7.3- which you have done.
2. Increasing the PHP Memory Limit
3. Deleting all of the the default WP themes (TwentySeventeen etc.)
4. Ensure all plugins are up to date and compatible.

If not enable debug mode to see what error is being generated. And let us know.

[Eric]

Hmmm yeah I have no other themes installed other than GP and Generatepress Child. Everything is up-to-date as well. Plugin to enable debug mode? Sorry I’ve never done that before…

[David]

First off can you test disabling the child theme?

Debugging requires you to edit your wp-config file – read here:

https://codex.wordpress.org/WP_DEBUG

[Eric]

OK I was able to figure it out… here is the error that appears on DEBUG mode:

https://pasteboard.co/IfAeale.png

W3 Total Cache is not causing any problems on any of my other GP installs, why here? What should I do?

[David]

I see the W3 Total Cache is only tested up to WP 5.1.1 – are all your installs on 5.2?

[Eric]

Yes pretty much… hmmm what else could it be? This is the only site that is producing this error. I have several others with practically the same setup and they are all working as expected.

[Eric]

Even turning off W3TC doesn’t resolve the error. Only deactivating GP Premium seems to work… weird!

[David]

This type of error is generally related to permalink structures.

Can you test rebuilding the permalinks by hitting Save a couple of times in Settings > Permalinks.
If you’re using a custom permalink structure can you select one of the default ones, save again and test, then put back your custom setting.

[Eric]

Hmm yeah I did what you asked, I tried fiddling around with it but no luck… It’s still not working. What else?

[David]

I am not sure – have you contacted W3 Cache as the errors are related to their plugin they may be able to shed some light on the issue.

[Eric]

Well at this point I’ve already removed W3TC completely, the debug messages are gone but the site is still displaying a broken version of GeneratePress with the premium plugin turned on. When it is deactivated it brings back my settings to normal. It can’t be W3TC anymore, is it? I’ve deleted it from the site.

[Tom]

So if you deactivate GP Premium, the issue goes away?

What if you deactivate your activated modules one by one in “Appearance > GeneratePress”. Does the issue go away after you deactivate a specific module?

[Eric]

AHA! It’s the ELEMENTS module… that brought the settings back. Enabling it and disabling it turns the error ON and OFF.

[Eric]

I found it! I had an ADVANCED CUSTOM FIELDS script loaded into my ELEMENTS but I had not installed the plugin… Installing it is now bringing back my settings as expected, even with Premium activated. Wow, I would have never figured that out on my own… thanks for the help guys!

[Author]

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