Update WPML to latest version went down the whole site

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
If you are experiencing an issue updating WPML that results in your website crashing and displaying a blank page or a 500 error, this indicates an unhandled PHP error in your site's code.

Solution:
To resolve this issue, we recommend enabling debug mode to identify the specific error. Follow these steps:
1. Open your site's wp-config.php file.
2. Find the line

define('WP_DEBUG', false);

and change it to:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);

3. To have the errors logged to a file on the server, add the following line:

define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

With these changes, the errors will be saved in a debug.log file within the /wp-content/ directory.
After enabling debug mode, review the log file for specific errors.

For more information on debugging in WPML, visit our documentation:
https://wpml.org/documentation/support /debugging-wpml/

If the solution provided is not relevant to your case, because it could be outdated or not applicable to your specific situation, we suggest opening a new ticket of support. We strongly recommend that you review known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, check the version of the permanent solution and confirm that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If you need further help, feel free to contact us on the WPML support forum.
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Tagged: Exception

This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices.

Last updated by Andrey 1 year, 4 months ago.

Assisted by: Andrey.

Author	Posts
February 6, 2024 at 9:50 am #15270174
timoS-5	Dear team of WPML, Unfortunately I have a major issue with the use of the WPML Multilingual plugin on my blog hidden link I’ve been using it for years already & loved it - but now a huge problem occurred: I needed to update my WordPress version which also lead to an automatic update of WPML - which completely messed up my website and brought it offline. The only solution was to recover a backup to get it back running. Unfortunately the same problem occurs anytime I’m trying to update the WPML version. My website is only running with the newest WordPress version once I have the WPML plugin deactivated - which is not a solution. OR if I set back my website to the old and outdated WordPress version which isn’t a solution neither. Can you please help me with this issue since I would love to continue using WPML for my blog. - - - I already tried the following steps / instructions provided by the WPML support team: Can you please try the following steps and see if that works fine? 1. Create a full website backup 2. Disable and delete WPML + the WPML String Translation add-on (and any other WPML add-ons) 3. Download them manually straight from our site here: https://wpml.org/account/downloads/ (click the button below so that you can manually download the zip file) 4. Then go to Plugins > Add new > Upload > and upload the zip file and see if you are able to properly install the latest WPML version. Then, install the "String Translation" add-on. 5. If everything works fine, then go to Plugins > Add new > Commercial > and try to register WPML again in case it shows up as UNREGISTERED Please let me know how that goes. - - - I went through all of the suggested steps but unfortunately my page still immediately went down as soon as I tried updating the WPML plugin. It would be great if you could find another solution for it? Thank you and best regards, Nathalie Aron
February 6, 2024 at 10:01 am #15270255
Andrey WPML Supporter since 06/2013 Languages: English (English ) Russian (Русский ) Timezone: Europe/Kyiv (GMT+03:00)	Thank you for contacting WPML support. I’m sorry that you ran into trouble with this. The blank page means that there is an error in the PHP code that your site runs. When errors are not caught, the server stops everything and returns a page that says “500 error” or an empty page. Different servers are configured to display these errors slightly differently, but they all mean the same – there is an unhandled PHP error in the site’s code. First, you need to see what the errors are. Guessing what might be the problem and trying different solutions may lead to even more trouble. The first step is to enable debug. You can do this by adding a few lines to the site’s wp-config.php file. With error log enabled, you will see what the actual problem is. To enable it, open your wp-config.php file and look for define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);. Change it to: define('WP_DEBUG', true); In order to enable the error logging to a file on the server you need to add yet one more similar line: define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); In this case, the errors will be saved to a debug.log log file inside the /wp-content/directory. https://wpml.org/documentation/support/debugging-wpml/ Let me know what you see after the debug mode has been enabled.