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

Problem:
The client is experiencing 500 errors on their website when the WPML plugin is active. This occurs when loading Welsh pages, causing multiple redirects that exceed the server's configuration limit.
Solution:
We recommend implementing the workaround provided by our developers, which involves adjusting the .htaccess file to prevent it from being overwritten with the language folder. Before making any changes, ensure to have a full website backup. You can find the instructions here:
https://wpml.org/faq/why-is-htaccess-getting-overwritten-with-the-language-folder-on-my-wpml-website/
If this does not resolve the issue, please contact us so we can provide further assistance.

Please note that this solution might be irrelevant if it's outdated or not applicable to your case. We highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the problem persists, please open a new support ticket at our support forum.

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This topic contains 11 replies, has 2 voices.

Last updated by Lucas Vidal de Andrade 1 month, 2 weeks ago.

Assisted by: Lucas Vidal de Andrade.

Author Posts
March 6, 2024 at 2:28 pm #15380023

paulL-10

I am having a bug: When the plugin is active on the site it causes 500 errors to occur on random page loads. It seems that the WPML plugin when loading a Welsh page causes mass amounts of redirects which is then hitting the server config limit and causing 500 errors

The bug isnt 100% consistent so to replicate it you need to click around random inlinks and then you will be hit by the 500 screen

Link to a page where the issue can be seen: hidden link

to reiterate the initial page load wont cause the 500, but if you click through a few links within the welsh pages it wont take long to occur

I expected to see: The welsh translation pages of the site

Instead, I got: hidden link [Wed Mar 06 14:18:34 2024] [error] [client 40.77.167.132:0] AH00124: Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal redirects due to probable configuration error. Use 'LimitInternalRecursion' to increase the limit if necessary. Use 'LogLevel debug' to get a backtrace.

March 6, 2024 at 8:32 pm #15381537

Lucas Vidal de Andrade
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hello,

Thank you for sharing. There are some things we can check first, before I suggest a solution:

1. Check if the issue persists after you deactivate the Redirection plugin;
2. Check your .htaccess file, to see if it has any additional redirection rules;

The link you sent as an example lead me to a 404. I also navigated a bit through your website, but didn't get to any redirection issues, let me know if you find a specific way to reproduce it 🙂

March 7, 2024 at 8:56 am #15382758

paulL-10

Hi Lucas,

The first thing I tried was turning off the redirection plugin and also Yoast as that has redirection functionality but unfortunately it changed nothing and the bug persisted.

I also tried using the default wordpress .htaccess template and that didn't change anything either.

The reason why you weren't able to replicate it is because we finished for the day and couldn't leave a constantly breaking website live whilst we were closed so I turned off the WPML plugin.

Is there any chance we could arrange a live chat when one of your support agents are active so we can turn on the WPML plugin for only a short period whilst you test please? We are open until 5PM GMT on weekdays.

The only consistency is that when the plugin is active, if you go to a Welsh page and then follow a link to a different Welsh page it breaks the site with a 500 error.

Thanks,
Sam

March 7, 2024 at 11:54 am #15383981

paulL-10

Hi again,

I have made a copy of the website on the staging subdomain with the plugins turned on.

hidden link

That one I can leave up with the plugins turned on

Thanks,
Sam

March 7, 2024 at 11:56 am #15383985

paulL-10

Sorry forgot to put how to replicate the bug.

If you load the homepage, click the WPML translate button 'Cymraeg' in the header

Then follow any welsh language page link it should serve a 500 error on that page load, if not click around some more welsh language pages and it will happen

Thanks,
Sam

March 7, 2024 at 12:01 pm #15384038

Lucas Vidal de Andrade
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Alright! That's useful information, thank you for sharing.

We only offer chat and Forum support, unfortunately there's no option for live chats. But we'll get to a solution here 🙂

I'd like to have access to the staging version you mentioned, to look for causes and possible solutions to this issue.

You will find the needed fields for this below the comment area when you log in to leave your next reply. The information you will enter is private which means only you and I can see and have access to it.

Maybe I'll need to replicate your site locally. For this, I’ll need to temporarily install a plugin called “Duplicator” or "All in One WP Migration" on your site. This will allow me to create a copy of your site and your content. Once the problem is resolved I will delete the local site. Let me know if this is ok with you.

IMPORTANT

- Please make a backup of site files and database before providing us access.
- If you do not see the wp-admin/FTP fields this means your post & website login details will be made PUBLIC. DO NOT post your website details unless you see the required wp-admin/FTP fields. If you do not, please ask me to enable the private box. The private box looks like this:

hidden link

March 7, 2024 at 3:30 pm #15385344

paulL-10

Hi Lucas,

I have found the issue. A new plugin had been added named 'Event Tickets'. It says on your website that it is supported by WPML so could you look into why they are clashing heads so hard against eachother please?

Thanks,
Sam

March 7, 2024 at 4:19 pm #15385900

Lucas Vidal de Andrade
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

I will have to escalate your issue to our development team. Before doing that, can you please reach out to your hosting provider, since this is an internal server error, and check if they have more details? Explain that the issue happens if either WPML or Event Tickets is active. Kindly share these details with me.

This way, we can get to a solution faster.

March 7, 2024 at 4:37 pm #15385991

paulL-10

Hi Lucas,

I've been talking to the hosting provider all of today and yesterday and it isn't an issue on their end, referring to the error log that I put in the first posting the only thing on their end they could change would be changing the limit value, which doesn't fix the problem and there could be thousands of requests going through so increasing the limit isn't a solution.

The issues only happen if both WPML and the Event Tickets plugin are both active. Then a front end user lands on a page, clicks the menu item to direct them to the welsh translation page, then follows one of the internal links to another Welsh page, they will then see the Internal Server Error page.

Thanks,
Sam

March 8, 2024 at 11:26 am #15388798

Lucas Vidal de Andrade
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hello,

thanks for sharing the information, I was able to reproduce the error in isolation. I've forwarded the copy of your website to our developers and they should get back to us in a few days. I'll update you as soon as I have new information.

March 11, 2024 at 5:45 pm #15396880

Lucas Vidal de Andrade
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hello,

We are still looking into your issue, we appreciate the patience. Meanwhile, can you please try this solution?

https://wpml.org/faq/why-is-htaccess-getting-overwritten-with-the-language-folder-on-my-wpml-website/

Let us know how it goes.

March 12, 2024 at 2:03 pm #15399921

Lucas Vidal de Andrade
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) Spanish (Español ) German (Deutsch ) Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )

Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)

Hello,

I got feedback from our developers. They suggested you implement this workaround and test the functioning of your website once again:

https://wpml.org/faq/why-is-htaccess-getting-overwritten-with-the-language-folder-on-my-wpml-website/

Please make sure to have a full website backup before proceeding If that does not solve your issue, please let me know so I can continue support.

This ticket is now closed. If you're a WPML client and need related help, please open a new support ticket.