WordPress fixes, reproduced before they are written down

Every guide here starts from a broken WordPress install, not from a remembered fix. The break is reproduced, the fix is run, and the before and after are shown with the real output. If a fix cannot be reproduced, the guide does not get published.

Guides

• Fix a WordPress white screen of death — turn on WP_DEBUG, read the fatal error out of debug.log, and deactivate the plugin that caused it. Reproduced 9 November 2026.
• Fix “Error establishing a database connection” — tell a wrong password from a dead database server, then fix the right one. Reproduced 9 November 2026.

How a guide is checked

Each fix is run against a disposable WordPress install (WordPress 7.1.4, PHP 8.3.6, MariaDB 10.11.14 in the current runs) with the site broken on purpose first. The guide shows the command, the output, and the HTTP status before and after. Mechanisms are cited to the official WordPress documentation, inline and in Sources. About has the full method.