When you encounter a 500/50x error with Oxygen, it is typically an indication that something is wrong at the server level.
This document will cover how to find the cause of the error and resolve it yourself or pass the information to the proper support channels to resolve the issue.
Step 1: Check Your Server's Error Logs.
A 500/50x error exists to tell you something is wrong at the server level (reference). As these errors aren't always descriptive in WordPress, you'll need to dig deeper so that we can understand the cause of the problem.
Most server environments log these errors within a server error log. This is typically accessible with FTP or on your server's dashboard, but if you contact your hosting provider to ask them for the server's error logs, they can provide them. This is often the quickest route, as different hosting environments may store the logs in different locations.
Step 2: Find the 500/50x Error.
The 500/50x error in the error log will generally contain the word "Fatal", "Critical", or "Exception" within the description. You can use CMD/CTRL+F in your favorite text/code editor to search the log for fatal or critical errors. You may also want to look for errors that occurred around the same time you noticed an error in Oxygen, as the errors should be timestamped.
Read the error after you've found it. 99% of the time, the error description clearly states the problem.
Here are some common error messages, their causes, and how to fix the error.
Allowed memory size of X bytes exhausted
If you see this message, it means your site has run out of memory.
Memory is critical to the operation of your site, and depending on how large your site is, your site might require more than you have available.
When you see this message, you should contact your host and ask them to increase the amount of memory available for your site.
You can see Oxygen's minimum recommendations here.
Additionally, you may wish to set Oxygen's Preview Dropdown Limit to a lower number, such as 10 or 20. This may be found via Oxygen > Settings > General in WP-Admin.
Step 3: Run a Plugin Conflict Test
If the error isn't fixed after following step 2, the next step would be to run a plugin conflict test to rule out any conflicts.
It is very important to find the specific fatal error entry from your log, but sometimes, it doesn't provide enough clarification on the error.
At this point, it would be best to run a plugin conflict test to rule out any errors being caused by an integration with a third-party plugin.
After you know whether or not a plugin conflict causes the error, we'd love to hear from you to get to the bottom of the issue.
Step 4: Let Us Know Your Findings.
By following the previous steps, you should have either resolved the issue or will have a better understanding of the problem.
To receive the best support possible, please send us the following details for us to be able to troubleshoot further:
- A clear description of the problem.
- Confirmation that you have already performed a plugin conflict test.
- The 500/50x error log entry that you found in Step 2.
- Non-expiring administrative login credentials for your site (no one-time links, please).
- A link to where we can log in to your site.
- Step-by-step instructions that we can follow to see the 500 error occur. Include details such as which specific plugins need to be active, which pages, posts, or templates we should edit, and which specific actions we need to take inside of Oxygen to see the error occur.
- FTP/SFTP credentials for the site.
