How Do You Fix A WordPress Website That Can’t Establish A Database Connection?

It’s fairly uncommon for a WordPress website to be unable to establish a database connection. But it does happen and we’ve dealt with this situation a load of times. Iyou fixf you’ve been unlucky enough to get the ‘Error establishing a database connection’ browser message, hopefully this blog post will help you fix it.

However, there are a number of circumstances in which this issue to arise – these include:

• Incorrect database login credentials (username, password, hostname) in the WordPress configuration file (wp-config.php)
• The database server is offline or unavailable
• Recent changes to the website, such as changing the database name or login credentials, have caused the connection issue
• There is an issue with the database itself, for example there is a corruption or a problem with the database tables
• There is an issue with the hosting environment, such as a problem with the server or a conflict with another plugin or theme

There are a few steps you can take to try and fix a WordPress website that can’t establish a database connection:

1. Check your database login credentials (username, password, and hostname) in your WordPress configuration file (wp-config.php). Make sure they are correct and match the login credentials for your database.
2. Check if your database server is running. Contact your hosting provider or check with them to make sure the database server is online and available.
3. If you recently made changes to your website, such as changing the database name or login credentials, try rolling back those changes to see if that resolves the issue.
4. If you are unable to access your WordPress dashboard, you can try repairing your database by adding the following line of code to your wp-config.php file:

define( ‘WP_ALLOW_REPAIR’, true );

This will allow you to run the WordPress database repair tool from your browser by visiting the following URL:

https://YOURWEBSITE.com/wp-admin/maint/repair.php

If none of the above steps work, it may be necessary to restore your website from a backup. Contact your hosting provider or a WordPress developer for assistance with this.

Feel free to get in touch if you need some help with re-establishing your WordPress website’s database connection. We’ve done it a load of times and we’d be happy to help you out. Contact us today for help.