WordPress 3.1 fatal error upgrade 2011

WordPress 3.1 fatal error problems are often happening to bloggers who want to upgrade their blogs following automattic update from the dashboard. (Related post: Upgrade wordpress tutorial).

The failed updating process message can be something like these:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class Walker_Page in /home/wordpresspath/wp-includes/post-template.php on line 1060

Fatal error: require() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/home/content/home/wp-includes/classes.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php') in /home/wp-settings.php on line 68

This failed situation is never happening to me, (which I don’t hope so), this is why I can’t make any video tutorials or posting the screenshots.

But due to the situation where many many people have this wordpress 3.1 fatal error problems in wordpress official forum, I think I would like to write about this WordPress 3.1 fatal error which was already released last week, with its feature and problem. (related post: Install wordpress 3.1, format-aside-gallery post tutorial, wordpress 3.1 admin slow, disable admin bar).

WordPress 3.1 fatal error – why is this happening?

The causes of this wordpress 3.1 fatal error problem is varying from one blog to another. Let’s break this down so it can be a bit clearer..

1. Theme you are currently using.

When you use a theme, especially free wordpress themes, some of them are created years ago, when wordpress was still in the version 2.7 or older..

The next issue would be, the creator of the theme would either update that theme to be wordpress 3.1 compatible or they might not update it.

The theme creators might have their own reasons why they update their themes or do not update their themes.

If the theme is free, then, it would be less chance to be updated. If it does then it is very impressive.

So because of a theme you use, the upgrade can fail, because the theme is not compatible with wordpress 3.1.

2. Plugins you are using.

If you have visited this blog many times, probably you ever read my post that I always remind my readers, not to use lots of plugins which are not really neccessary to have.

Same as themes above, its is possible that one or two of your plugins are not wordpress 3.1 compatible.

3. The automatic upgrade process itself failed.

This one factor is not your theme’s fault or plugins fault. It can be the host’s fault..

What I mean is, when you updating your blog automatically from the dashboard, it can happen that your hosting server is too slow to handle the request.

The result will be, upgrading process is interupted in the middle of the process, and of course, the update is not 100% done.

WordPress 3.1 fatal error solution and tips

This wordpress 3.1 fatal error blog post cames from a wordpress forum thread, though I haven’t tried it myself because I never got this wordpress 3.1 fatal error thing.

But what Esmi said, does make sense, and should be followed, exactly what she writes.

Before following these steps to fix wordpress 3.1 fatal error, I suggest you to backup database and wp-content folder. (see this video, backup and restore wordpress, only the backup database, and wp-content folder).

Also important to download or copy wp-config.php files from your webhost to your computer.

1. Step 1.

Change your theme to default theme, which is Twenty Ten, by renaming the current theme folder. I have video on this, see, wordpress fix parse error. Just watch the video around 03:40 until the end, so you will see how.

2. Step 2.

Deactivating all plugins, see this diabling plugins post from wordpress site.

3. Step 3.

Download wordpress 3.1 zip file again, fresh from wordpress.org official website, then upload them to your cPanel or via FTP, EXCEPT of the wp-content folder we have talked above.

For wp-config.php, you can update this with your the old database name, pass, and username, or upload the one that you have saved above.

4. Step 4.

The last step is update your blog manually, by typing yourdomain.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php

By following these steps, from 1 to 4, will fix your wordpress 3.1 fatal error problem.