10 Steps to Fix Error Establishing A Database Connection in WordPress

WordPress is by far the most popular open source content management system that we have seen. Talking about its efficacy creating a website with the help of WordPress is as easy even as a walk in the park. Due to its simple and effective interface, it is now used by more than 75 million websites. If you are looking for a professional website and having trouble using WordPress, then don’t worry, you can contact various firms and companies providing WordPress Development Services.

Well, you might have heard that nothing is perfect and yes WordPress is no exception. So, facing issues and errors while working with WordPress is also common. However, some of the errors like “Error establishing a database” is probably the most common and frightening error you might face.  Also, it gets frustrating when this error pops out of nowhere, without you making any changes.

If you come across this message on your screen “Error establishing a database” means that your website is no longer communicating with your database. This error should not be taken lightly as it is good enough to bring your website down. Don’t freak out as there is no issue or error in this tech world that couldn’t be resolved.

To your relief here we bring the best 10 steps you can take to fix error establishing a database in WordPress.

1. Look for The Cause of The Error

When you are using any software and encounter an error, this means that something is wrong somewhere. Errors just don’t pop out for anything. So if you are encountering database establishment error then this means something went wrong.

Now, the question is what? Well, it’s not possible to point out the exact reason of the problem; however, there are few common causes due to which this error occurs such as your database login credentials, corrupted files, database hosting service, etc. Check them and fix the thing that is causing the trouble.

2. Troubleshoot Error

It would be insane and foolish if you tried to fix the problem without first establishing the cause. Troubleshooting the error can help you know the cause of the problem and once you have determined the root of the error, then getting a viable solution is pretty much a walk in the park.

3. Does the Error Occur For WP-admin Page as Well?

First thing you should do is to check whether you are getting the same error on both the front-end and the back-end of the site that is wp-admin. If you are getting a different error on the wp-admin and front end of the site, for instance, something like “Database tables are unavailable”. Then your database may need to be repaired.

You can simply do this by adding this small line of code in your wp-config.php file. Add it just before ‘That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging’ line in wp-config.php file.

define(‘WP_ALLOW_REPAIR’,true);

In case you getting the same message “Error establishing a database” on both the front end and the back end (wp-admin) of the site then you can try out the other solutions.

4. Check Your WordPress Configuration File

This is probably the most important file in your entire WordPress installation. This is where you specify the details and commands for establishing a link between the database and WordPress. So, the first thing you should always check is if everything in your wp-config.php file is the same or not. If you find any problems or dissimilarities in the WordPress configuration file then either repair the file or consider re-installing WordPress on your computer.

5. Check Your Web Hosting Services

If you are encountering this error message frequently then you might have noticed that it usually occurs when your site gets swarmed with a lot of traffic. The best explanation to this coincidence is that your host server just cannot handle the load (especially when you are on shared hosting). So, we recommend you to get a high quality, paid web hosting services because they are usually better, fast and handle more traffic than shared hosting services.

6. Check Your Database Login Credentials

Sometimes the issue for this error hides in the plain sight and it’s not that deep and technical. So, the very first thing you can do is check your database login credentials. This is by far the most common reason why the error establishing a database connection message occurs. Especially right after people migrate to a new hosting provider. This happens because WordPress needs a specific login and password to access the database. If those have changed for any reason then WordPress will no longer be able to fetch anything from the database.

7. Corrupt Database

If wp-admin works fine and still the public site won’t load, then this may be a database issue. You may potentially be looking at database corruption if you only get the error while trying to access your WordPress admin, or if you’re getting other login errors such as “One or more database tables are unavailable”. So, in this case, the database may need to repair or recreated.

8. Check Your Plugins and Themes Files

Your WordPress files might get corrupted due to a couple of misfortune steps. This could happen due to the collapse of the last update you did for plugins and themes. This could also happen while importing plugins from outside sources. If you are lucky enough then this might not be hackers doing, just an unfortunate event. These files can be repaired or restored from the last backup you created.

9. Reset Username and Password

Like we said above this error might arise due to login credentials. So, a smart thing to do before you change your hosting services etc., next time then is resetting your username and password. By performing such a simple you can easily avoid unwanted trouble.

10. Restore Latest Backup

In some cases, this might be a faster way to resolve the issue if you aren’t worried about losing any data. Many hosts even have their own backup restore process. Note that you should restore both your database and your files.

I hope these 10 steps to fix error establishing a database helps! And as always, feel free to comment if you’re having some tough time with an error establishing a database connection.