If your website is showing a blank page, it usually means the site has encountered an error but is not displaying the error message on screen.
This can happen with WordPress websites, PHP-based websites, or other applications hosted on our cPanel platform.
A blank page is sometimes referred to as a “white screen” and is commonly caused by a website code issue, plugin or theme problem, PHP error, memory issue, or configuration change.
Check if the issue affects the whole website
First, check whether the blank page appears across the whole website or only on specific pages.
For example, check:
- The homepage
- A few internal pages
- The WordPress admin area, if applicable
- The website from another browser or device
If only one page is affected, the issue may be related to the content, plugin, script, or template used by that page.
If the whole website is blank, the issue may be more general, such as a PHP error, theme issue, plugin conflict, or configuration problem.
Check for recent changes
Blank pages often happen after a recent change to the website.
Consider whether any of the following have recently been changed:
- WordPress plugins
- WordPress theme
- WordPress core version
- PHP version
- Website files
- .htaccess file
- Website configuration
- Custom code
- cPanel settings
If the issue started after a recent update or change, that change may be related to the problem.
WordPress websites
If your website uses WordPress, a blank page is often caused by a plugin, theme, or PHP compatibility issue.
If you can still access the WordPress admin area, try disabling recently updated or newly installed plugins. You may also want to temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme to see whether the active theme is causing the issue.
If you cannot access the WordPress admin area, the issue may need to be investigated through cPanel or the website files.
Please take care when renaming or editing website files, as incorrect changes can cause further issues.
Check cPanel error information
For websites hosted on our cPanel platform, errors may be logged in cPanel or in the website’s error log.
Useful areas to check may include:
- cPanel Errors
- The website error_log file
- PHP error logs, if enabled
- Application logs, where applicable
These logs may show the specific file, plugin, theme, or script causing the blank page.
If you are unsure how to interpret the error, please send the error message to the Fastnet Helpdesk and we can advise further.
Check disk space and resource usage
A website may also show errors or fail to load correctly if the hosting account has run out of disk space or is hitting resource limits.
In cPanel, check:
- Disk usage
- File usage
- Resource usage
- Email storage usage, if the hosting package is also used for mail
If the account is out of disk space, you may need to remove unwanted files, clear old backups, reduce mailbox usage, or increase the hosting package allowance.
Check the .htaccess file
For some websites, especially WordPress sites, a blank page or loading issue can be caused by a problem with the .htaccess file.
The .htaccess file controls certain website rules, such as redirects and rewrite rules.
If this file has recently been edited, restored, or replaced, it may be worth checking whether it contains incorrect rules.
Please be careful when making changes to this file. If you are unsure, contact the Fastnet Helpdesk before editing it.
Restore from backup if needed
If the issue started after a recent website update or file change, restoring the website from a previous backup may be an option.
Before restoring, make sure you understand what will be overwritten. A restore may replace website files, database content, or both, depending on the backup being used.
If your website is business-critical, we recommend contacting the Fastnet Helpdesk before carrying out a restore.
When to contact Fastnet
If your website is hosted on our cPanel platform and you are unable to resolve the blank page, please contact the Fastnet Helpdesk.
When contacting us, please provide:
- The affected website address
- When the issue started
- Whether the whole site is affected or only certain pages
- Whether the WordPress admin area is accessible, if applicable
- Any recent changes, updates, or plugin installations
- Any error messages shown in cPanel or the website error log
- Screenshots, where available
Providing this information helps us investigate the issue more quickly and advise on the next steps.