This error can happen in one of two places, on the user side, or on the admin side.
When it happens on the admin side (wp-admin), you will find that you are unable to login.
Step 1: Connect to your blog using ftp and navigate to your wp-content/plugins/ directory and download all of your plugins to a folder on your desktop.
Step 3: Still in your FTP program, delete all plugin folders and php files in the plugins directory. You do not want anything at all left in this directory.
Step 4: Try logging into your blog. It should let you log in with no problems. Visit the plugins section of your blog. This should load with a lot of errors telling you that each plugin has been deactivated due to an error. This is ok.
Step 5: Using your ftp program you should upload all your plugins. Once uploaded you should activate each plugin one by one within wordpress and then visit the wp-admin/ login address to make sure that it will pass you through to your blog once logged in.
Step 6: When you activate a plugin and start getting this error again, you will know which one is to blame. Simply delete that plugin via ftp and start looking for an alternative plugin to use.
If these steps do not fix your problem, you should backup all your wordpress files and then delete them. You should them upload clean wordpress files for the latest version and try logging in with no themes or plugins uploaded. You can upload these later once you can login.
If you continue getting error, clear your browser cache, test logging in with other browsers.
If all else fails, contact your webhost or open a thread on the wordpress support forum.
Thank you so much for this article!!
I just had this problem happen to me. This was so helpful. I found the problem (it was a plugin “redirection” that caused the site to collapse).
Take good care….
Andy
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
Same problem as Andy. Redirection plugin…
Everything is working fine now, thanks to you!
Matt
Great to hear. This was a major problem that was easy to solve. Unfortunately its very hard to troubleshoot. As soon as we saw it happen we posted it here so that everyone else could easily fix it. We’re very happy that this info has been useful.
Thanks! Very helpful! These type of plugins should be banned!
Genius…and huge time saver! Thanks.
This is an excellent post, thanks a lot for sharing. We were having issues with Pinoy Sports> which was upgraded to 2.7.1 from 2.0. After going through each plugin, we were able to conclude that Category Visibility – RH Rev is the plugin causing the redirect loop. Firefox is really a smarter browser. That loop can bring a server down.
Can you list the suspected plug ins here so those of us facing this hell can get rid of them right away?
And Thank you for posting this! This has just snowballed, literally!
Chad
Hello, the problem is that the plugin will run something simple like sending the user to tab 1 once logged in, but wordpress change the system so tab 1 is the login screen, or doesnt exist. This then creates an eternal loop. Normally this only efffects the login/admin section, however there are some category plugins that cause the same problem with a single category.
We are very happy that it helped you. Whenever we come across a problem that takes a long time to diagnose, but is simple to fix when you know how, we will post it on our site to help you.
Best wishes
wp-Member Support Team
Firefox is a great browser, but wordpress seems to have been tested with internet explorer. Over 50% of our users are using firefox with only around 30% still using internet explorer.
Remember to always test your site in as many browsers as you can so that you can ensure maximum compatibility. If a user can’t access your site, they can’t contact you to tell you.
Best wishes
wp-Member Support Team
Thanks fo spotting this problem, and solving it for all of us!
No problem. Thank you for commenting.