Hi,
After some help, please.
Background:
– I created my website some years ago – 2015?? Using a YT tutorial, and its worked great ever since. WP has been updated fairly regularly and all has been well. I believe I created a Vantage Child Theme and made some site specific changes within, but have not updated the Vantage theme since.
Issue:
– However, I have recently started to get the following error (more and more frequently) when updating a simple calendar page in the SiteOrigin Page Builder using ‘visual editor’. The whole website then responds with the same error for an unspecified duration. Everything then works and responds again, until I try to edit the calendar again.
Page I am editing:
– https://backtowilderness.co.uk/calendar-2022-2/
Error I am seeing:
– Hmmm… can’t reach this pageIt looks like backtowilderness.co.uk closed the connection
– Try:
– Checking the connection
– Checking the proxy and the firewall
– Running Windows Network Diagnostics
– ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED
– Check your Internet connection
– Check your network cables, modem, and routers.
– Allow Microsoft Edge to access the network in your firewall or antivirus settings.
– If it’s already listed as a program allowed to access the network, try removing it from the list, and adding it again.
– If you use a proxy server:
– Check your proxy settings. You might need to ask your organization if the proxy server is working. If you don’t think you – should be using a proxy server, go to Settings > System > Open your computer’s proxy settings
Context:
– I’ve no issues with my network, no VPN in place at the time of the issue and nothing tweaked from the default Wifi Settings in terms of proxies etc…Just Bog Standard Wifi.
– Even if I connect from the laptop and route via my mobile device as a hotspot, (bypassing my wifi and using an independent network) I get the same issue/error intermittently. Which indicates this is on the backend with the hosting, hosting config or the software, rather than my wifi/network. Also tried a different browser.
Findings so far:
– I logged a ticket with 123-reg, who host this Site for me, and they applied debugging. I provided them with specific actions taken and times when this error appeared and they came back with the following:
They responded:
– Checking the debug log I am only seeing some errors that indicate an issue with the ‘vantage’ theme.
– I will paste the lines below:
– [18-Aug-2022 08:10:44 UTC] PHP Notice: Undefined variable: icon_color in /home/pfpwdjq6nzlh/public_html/wp-content/themes/vantage/inc/widgets.php on line 75 [18-Aug-2022 08:10:44 UTC] PHP Notice: Undefined variable: icon_color in /home/pfpwdjq6nzlh/public_html/wp-content/themes/vantage/inc/widgets.php on line 75 [18-Aug-2022 08:10:49 UTC] PHP Notice: Function add_menu_page was called incorrectly. The seventh parameter passed to add_menu_page() should be numeric representing menu position. [18-Aug-2022 08:14:38 UTC] PHP Notice: Function add_menu_page was called incorrectly. The seventh parameter passed to add_menu_page() should be numeric representing menu position.
– Please make sure your theme and child theme are both up to date. The child theme seems to have been last modified in 2018 but if both are up to date, you can also try reinstalling the theme you’re using.
Next steps:
– I have updated everything, and am now looking to update the Vantage Theme, but would like to confirm what will change.
– I do have a Child Theme showing, which is active, and there is also the main theme installed, but not active, and there is a current version available to upgrade to.
– I have taken backups of both the Website via FTP and the Database.
Question:
– This will sound really obvious and silly, but can you suggest how I should go about upgrading the Vantage Theme, and ensure I retain my site specific settings from the child theme, please?
* Vantage Version 1.0.0 – Active – no obvious way to update this in WordPress
* Vantage 1.15.7 – Installed but not Active – There is the option to upgrade this in WordPress to 1.20.3
* Vantage 1.20.3 – Available to Upgrade
Should I simply upgrade the 1.15.7 non active version to 1.20.3, and doing so will upgrade all of the underlying files and theme specific data, but the child theme will persist and overwrite the specific changes I have made?
If the problem still persists, I can then at least go back to 123-Reg and advise that it is not the theme!
Very grateful for your help, and please do feel free to ask any question you need to!
Asking as I can’t really afford for the Website to be out of action as it is my business site!
KR
Ray
Hi Ray
Thanks for reaching out.
Your child theme won’t ever have an upgrade available; it’s yours to manage as required—a place to store your customizations. Sure, you can upgrade the parent theme to 1.20.3. The notices in the debug.log file are just that, notices. The log file will store notices, warnings, and errors, with errors being the most serious.
To rule out Vantage, please, give the following a try. Temporarily switch to a default theme like Twenty Nineteen and try to recreate the issue. If the problem persists, you would have ruled out an issue with Vantage.
You can also try temporarily deactivating all plugins except for SiteOrigin Page Builder and the SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle. With all other plugins deactivated, does the issue persist?