How to Fix Connection Timed Out in WordPress

Updated on Nov 14, 2022

If you've been using WordPress for a while and have at least a few months of shared hosting experience, you may have noticed error messages like "connection timed out." This is a problem that leads to a slew of others, especially if you have a membership website.

This error message will appear when you have exhausted all of your server resources and memory usage. However, you will not receive a regular notification that the server is unable to handle any additional executions.

The problem itself cannot provide the precise locations where you must make repairs. However, the general idea is that the server cannot receive or execute any other requests from web browsers, plugins, or themes.

This post includes:

Why Does WordPress Show Connection Timeout?

Connection timeout messages are a common source of frustration for WordPress users on shared hosting, where many websites coexist. Because of the large number of accounts, the server may not have enough resources.

As a result, it may overburden the server and result in the connection timed-out message. That is, the websites generate more traffic than the server can handle. This could be the result of a faulty plugin or a new theme. It could also be due to insufficient PHP memory or server execution time.

Let's see what we can do to fix this.

How We Fix the WordPress Error Connection Timed Out?

Our Support Engineers always take a full backup of the website files and database before making changes to it. Let's look at how to correct this error in each situation.

Exhausted PHP Memory Limit

Inadequate memory is a common cause of this error. So, to increase the available memory limit, we edit the wp-config.php file.

To accomplish this, we open this file in the website's root folder, add the following line, and save the file.

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M')

Hence, it increases the memory limit to 64MB. We can also increase the PHP limits in the PHP configuration files.

Faulty Plugin

Another cause of WordPress timeout errors is plugin incompatibility. In such cases, you must deactivate all plugins and then reactivate them one by one until the affected plugin is identified. We then deactivate the faulty one.

WordPress Theme

A faulty theme may also be the cause of the WordPress connection timeout. To resolve this issue, you should return to the default WordPress theme. We begin by going to the theme folder. The current theme folder is then renamed to activate the default theme.

Increase the Maximum Execution Time

Another cause of the timeout error is a lower maximum execution time value. As a result, the process ends before it is completed. This can be resolved by editing the php.ini file and making the following changes:

max_execution_time=60;

The default value is 30 seconds. Hence we avoid timeout errors.

Conclusion

In summary, WordPress error connection timed out occurs as a result of an exhausted PHP memory limit, a shorter execution time, faulty themes and plugins, and so on. If this guide did not help you, please open a support ticket, and our technical support experts will assist you as soon as possible.

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