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I use Total Upkeep on several WordPress websites. For some, when I start a manual backup, I get a progress bar. This is helpful so that I know when the backup is complete. On other sites no progress bar is shown – in fact nothing is shown. I have to stop the page, refresh it, and go to the Backups tab to see whether the backup completed.
All of the sites are up to date with all plugins, including Total Upkeep. I do know that the sites use different plugins and themes, so perhaps that is the root of the problem. However, I am hoping someone has had and fixed this problem so that I don’t have to hunt for a needle in a haystack. Any ideas?
By the way, the backup is always successful. I just don’t know it without waiting a while, going to the Backup tab, and seeing the final report in the list of backups.
Hi Clint-
Thanks for reaching out, that’s a new issue we haven’t heard before.
Recently (July 26), we released an update to Total Upkeep that made some improvements to the Backup Progress Bar. Has this issue been around since before that time, or did you only notice it in the last few weeks?
Here are a few more troubleshooting steps to take so we can try to isolate the problem.
First, can you try switching to a different web browser and see if the issue still happens? If that makes a difference, let us know which browser and operating system you’re having the issue on.
The backup progress bar depends on
admin-ajax.php, which can sometimes be blocked by security plugins and services. Do the sites that have the problem run a security plugin that’s not present on the sites where it does work? Are they on a different hosting provider or account?Finally, can you take a look at your browser’s error console while you go through the process of making a backup, and let us know if you see any errors appear? Here’s a quick video on how to use your browser’s error console:
Here is what I have discovered, Jesse:
- admin-ajax.php is getting 500 Internal Server Error from the website that is having problems and 200 Ok on the website that doesn’t have issues. I believe this to be the main crux of the problem.
- Both sites use WP Cerber. I checked the settings and they are virtually identical between the two sites. The site where the progress bar is working has slightly more restrictive settings regarding logging into the administrator panel.
- The two sites on are completely different hosting companies.
- The site with the working progress bar is newer and uses fewer plugins as it is Elementor-based.
My hunch is that one of the other plugins is tampering with admin-ajax.php. I am going to do some Googling to get to the bottom of it. If you have a quick suggestion, feel free to update. Otherwise I’ll do so once I resolve the issue. I hate for you to spend a lot of time when it’s probably a plugin or setting completely unrelated to Total Upkeep.
Thanks for getting me pointed in the right direction!
Hi Clint-
I agree that the 500 error on
admin-ajax.phpis the most likely cause of the problem.One good step to take at this point is to contact your hosting provider and ask them to examine the Apache or other web server error logs, where there should be a more precise error message to indicate what went wrong. It will help them to locate it if you can provide an approximate time that you had the error.
Hopefully knowing what error caused the 500 will point us toward the next step, often it will contain the path of the error including a plugin name if that’s the problem.
Hello Jesse,
Thank you for your help. I determined last night that a plugin by the name of WP Rocket was causing the problem. I have deactivated it for now. I do want to use it to improve the speed the site, but for now I don’t want to spend the time trying to figure it out. I ultimately want to redo that site and put it on a faster host, so I’ll probably take another look at it then.
In the mean time, perhaps this post will help someone else who has the problem!
Hi Clint-
Thanks for the update! I know that a lot of our users also use WP Rocket, and I haven’t heard of this issue before, so there might yet be another piece of the puzzle.
I did a little searching around the WP Rocket documentation, and they actually have a “helper” plugin to help you troubleshoot 500’s that might arise from the .htaccess rules that the plugin adds.
If it is indeed an htaccess rule that’s causing the problem, the Apache (or other web server) error logs will indicate which rule has an error.
Another step you can take is to enable WordPress debug mode and examine the debug log to see if a specific error jumps out.
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