Installation & Activation

Plugin Activation Fails

Error message when clicking ‘Activate’

1. PHP Version Too Old

• Error: “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected…”
• Solution: Upgrade PHP to 7.4 or higher (8.1+ recommended)
• Check Version: PulseRank → Settings → System Health (after fixing)

2. Memory Limit Too Low

Error: “Allowed memory size exhausted”

Solution: Increase PHP memory_limit to at least 128MB. Add to wp-config.php before “That’s all, stop editing!”:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

3. File Permissions

Error: “Could not create directory” or “Permission denied”

Solution: Set correct permissions:

chmod 755 /wp-content/plugins/pulserank
chmod 644 /wp-content/plugins/pulserank/*.php

4. Conflicting Plugins

Issue: Another plugin causing fatal error

Solution:

1. Deactivate all other plugins
2. Activate PulseRank
3. Reactivate plugins one by one to identify conflict

Database Tables Not Created

Settings → System Health shows ‘Table does not exist’

Diagnosis:

1. Check WordPress error log (/wp-content/debug.log)
2. Look for database errors during activation

Solutions:

• Manual Table Creation: Deactivate PulseRank, delete plugin completely, reinstall and activate (triggers fresh table creation)
• Database Permissions: Ensure WordPress database user has CREATE TABLE privilege. Contact hosting provider if necessary.
• MySQL Version: PulseRank requires MySQL 5.6+. Check with host if running older version.

Verification:

-- Run in phpMyAdmin or MySQL client
SHOW TABLES LIKE 'wp_pulserank_%';

Should return 7 tables:

• wp_pulserank_hits
• wp_pulserank_aggregates_daily
• wp_pulserank_aggregates_hourly
• wp_pulserank_conversions
• wp_pulserank_audits
• wp_pulserank_content_scores
• wp_pulserank_content_issues

Plugin Causes White Screen (WSOD)

Site becomes inaccessible after activation

Emergency Fix via FTP:

1. Connect to your site via FTP/SFTP
2. Navigate to /wp-content/plugins/
3. Rename pulserank folder to pulserank-disabled
4. Site should recover immediately

Permanent Fix:

1. Enable WordPress debug mode (add to wp-config.php):

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

2. Rename folder back to pulserank to reactivate
3. Check /wp-content/debug.log for error details
4. Report issue to [email protected]