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Any webhosts or Wordpress Experts that can advise on RSS issue?

by Myles Sinclair
17 replies
Hi Guys,

I've tried taking this issue to the Wordpress support, but no replies, and the thread is now well burried.

I've just noticed that all my Wordpress sites are showing the following error in the dashboard for "Incoming Links" and "Other Wordpress News"

RSS Error: WP HTTP Error: name lookup timed out
This is causing a loss in functionality of Automatic update. (button missing) And I know that at least one of the plugins is not working properly.

The sites were all running version 3.3.1 and were all working fine up until a few weeks ago.

I manually updated one of the sites to the latest version (3.4.1) and disabled all plugins, but the error has remained.

I have also tested a fresh install of a brand new Wordpress site - www(dot)magicalwonders(dot)com/blog/ and the dashboard for this site is showing the same error.

I'm using a reseller account on shared hosting and there is only one Wordpress site on each of the seven accounts that I have created.

I've been in touch with the host and they have made the follwing response -

We would like to inform you that we had search regarding this and could see that this is related to only wordpress there is no issue at server end. We have furnished some url below for your reference, please have a look on it.

WordPress › Support » Dashboard issues: RSS Error: WP HTTP Error: name lookup timed out
How-to Fix WP HTTP Error: name lookup timed out « Roll Over :: FatLab Music
I have found other threads which are about two years old concerning this problem, and the fix they suggest relates to a file http.php which appears to have been rewritten since then!

The only thing that makes sense to me is that despite what my host have said, this has to be a server issue of some kind? How can all my sites work fine one week and then throw up an error the next. The code is the same. The only thing that can have changed is something server side?

Does anyone have any ideas on this, or recommendations. Is is time to switch hosting?
#advise #experts #issue #rss #webhosts #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author vrtechnologies
    Hello,

    This will help you to fix the issue.
    wordpress.org/support/topic/dashboard-issues-rss-error-wp-http-error-name-lookup-timed-out

    If any other help then PM me..

    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Originally Posted by vrtechnologies View Post

      Hello,

      This will help you to fix the issue.
      wordpress.org/support/topic/dashboard-issues-rss-error-wp-http-error-name-lookup-timed-out

      If any other help then PM me..

      Thanks


      Hi,

      Thanks for that. I came across that thread the other day in my search for a solution. The fix it gives involves commenting out certain code from the http.php file and creating a file as a plugin?

      Unfortunately it seems as though the code for http.php has been rewritten since that post was made. The code quoted in step one no longer appears to exist in the current http.php file, so not sure how to proceed?

      For some reason the WF won't allow me to post a copy of the fix even though I wrapped the text in code tags!
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
    Do NOT change core WP files! Not that the earth will come crashing down or anything, but you'll be left flapping in the wind the next time an update comes out.

    Just an educated guess, but you might ring up your hosting company and see if their settings for mod_sec (assuming they're running Apache) have changed since the last time your backend worked.
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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    On the 'Incoming Links', hover the right side of the tab and click the 'configure' link.

    Make sure your domain link is at the end of the code there. (EX below)

    Not sure if that causes the error you describe, but have seen some not work if that code is wrong or domain is missing. That is what I would check 1st.

    Code:
    http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?scoring=d&ie=utf-8&num=10&output=rss&partner=wordpress&q=link:http://www.yourdomainname.com
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Originally Posted by SteveJohnson View Post

      Do NOT change core WP files! Not that the earth will come crashing down or anything, but you'll be left flapping in the wind the next time an update comes out.

      Just an educated guess, but you might ring up your hosting company and see if their settings for mod_sec (assuming they're running Apache) have changed since the last time your backend worked.
      Thanks for that Steve. I'm pretty sure the host has changed something, but they're not admitting to it. I can't see how code that works one day perfectly fine can throw up an error the following day unless something has changed. Well the code hasn't changed, so that just leaves the server.

      Originally Posted by VegasGreg View Post

      On the 'Incoming Links', hover the right side of the tab and click the 'configure' link.

      Make sure your domain link is at the end of the code there. (EX below)

      Not sure if that causes the error you describe, but have seen some not work if that code is wrong or domain is missing. That is what I would check 1st.

      Code:
      http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch_feeds?scoring=d&ie=utf-8&num=10&output=rss&partner=wordpress&q=link:http://www.yourdomainname.com
      Thanks Greg, I'll check that out. I'm pretty sure the domain addresses are not at the end of the code. I'll add one in and see what happens!
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      • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
        Originally Posted by Myles Sinclair View Post

        Thanks Greg, I'll check that out. I'm pretty sure the domain addresses are not at the end of the code. I'll add one in and see what happens!
        I was wrong. The domain addresses are present. I've tried reducing the number of items to be displayed to 1 but it still throws up the timed out error.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kingfish85
    Are you able to install any other plugins? I've seen this problem before, and I'm digging through our service tickets to see if I can find what the solution was.
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Originally Posted by Kingfish85 View Post

      Are you able to install any other plugins? I've seen this problem before, and I'm digging through our service tickets to see if I can find what the solution was.
      Yes, it looks like I can install plugins O.K. However, the backup database plugin is no longer emailing me the backups automatically. It will perform the backup and email if I manually click, but not when set to email each week.

      The problem is there on a fresh install, using default theme and no plugins, which is why I'm leaning towards a server side issue.
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  • Profile picture of the author sirishainc
    Have you looked at your error logs from within your CPanel? You also may have a file called error_log in the same directory where Wordpress is installed...If you do then download it and open it up using any text editor. You may be able to see the errors that are the root cause of the problem.
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Originally Posted by sirishainc View Post

      Have you looked at your error logs from within your CPanel? You also may have a file called error_log in the same directory where Wordpress is installed....."
      Yes, I've downloaded the error log, but no problems related to this. Last issue logged was back in April when the MySQL server was down.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kingfish85
    One more thing while I'm still looking - do you have CloudFlare running, or any other caching plugins/features?

    Also, here was the fix for one of our customers:

    Download and install this plugin manually: WordPress › Core Control « WordPress Plugins Once you've activated it, Load the "Core Control" settings page and activate the "HTTP Module". Go to the new tab fore the "HTTP Module" and test cURL. You will most likely receive the following error message "An Error has occured: name lookup timed out" Now click the "Disable Transport" link in for cURL. You should now be able install plugins and plugin updates.
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Originally Posted by Kingfish85 View Post

      One more thing while I'm still looking - do you have CloudFlare running, or any other caching plugins/features?

      Also, here was the fix for one of our customers:

      Download and install this plugin manually: WordPress › Core Control « WordPress Plugins Once you've activated it, Load the "Core Control" settings page and activate the "HTTP Module". Go to the new tab fore the "HTTP Module" and test cURL. You will most likely receive the following error message "An Error has occured: name lookup timed out" Now click the "Disable Transport" link in for cURL. You should now be able install plugins and plugin updates.
      I'm not sure what CloudFlare is? I'm not running it, but I did install the quick cache plugin. I've tried deactivating all plugins, and on my latest test installation I have nothing running except bare bones Wordpress.

      If I click the "Disable Transport" link you mentioned, will that not stop the "Incoming links" and "Other Wordpress News" from working altogether?
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      • Profile picture of the author Kingfish85
        Originally Posted by Myles Sinclair View Post

        I'm not sure what CloudFlare is? I'm not running it, but I did install the quick cache plugin. I've tried deactivating all plugins, and on my latest test installation I have nothing running except bare bones Wordpress.

        If I click the "Disable Transport" link you mentioned, will that not stop the "Incoming links" and "Other Wordpress News" from working altogether?
        Shouldn't. Just make sure you keep note of any configurations etc you have. They are used in a priority:

        PHP HTTP Extension
        cURL
        PHP Streams
        PHP fopen()
        PHP fsockopen()


        EDIT: for my post above, I was mistaken about it being one of our customers. It was someone who I helped via email that was not a customer.
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        • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
          Originally Posted by Kingfish85 View Post

          Shouldn't. Just make sure you keep note of any configurations etc you have. They are used in a priority:

          PHP HTTP Extension
          cURL
          PHP Streams
          PHP fopen()
          PHP fsockopen()


          EDIT: for my post above, I was mistaken about it being one of our customers. It was someone who I helped via email that was not a customer.
          O.K. I've installed the plugin and selected the module HTTP Access Module 1.0. When I click "Test Transport" for cURL I get the following message -

          Successfully retrieved & verified document from http://tools.dd32.id.au/wordpress/core-control.php
          Should I still disable transport for cURL?
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          • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
            I went ahead and disabled transport for cURL, but it didn't have any affect on the error status in the dashboard. Still showing - "RSS Error: WP HTTP Error: name lookup timed out"

            Not sure where to go from here, except consider a new host.
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            • Profile picture of the author Kingfish85
              Originally Posted by Myles Sinclair View Post

              O.K. I've installed the plugin and selected the module HTTP Access Module 1.0. When I click "Test Transport" for cURL I get the following message -



              Should I still disable transport for cURL?
              Originally Posted by Myles Sinclair View Post

              I went ahead and disabled transport for cURL, but it didn't have any affect on the error status in the dashboard. Still showing - "RSS Error: WP HTTP Error: name lookup timed out"

              Not sure where to go from here, except consider a new host.
              It appears that you're able to get out, so it doesn't "look" like anything is blocking it. Would you mind shooting me an email at brent@vopahost.com and I can see about getting you a test account with us to rule out your current host?
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              • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
                Originally Posted by Kingfish85 View Post

                It appears that you're able to get out, so it doesn't "look" like anything is blocking it. Would you mind shooting me an email at brent@vopahost.com and I can see about getting you a test account with us to rule out your current host?
                Thanks very much. I'll do that now.
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