"Blank page" problem

When you experience "blank page" alias "white screen", most likely, a Fatal error on PHP error has occured.

There are quite many situations when this can happen: e.g. when some components get into conflict, the code is trying to redefine an already existing class or method, there is a bug in code or you are using unsupported PHP version.

The very first thing to do when this happens is to find out the real source of the problem (an error message). First of all you should try to increate the Joomla error reporting level. The setting is found in Joomla Administration / Global Configuration / Server (tab) / Error Reporting.  Set it to maximum. Now there is a big chance you should see the error message causing the blank screen problem. If you still don't see anything, then you will need to check your webserver error logs. Even though there is nothing shown on your browser screen, there is a high chance the error will be recorded in webserver logs. Locating and identifying the error message should give you (or our support team) an idea of what when wrong.

Examples of situations when a blank screen problem can occur:

• components with same functionality are installed and active on the same time (e.g. when you would be trying to run ARTIO JoomSEF and sh404sef) - this may cause a source codes conflicts
• you are using unsupported PHP version; the newest JoomSEF versions are not anymore tested with PHP4, only with PHP5 (5.1.0 and newer)
• some source code file is missing
• script is being short on memory (it requires more memory than it is allowed to use)
• there is a bug in the code