Staff replied Helix Framework

Website crashes with Error 500

Asked by Dan Hummel 10 months ago Last activity 10 months ago

Hi Joomshaper Team! We run a lot of websites with your helix framework and Pagebuilder and we like your tools. But in the last days, one after another of our customers webites crash with Error 500. Now we try to fix and repair the 4th crashed website and we see, that the error is always the same! When you set the configuration-php to debug = true it says:

use Joomla\CMS\HTML\HTMLHelper;
use Joomla\CMS\Language\Text;
$app = Factory::getApplication();
$doc = Factory::getDocument();
$template = HelixUltimate\Framework\Platform\Helper::loadTemplateData();
$params = $template->params;
$theme_url = Uri::base(true) . '/templates/'. $this->template;

The strange thing is, nobody did any change to the websites, the error appears completely out of the blue. Please help us, what can cause all these websites to crash?
By the way: when we play in a 5 or 10 days old backup, the website runs without problems. But after some days the problem can show up again...
Greetings, Dan.

16 replies

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out to us. Could you please share temporary administrator access to your Joomla backend? You can provide the credentials securely in the hidden content section. Also, please take a full backup of your site before we make any changes.

Once I have access, I’ll investigate further and see what’s causing the issue. Let me know once you’ve shared the details!

Best regards,

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hi Ziaul, thank you for your answer - the problem is: there was no more access to the backend, it was also giving an error 500. So we had to restore a backup that we fortunately had to get the website running again. This happened to several websites now and it is always the same error, like written above. I thought this might have happened to other customers, too and you would propably know about the problem. Maybe I should get back to you, when the next website is affected? Greetings, Dan.

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

Hello Dan,

Don't worry! We are here to assist. To fix this type of issues, needs admin access.

For now, If everything is working fine, please mark the question as complete by accepting any of our answers.

Thank you!

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hello Ziaul, it's Dan again... now it happened again and the next of our customers Website crashed and shows error 500. It is the same error again. We already restrored this website once with a security-backup we had and the it worked again - but only for 3 or 4 days. Now we could restore it again to make it work for some days, but I am shure the error will show up again. The backend of the website is - like always with this error - not accessable. What went wrong here? Thank you and greetings, Dan.

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

First of all, please provide a screenshot of the issue and admin access. Without these, I won’t be able to identify the actual cause of your problem.

Thanks

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hi Ziaul, thank you for your reply, meanwhile we had to restore the website with a backup again, because our customer don't like is website to be offline with "Error 500". Like before, after restoring with a 3 days old backup, the website works again. I made an access for you, you will find your data in the hidden content. But in the moment, everything works - but you may take a look anyway. As soon as the error occurs again, there is no more access to the backend. I hope this helps at least a little bit, greetings, Dan.

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

Hello Dan,

Thank you for the details. Could you please let me know how we can reproduce this issue on our end?

I took a backup of your site and ran it locally, and I can confirm that you are using the latest versions of Helix Ultimate and SP Page Builder Pro.

But no issues on my end.

Looking forward to your steps so we can investigate further.

Thanks,

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hi Ziaul, thank you for your fast reply! If you would download the Backup that you can find in the Akeeba-Tool under: Backup taken on Freitag, 21. November 2025 10:00 CET
You would have exaktly the version, that caused the problem. Maybe this helps and I would be glad, if you could find the mistake. Thank you and greetings, Dan.

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

From my end, I see your site maybe have php version related issues, please try to use php v8.1 or 8.2

Screenshot: https://prnt.sc/V7PYnRza_jDp

Thanks,

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hi Ziaul, thank you for your tip - and here we go, the website crashed again, like it did several times before. Would you mind to take a look?

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

Give me your cPanel access in hidden content section.

Thanks

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hi Ziaul, the PHP-version was already set on 8.2, i just checked it. Do you want to have an FTP-access? Look in the hidden content...

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

Please, make public $debug = true and public $error_reporting = 'maximum'; from your configuration.php file.

So that, we can see the exact cause of your issues.

Thanks

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

I changed the configuration.php, you can see the error-reporting now. Thanks, Dan.

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

Hello,

This error comes from Joomla core.

The issue is caused by PHP 8.2 deprecating the utf8_decode() function, which Joomla is still using in /libraries/vendor/joomla/uri/src/UriHelper.php. This breaks the session and prevents access to the administrator area.

Since the admin panel isn’t accessible, here are the solutions:

Temporarily suppress PHP deprecated warnings
• In configuration.php, set:

public $error_reporting = 'default';

•   Or in .htaccess, add:

php_flag display_errors Off

•   This will allow the admin area to load so you can log in and upgrade Joomla safely.

2.  Patch the core Joomla file
•   Replace utf8_decode() with:

mb_convert_encoding($string, 'UTF-8', 'HTML-ENTITIES');

•   This fixes the deprecated function issue and prevents the session error.

3.  Downgrade PHP version temporarily
•   Switch the site to PHP 8.1 or 8.0, which does not trigger the deprecated warnings.
•   Once Joomla is upgraded to a version compatible with PHP 8.2, you can switch back to PHP 8.2.

Once one of these is applied, the admin panel should be accessible, allowing us to upgrade Joomla and fully support PHP 8.2.

Please let me know which approach you’d like to proceed with.

Thanks,

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hi Ziaul, thanks for your reply! I set the PHP-version to 8.1 and I will try to restore our backaup again. This should work, or am I wrong? After restore I will try to update Joomla to the newest version. I will keep you updated - greetings, Dan.

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

You are welcome.

Dan Hummel Asked this

10 months ago

Hi Ziaul, now the restored website runs, everything is updated an I set the PHP-Version on 8.3 - let's see if it stays online or if it crashes again after 2 days. Thanks for your help, greetings, Dan.

Ziaul Kabir Staff

10 months ago

You are welcome.