Trying to update x theme from 1.7.2. to newest version i purchsed today

Support
#1

I have a site swiftboats.org the has a ver old verion of the X theme, very old Version: 1.7.2. I purchased the newest version and set up a staging site to see if i can make it work before going live. I have uploaded the new theme zip to the staging site.

THe site is not loading, takes a VERY LONG time and sometimes i get page not found. I have disabled all the plugins looking for a conflct. NOTHING changes. I have tried to upload the cornerstone plugin because the zip file for X did not include it in the initial upload. and i am getting a critical error. Its just a big fat mess. ANy help or suggestions on how to get the site stable would be greatly appreciated,

I tried to click on links in the staging site including:

You’re almost ready to start using X. Please click here to install and activate the required Cornerstone plugin.
Goes to page not found

This license is ​not validated​. Fix
Goes to page not found

running PHP 8.1/ then i took it back down to 7.4
Running WordPress 6.9.5

Staging Site
http://swiftboats.org/wp64/

#2

Hey Robert,

Thanks for writing in! There seems to be a fatal error happening on the staging site. Did you install an X child theme? Do you have custom PHP code in the child theme’s functions.php file? We would be happy to double check your site if we can log in. You can create a secure note in your next reply with the following info:
– Link to your site
– WP login URL
– WP username
– WP password
– WP Administrator Role
– Confirmation that we can access and make changes to your site

FTP access

  • hostname
  • username
  • password

To know how to create a secure note, please check this out: How The Forum Works

image

Best Regards.

#3

Hello Robert,

The critical error has a clear cause: PHP 7.4.

Current versions of X and Cornerstone require PHP 8.1 or higher and use syntax that PHP 7.4 cannot parse, so Cornerstone fails immediately on load. That is why the manual upload produced a critical error, and why the “install Cornerstone” and “Fix” links return 404 — those admin pages never register while the theme is failing.

Quick Check

  • Please return PHP to 8.1 or higher. This is the first step and the remaining issues may resolve with it.

  • Confirm WordPress is 6.5+.

Step 2: Troubleshooting

  1. Restore PHP 8.1+ and retest – do this before anything else. Downgrading to 7.4 has made the site less able to run the new version, not more.

  2. If you are locked out with a 504 timeout – a 504 comes from the web server rather than PHP, so please ask your host to raise the gateway timeout as well as the PHP execution time. To regain access immediately, rename wp-content/themes/x to wp-content/themes/x-off over FTP. WordPress will fall back to a default theme, wp-admin will load, and you can rename it back once PHP is corrected.

  3. Install Cornerstone through the theme, not manually – once PHP is correct and wp-admin loads, use the prompt in the X admin screen to install Cornerstone. This ensures you receive the version matched to your theme.

  4. Please keep this work on your staging copy – upgrading from 1.7.2 spans many major versions, and X 1.7.2 predates Cornerstone entirely, so some page content will need rebuilding. Confirm staging is correct before touching the live site.

Best Regards.

#4

Hi THank you, i have it at 8.1 already, i also raised the gateway timeout as well as the PHP execution time before i contacted you.

All on the staging site. the site still does not load i get some 404 and i have the site in debug mode so you can see errors. it still take forever, i also stripped off everything on the front page of content, also the the old short code plugin i disabled, thought that might be the issue. THe site is running so slow, i also disabled all pulgins to see if there were any conflicts. nothing… I have attached the php settings, as well is the php version, Also tried to upload the text error log,so i pased text of the last errors.

max_execution_time is 1200
max_input_time is 1200

#1 /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-load.php(50): require_once(’/home/swiftboa/…’)
#2 /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-cron.php(46): require_once(’/home/swiftboa/…’)
#3 {main}
thrown in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-settings.php on line 284
[28-Aug-2026 20:08:22 UTC] PHP Warning: include(): Failed opening ‘/home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/themes/x/framework/legacy/cranium/headers/views/integrity/_breadcrumbs.php’ for inclusion (include_path=’.:/opt/alt/php74/usr/share/pear’) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/themes/x/framework/legacy/functions/frontend/view-routing.php on line 36
[28-Aug-2026 20:28:19 UTC] PHP Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘/home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-includes/class-wp-block-patterns-registry.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/alt/php74/usr/share/pear’) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-settings.php on line 366
[28-Aug-2026 21:00:20 UTC] PHP Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘/home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-includes/class-wp-oembed-controller.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/alt/php74/usr/share/pear’) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-settings.php on line 254
[28-Aug-2026 21:03:58 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:04:24 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:07:00 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:08:07 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:12:00 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:12:20 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:12:22 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:12:29 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:14:04 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:14:31 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:18:07 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:18:31 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91
[28-Aug-2026 21:18:31 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Cannot redeclare x_shortcode_dropcap() (previously declared in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/cornerstone/includes/shortcodes/dropcap.php:6) in /home/swiftboa/public_html/wp64/wp-content/plugins/x-shortcodes/functions/shortcodes.php on line 91

(upload://arki4tfNuMsLFlv1CJNdv9cuY8E.png)

#5

Hello Robert,

Please add the code provided below to your wp-config.php file to enable debugging. The errors will be recorded in a file named debug.log inside the wp-content folder.

Once enabled, please let us know if you find any errors related to our theme or its bundled plugins. We can investigate further based on the logged errors.

// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );

// Enable Debug logging to the /wp-content/debug.log file
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

// Disable display of errors and warnings 
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
//SET PHP INI DISPLAY ERROR FALSE
@ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );

Please find the video that will help you to edit wp-config.php and add the above code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SDPTafEM8o

Please share your * FTP login details in the secure note so we can debug it on our end.

Thanks

#6

ok i secure note the ftp and i alo put in what i have already in the staging webconfig file for debug. Please let me know if correct and again thank you so much for your assistance, greatly appreciated.