After experiencing the White Screen of Death (WSoD) for a second time, I thought I’d share some preventative measures that could help you if you experience the WSoD. It’s not meant as a slight against Facebook, but rather to help others avoid similar situations.

When I first encountered the white screen of death back in 2017, it sent me into a tailspin. It made me wonder if I had been banned from Facebook. Was there something wrong with my computer? Would I be able to survive without Facebook? Pardon the dramatics but it was fraught – Facebook being a big part of my business as a social media pages manager and groups admin.

After searching the web for hours looking for solutions, nothing worked…

I reported the situation to Facebook 8 times over 11 days in total, was anyone receiving me? Is there anybody theeeeeere? I did not know, I’m not sure if it was them who fixed things at the end of 11 long days, but it got resolved and I was thankful…

Fortunately, the white screen of death only affects desktop/laptop computers, so you can still access social media sites from mobile devices – phew for that saving grace! You might be different but I personally find that using a laptop or desktop is more convenient for certain things I need to do, it’s not just because I’m old school 🙈

The second time WSoD happened was a while after the first so I had a quick look for fixes online, tried one and it didn’t work – it reportedly worked for others though so if you encounter WSoD there’s nothing wrong with having a quick look online for a fix. The secret is not to get swamped for days searching and watching endless videos and trying fixes (like I did first time around) as believe me it eats up so much time which you can put to better use.

Learning from past experience, second time around I got swiftly into action implementing all the lessons from the first encounter of the WSoD kind. Don’t you love it when lessons from a previous challenge save the day?

Advance workaround measures for the White Screen of Death

If you manage multiple Facebook pages or groups and want to use a laptop, here are some advance measures to workaround the WSoD (you’ll be glad you did this):

– Create a separate personal Facebook account for backup purposes
– Give the backup profile admin rights to all pages you manage; tell your clients you’re doing so
– Add the backup profile as a friend on your real profile – this enables you to add the backup as an admin to any new pages or pages you may have missed
– Make sure relevant business pages are admins of any groups you manage so that you can interact in the groups from the pages

How to Troubleshoot the White Screen of Death

– Check it’s not a tech, browser, or cache thing – log in and out of Facebook, switch your computer off and on, try another browser, clear your cache – just in case…
– Update 28th July 2022 – there used to be a “report to Facebook” option on this link which bypassed the WSoD, this has been replaced by Facebook with some suggestions so I’m leaving the link and will update this blog if I find the report feature again https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/357439354283890
– Report daily to Facebook if you can
– Search for some fixes if you need them, but don’t spend excessive time on this
– Then CHILL OOT* and get on with your work! Use your phone for Facebook, and your computer with your backup profile if your phone is not suitable for the task at hand

All of this saved me SO much time and turmoil the second time round – pesky as it was I more or less took it in my stride. I hope this helps you too – contact or comment if you’d like a chat. I help people with their Facebook pages on a regular or ad hoc basis in Scotland and beyond.

Take care and see you on the other side ✌️❤️ Karen

*(from the Scottish word meaning out)