“News Free” Prebuilt Installation on NEWSPAPER Error 500 on Homepage

I have tried to install the News Free prebuilt template for NEWSPAPER on multiple servers. The latest attempt was on a fresh WordPress installation with no plugins, except for those required by NEWSPAPER.

I always encounter the same 500 error, but it only affects the homepage. The rest of the site works fine—articles, pages, and everything else—but not the homepage.

You can check the homepage at http://www.omcv.es, and here’s an example of an article on the same site: https://omcv.es/?p=90.

I’ve been running NEWSPAPER successfully for the past two years at open-minded.es, but now that we are trying to switch to the News Free prebuilt template, it isn’t working. This is why we’ve been testing it on other domains, but we still can’t figure out the cause of the error.

Any suggestions or solutions?

Hello,Thank you for your answer.

I’m sorry, but there appears to be a specific error with the prebuilt template **”News Free”** when including the default content provided by the theme. We have performed **three different installations** on **three different providers**, each on **completely new and empty servers** without any additional installations. The theme works correctly in all aspects, **except with the “News Free” prebuilt template**.

Additionally, we have tested **most of the prebuilt templates one by one**, and **we haven’t had any issues with any of them except for “News Free”**.

The problem we’re encountering is a **500 Internal Server Error** that **only affects the homepage**. The rest of the site—posts, pages, and other sections—works without any problems. When we try to edit the homepage with **tagDiv Composer**, we receive the following error:

> **Error at zones: 6(models) : 0(dom). The model does not match the content. Current state has involved an issue. You could try an UNDO operation (CTRL+Z / CTRL+SHIFT+Z).**

We have attempted several troubleshooting steps, including:

– **Activating WordPress debug mode** to identify specific errors.
– **Checking the server error logs**.
– **Verifying the PHP version** and increasing the PHP memory limit.
– **Deactivating all plugins** except those required by the theme.
– **Reinstalling the “News Free” template**.
– **Attempting to disable ModSecurity**, but we encountered difficulties in doing so.

Despite these efforts, the problem persists **only with the “News Free” prebuilt template**. Other prebuilt templates work without issues.

Since we’ve replicated this problem across multiple servers and providers, it seems there might be a **specific error in the “News Free” template when importing the default content**.

Could you please investigate this issue or provide us with additional suggestions?

Thank you for your assistance!

Best regards.

Did you try making a new hompage template under pages, then edit that without it yet being selected as home page in WP settings?

Also, stick with php 8.3x as 8.4x has too many edge changes.

Thank you, @simchris, for your suggestion. I just tried creating a new homepage under **Pages**, and I was able to edit it without any problems, even when it’s set as the homepage. However, the homepage generated by the **”News Free”** prebuilt template cannot be edited with tagDiv Composer, even when it’s not set as the homepage. It gives the following error:

> **Error at zones: 6(models) : 0(dom). The model does not match the content. Current state has involved an issue. You could try an UNDO operation (CTRL+Z / CTRL+SHIFT+Z).**

Also, thanks to your idea, I saved the homepage generated by “News Free” under a different page name and installed another prebuilt template that works without issues. But when I set that saved page as the homepage, it gives the same error.

**Conclusion:** The problem lies in the page generated as the homepage in the **”News Free”** prebuilt template.

Additionally, we’ve observed the following:

– We’ve tested most of the other prebuilt templates one by one, and none of them have this issue. The error seems to be specific to the **”News Free”** template.
– We suspect there might be an error or corruption in the content or configuration of the “News Free” homepage that causes it to be incompatible with tagDiv Composer or leads to the 500 Internal Server Error.

Given that we’ve replicated this problem on three different installations across three different providers—all on fresh servers with no additional installations—it seems there might be an inherent issue with the “News Free” prebuilt template itself.

Thank you again for your help! If you or anyone else has further suggestions or has encountered a similar issue, I’d greatly appreciate your input.

I did all the steps mentioned.
And I also completely removed the WordPress installation and began with a fresh setup—no plugins, no posts, a totally clean slate. I installed the theme, its associated plugin, and the demo site. Yet, I’m still encountering the same problem, unable to proceed with setting up the site.
Thank You for your help

Hello Bettina,

I have just sent you an email with the requested admin and server credentials, along with a link to this topic. Please let me know if you need anything else or further information.

Thank you again for your assistance!

Best regards,
Juan Jose Barrejon

Hello everyone, I encountered the same problem, can you tell me how it was solved?

NOT SOLVED
I decided to uninstall newspaper and install another template because no solution

Thank you for your response Bettina. I have sent you an email with a description of the issue.

I solved the problem by deactivating Web Application Firewall (ModSecurity). Now front page work as expected.