WordPress 4.4.5 no longer working?

Question

I've worked with several groups that have 4.4.5 installed on their WordPress sites. For many reasons, they have not kept up with upgrades. (These groups are unstaffed and have no capacity, let alone tech capacity...truthfully, I don't even trust myself to do upgrades.)

All of them have messaged me to say they cannot access their databases in the last couple of weeks -- some who have upgraded to WP 4.6, others that haven't.

Trying to figure out what could have happened that is making them all break.

Some just have "DB Error: unknown error" errors. Others have longer errors:

www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Error.php(182): CRM_Core_Error::backtrace()
#1 [internal function](): CRM_Core_Error::handle(Object(DB_Error))
#2 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/PEAR.php(931): call_user_func((Array:2), Object(DB_Error))
#3 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/DB.php(976): PEAR_Error->PEAR_Error("DB Error: unknown error", -1, 16, (Array:2), "SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...")
#4 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/PEAR.php(564): DB_Error->DB_Error(-1, 16, (Array:2), "SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...")
#5 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/DB/common.php(1905): PEAR->raiseError(NULL, -1, NULL, NULL, "SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...", "DB_Error", TRUE)
#6 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/DB/mysql.php(895): DB_common->raiseError(-1, NULL, NULL, NULL, "3057 ** Incorrect user-level lock name 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.communi...")
#7 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/DB/mysql.php(328): DB_mysql->mysqlRaiseError()
#8 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/DB/common.php(1216): DB_mysql->simpleQuery("SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...")
#9 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/DB/DataObject.php(2442): DB_common->query("SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...")
#10 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/packages/DB/DataObject.php(1634): DB_DataObject->_query("SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...")
#11 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/DAO.php(325): DB_DataObject->query("SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...")
#12 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/DAO.php(1234): CRM_Core_DAO->query("SELECT GET_LOCK( 'indianaa_movedcivicrm.1.cache.community-messages_communityM...", TRUE)
#13 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Lock.php(151): CRM_Core_DAO::singleValueQuery("SELECT GET_LOCK( %1, %2 )", (Array:2))
#14 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/Civi/Core/Lock/LockManager.php(84): CRM_Core_Lock->acquire(NULL)
#15 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/BAO/Cache.php(154): Civi\Core\Lock\LockManager->acquire("cache.community-messages_communityMessages._")
#16 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Utils/Cache/SqlGroup.php(96): CRM_Core_BAO_Cache::setItem((Array:4), "community-messages", "communityMessages", NULL)
#17 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/CommunityMessages.php(123): CRM_Utils_Cache_SqlGroup->set("communityMessages", (Array:4))
#18 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/CommunityMessages.php(169): CRM_Core_CommunityMessages->getDocument()
#19 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Contact/Page/DashBoard.php(120): CRM_Core_CommunityMessages->pick()
#20 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Invoke.php(312): CRM_Contact_Page_DashBoard->run((Array:2), NULL)
#21 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Invoke.php(86): CRM_Core_Invoke::runItem((Array:13))
#22 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm/CRM/Core/Invoke.php(54): CRM_Core_Invoke::_invoke((Array:2))
#23 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.php(1189): CRM_Core_Invoke::invoke((Array:2))
#24 [internal function](): CiviCRM_For_WordPress->invoke("")
#25 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-includes/plugin.php(525): call_user_func_array((Array:2), (Array:1))
#26 /home/indianaa/www/www/wp-admin/admin.php(236): do_action("toplevel_page_CiviCRM")
#27 {main}

Answer 1

Sarah, Having just gone thru this I have sympathy for you.My environment was Wordpress and Civi 4.4.5.

The hosting company upgraded MySQL to a higher version which rendered the Prod and Dev CiviCRM 4.4.5 database inaccessible. I was given a week's notice of the DB upgrade but could not fit the Civi upgrade into that timeframe due to other commitments. Luckily I had started to upgrade my Development environment (copied from Prod) before they flicked the switch. I upgraded Dev to 4.6.9 and they supplied a patch related to locking and MySQL which allowed the environment to work. Once applied the 4.6.9 version commenced working. My Prod version was inaccessible and I had to copy my Dev version to Prod, modify everything so it pointed at prod again and apply the patch. All going now.

I have just upgraded Dev to 4.7.10 and testing it.

Would suggest you look into your MySQL DB version, the Config and Log directories within CiviCRM for errors.

Goodluck Garry