[...] von WordPress und benutzt ein modifiziertes TerraFirma-theme (siehe unten). Im August 2009 wurde (händisch) auf 2.8.4 [...]

I’m really glad you managed to sort out your problems. I had a similar problem when I upgraded my version but when I FTP’d into the site and manually deleted the files individually, this worked. It might be worth checking if there are any hidden files that are preventing you from deleting the folders. Alternatively, if you can rename the files, you should also be able to move them. Try moving them into a new folder and then try deleting it.

I don’t currently use a comments subscription plugin on my site. I do however use Feedburner Feedsmith, this is a plugin that you can download once you have signed up to Google’s Feedburner. With respect to the plugins-compatibility list, bear in mind that it is probably out of date by now. As I said in my previous comment, be warned that the list is not completely accurate and should only be used as a guide. On looking at the plugins at Wordpress.org, I noticed that the subscribe to comments plugin says it is compatible upto 2.8. It might be worth downloading the latest version and trying it out.

By the way, I’ve heard good reports about DISQUS, but I have not tried it myself yet. There is potentially a very good reason to start using it because Google is starting to implement a point deduction system for external links that are not followed (in comments). DISQUS is supposed to counter that problem, and it also allows you to subscribe to comments (apparently). As I said, I haven’t tried it, just read about it a couple of times. You can read about it at Mashable.

Hope this helps

Glenn

Appreciate your response. What I tried:

1. Replaced the entire wp-admin folder: was a little closer to functionality after that.
2. Created and added the php.ini file: didn’t see a difference at that point
3. Replaced the entire wp-includes folder: bingo everything working!

I noticed that my ftp server wouldn’t allow me to fully delete my old wp-includes folder the last time I updated, in January 2009. I could manually eliminate many of the files in there, but couldn’t get rid of a lot of folders and couldn’t even change the file permissions in order to try that as a workaround. I have renamed all those orphan files and they are still sitting in my directory. Thoughts?

Finally, I formerly used “subscribe to comments” plugin but see it isn’t on the tested and approved list for 2.8. Any recommendations on that front?

Thanks for the post…
My blog is working now…

Thanks for your comments. I’m sorry you are experiencing difficulties but you are not alone!

I have a couple of suggestions that may help you.

First of all, try disabling your theme and using the default theme. If you find it difficult navigating to it in your wp-admin panel, you can FTP to your blog site and remove all the themes except the default theme from your /content/themes/ folder (moving them up one level temporarily will do the trick – you don’t have to delete them.

If this works, your problem is related to your theme. You can put all the themes you moved back in the themes folder and try reactivating it – sometimes this works. Or you can search for an update to the theme.

Second, if that doesn’t work, download the upgrade package again from Wordpress.org/download/, extract it to your local drive. FTP to your site, find the wp-admin/ folder and delete it. Then upload only the wp-admin/ folder from the fresh copy you just downloaded. This is where the admin css files are stored alongside the admin pages and functions.

Let me know how you get on.