Pagination on custom wp_query in WordPress takes to 404 error page

Question

Im have a loop with wp_query with the following code:

<?php
    $temp = $wp_query;
    $wp_query= null;
    $wp_query = new WP_Query();
    $wp_query->query("showposts=2&paged=$paged");
?>

<?php if ($wp_query->have_posts()) : while ($wp_query->have_posts()) : $wp_query->the_post(); ?>
    <?php the_title() ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else: ?>
    <article>
        <h2><?php _e( 'Sorry, nothing to display.', 'theme' ); ?></h2>
    </article>
<?php endif;  my_pagination(); wp_reset_query()?>

with standard pagination :

<?php 
function my_pagination()
{
    global $wp_query;
    $big = 999999999;
    echo paginate_links(array(
        'base' => str_replace($big, '%#%', get_pagenum_link($big)),
        'format' => '?paged=%#%',
        'current' => max(1, get_query_var('paged')),
        'prev_text'    => __('<i class="fa fa-chevron-left"></i>'),
        'next_text'    => __('<i class="fa fa-chevron-right"></i>'),
        'total' => $wp_query->max_num_pages,
    ));
}
?>

The pagination is showing correctly on the page, but whenever I click on the pagination link it takes me to the error page.

Tried everything now and have no idea what can be the reason for it.

Amy help much apprecieated

When you hover over the pagination link for page 2 what is the URL? — henrywright
So your pagination output looks good. The problem must be with your actual query. Can you try removing $wp_query->query("showposts=2&paged=$paged"); then see if you can access page 2 — henrywright
@henrywright, Ive done that bit it is then returning an empty loop. Whats interesting is that when I change Setting->Reading to smaller amount is seem to take impact on my loop. Ive set there 5 items per page. There is only 7 posts and the pagination is showing 3 pages. Seems that it is ignoring wp_query but the third page is showing 404. Im lost now. — Dom
If you remove the code I suggested: $wp_query->query("showposts=2&paged=$paged"); and change $wp_query = new WP_Query(); to $wp_query = new WP_Query( 'posts_per_page=2' ); does that return some results? With that in place, your pagination should work — henrywright

Michal S Michal S · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-17T21:37:07

Had a hard time with it too :) Was easier to search when I realized it's wrong calculated post per page number, and here is a magic trick: (to be added to functions.php)

function my_post_count_queries( $query ) {
  if (!is_admin() && $query->is_main_query()){
    if(is_home()){
       $query->set('posts_per_page', 1);
    }
  }
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'my_post_count_queries' );

Pagination on custom wp_query in WordPress takes to 404 error page

3 Answers