Scenario
While working with web parts in a page, we might encounter a situation where one of the web parts malfunctioned and the whole page stopped from loading.
We may wish to open the page in edit-mode and fix the web part. But, in few cases the edit-mode itself won’t work leading the user to re-create the page with web parts.
Maintenance Mode
To our help there is a maintenance mode for pages. It helps to close any malfunctioning web part from the page. To open the page in maintenance mode we need to use the query-string contents=1
Example
For the following URL I am using the maintenance mode. http://sharepoint/sites/test/SitePages/Test.aspx?contents=1
You can see the page will be displayed as below.
Here you can select a web part & close / reset / delete it. There is an option named Go Back to Web Part Page to return to the non-maintenance page.
Note: You need to have appropriate permissions to use the maintenance mode.
References: http://bit.ly/1ctw75S
Summary: In this article we have explored the web part maintenance page feature of SharePoint.