"Internal Server Error"

[HackAl]

Hi All.

This message has been coming up lately while navigating throughout the boards, particularly in the admin functions. It typically goes away on refresh.
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Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
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When I questioned my host (HostDime) about it, they said its a problem with SMF. They told me that this is the error they see most often with my site:
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[Sat Dec 25 13:38:03 2010] [error] [client 109.184.18.235] (36)File name too long: access to /index.php+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Result:+\xf1\xe0\xe9\xf2+\xf1\xee\xe4\xe5\xf0\xe6\xe8\xf2+\xef\xe8\xea\xf2\xee\xea\xee\xe4+\xed\xe5\xe8\xe7\xe2\xe5\xf1\xf2\xed\xee\xe3\xee+\xf2\xe8\xef\xe0,+\xf0\xe5\xea\xee\xec\xe5\xed\xe4\xf3\xe5\xf2\xf1\xff+\xe8\xe7\xec\xe5\xed\xe8\xf2\xfc+\xf0\xe5\xe6\xe8\xec+\xf0\xe0\xf1\xef\xee\xe7\xed\xe0\xe2\xe0\xed\xe8\xff+\xe2+\xed\xe0\xf1\xf2\xf0\xee\xe9\xea\xe0\xf5+"\xd1\xea\xee\xf0\xee\xf1\xf2\xfc+-+\xef\xf0\xee\xe1\xe8\xe2\xe0\xe5\xec\xee\xf1\xf2\xfc";+Result:+\xf1\xe0\xe9\xf2+\xf1\xee\xe4\xe5\xf0\xe6\xe8\xf2+\xef\xe8\xea\xf2\xee\xea\xee\xe4+\xed\xe5\xe8\xe7\xe2\xe5\xf1\xf2\xed\xee\xe3\xee+\xf2\xe8\xef\xe0,+\xf0\xe5\xea\xee\xec\xe5\xed\xe4\xf3\xe5\xf2\xf1\xff+\xe8\xe7\xec\xe5\xed\xe8\xf2\xfc+\xf0\xe5\xe6\xe8\xec+\xf0\xe0\xf1\xef\xee\xe7\xed\xe0\xe2\xe0\xed\xe8\xff+\xe2+\xed\xe0\xf1\xf2\xf0\xee\xe9\xea\xe0\xf5+"\xd1\xea\xee\xf0\xee\xf1\xf2\xfc+-+\xef\xf0\xee\xe1\xe8\xe2\xe0\xe5\xec\xee\xf1\xf2\xfc";+Result:+\xf1\xe0\xe9\xf2+\xf1\xee\xe4\xe5\xf0\xe6\xe8\xf2+\xef\xe8\xea\xf2\xee\xea\xee\xe4+\xed\xe5\xe8\xe7\xe2\xe5\xf1\xf2\xed\xee\xe3\xee+\xf2\xe8\xef\xe0,+\xf0\xe5\xea\xee\xec\xe5\xed\xe4\xf3\xe5\xf2\xf1\xff+\xe8\xe7\xec\xe5\xed\xe8\xf2\xfc+\xf0\xe5\xe6\xe8\xec+\xf0\xe0\xf1\xef\xee\xe7\xed\xe0\xe2\xe0\xed\xe8\xff+\xe2+\xed\xe0\xf1\xf2\xf0\xee\xe9\xea\xe0\xf5+"\xd1\xea\xee\xf0\xee\xf1\xf2\xfc+-+\xef\xf0\xee\xe1\xe8\xe2\xe0\xe5\xec\xee\xf1\xf2\xfc"; failed, referer: http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Result:+%F1%E0%E9%F2+%F1%EE%E4%E5%F0%E6%E8%F2+%EF%E8%EA%F2%EE%EA%EE%E4+%ED%E5%E8%E7%E2%E5%F1%F2%ED%EE%E3%EE+%F2%E8%EF%E0,+%F0%E5%EA%EE%EC%E5%ED%E4%F3%E5%F2%F1%FF+%E8%E7%EC%E5%ED%E8%F2%FC+%F0%E5%E6%E8%EC+%F0%E0%F1%EF%EE%E7%ED%E0%E2%E0%ED%E8%FF+%E2+%ED%E0%F1%F2%F0%EE%E9%EA%E0%F5+%22%D1%EA%EE%F0%EE%F1%F2%FC+-+%EF%F0%EE%E1%E8%E2%E0%E5%EC%EE%F1%F2%FC%22;+Result:+%F1%E0%E9%F2+%F1%EE%E4%E5%F0%E6%E8%F2+%EF%E8%EA%F2%EE%EA%EE%E4+%ED%E5%E8%E7%E2%E5%F1%F2%ED%EE%E3%EE+%F2%E8%EF%E0,+%F0%E5%EA%EE%EC%E5%ED%E4%F3%E5%F2%F1%FF+%E8%E7%EC%E5%ED%E8%F2%FC+%F0%E5%E6%E8%EC+%F0%E0%F1%EF%EE%E7%ED%E0%E2%E0%ED%E8%FF+%E2+%ED%E0%F1%F2%F0%EE%E9%EA%E0%F5+%22%D1%EA%EE%F0%EE%F1%F2%FC+-+%EF%F0%EE%E1%E8%E2%E0%E5%EC%EE%F1%F2%FC%22;+Result:+%F1%E0%E9%F2+%F1%EE%E4%E5%F0%E6%E8%F2+%EF%E8%EA%F2%EE%EA%EE%E4+%ED%E5%E8%E7%E2%E5%F1%F2%ED%EE%E3%EE+%F2%E8%EF%E0,+%F0%E5%EA%EE%EC%E5%ED%E4%F3%E5%F2%F1%FF+%E8%E7%EC%E5%ED%E8%F2%FC+%F0%E5%E6%E8%EC+%F0%E0%F1%EF%EE%E7%ED%E0%E2%E0%ED%E8%FF+%E2+%ED%E0%F1%F2%=F0%EE%E9%EA%E0%F5+%22%D1%EA%EE%F0%EE%F1%F2%FC+-+%EF%F0%EE%E1%E8%E2%E0%E5%EC%EE%F1%F2%FC%22;
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I upgraded to RC4 and the problem persists.  I check the error logs in the database but find nothing.

Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

My site is www.hackensacknow.com

[Ashley S]

Has this error been fixed yet?. If not then the upgrade you have done as gone wrong.
I am viewing your index page now and everything is fine.

[HackAl]

Error persists.  Is this a known issue? Any suggestions?

[MrPhil]

The URL you're getting is pure gibberish. The first part is something like

Code Select Expand

http://www.hackensacknow.org/index.php                                           Result: ñàéò ñîäå...
It doesn't appear to be UTF-8 being displayed as Latin-1, or any other encoding switch (the characters shown above are Latin-1 equivalent of the hex codes, which is what the browser and server are probably understanding them as). The length of groups between blanks varies all over the place.

What are your database and page display encodings (ISO-8859-1, UTF-8, other)? Do any of these odd URLs show up in your browser information line (at the bottom of the browser) before you click on the links? If a clean URL shows in the information line, but the server throws back the Internal Server Error, it's not in SMF and it's probably not in the browser. If the problem goes away upon page refresh, I would suspect it's a server configuration problem after all, but other than a hunch, I can't say any more.

I was wondering if perhaps somehow the session ID had gotten corrupted and was being sucked into the URL Query String as commands rather than data, but all the numbers appear to be in the upper half (>= x80) and there are too many bytes, so that's probably not it. I don't have a copy of SMF 2 to play with or examine the code, but you might search its files for the string Result:. In 1.1.12 there is a report page with a column header Results, but that's all I can find. No idea why "Results:" would appear in the URL, unless your browser and/or server are a bit crazy.

In short, there's no reason that all those blanks and strange characters and "Results:" should have ended up in the URL. All I can suggest is that you change browsers and see if the problem goes away. Are you the only one having this problem? It may not even be a generic browser problem -- your particular copy of the browser might be subtly corrupted somewhere, and simply replacing it with a fresh copy (and clearing all caches) might do the trick. What is your connection to the Internet? Are you behind a router or firewall that might be corrupting your data? Good luck!

[HackAl]

Thanks for your detailed reply.  I will follow your suggestions and report back.

[HackAl]

I'm seeing this now in Firefox:
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Content Encoding Error

The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.

    *   Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

[HackAl]

In the end, this seems to have been a server error related to Hostdime's equipment.  The problem resolved once they replaced some hardware. 

Thanks.