Connection Problems, BLuehost has deactivated me

[PenelopeQ]

Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.

I have been getting that message randomly--and not to often for the last week or so. A few others have reported it also. I just thought it was problems on the smf end of things...til now.

Bluhost just deactivated the account--so my blog is also offline--for major issues.

I did a search for connection problems and saw others pasting the same comment. They were told it was an issue with settings.php and to repair that.

I'm going to try that now, but wanted to let you know so that I've got people there for me. BLuehost said I will need to call them back to reactivate--which means I won't know if what I've done works until I call them and so if it doesn't work, they may have to deactivate me again.

I recently added a few plugins for protection against spam--I suddenly was inundated with spam. So I will need to see if one of those caused the issue--do any of you know of a spam protecting plugin that has been an issue? But I won't be able to see my plugins until I'm reactivated. Oh wait, I can go to my c drive and tell you what plugins are there.

Okay, I added these on 25 June
Some of these may not have made it to the forum, but these are the ones in which I was interested and I put to my c drive
RSSfeedposter3.0.2a
SFS_stopforumspam.1.0
anti_spam_links_v1.3.8
Enotify2.0.1
GOM_1.5
feedicon
bad_behavior_1.5.1 (I had this, but must have redownloaded it)
Calling+your+Twitter+2.5
Simpletwitter
boardviewers1-2-1-1

One of those twitters or both were not used--because they did not show that they were okay for my 2.0. I know I put the two RSS plugins in--feedicon and RSSfeedposter and I'm sure I put both of those spam plugins in too.

Okay, I'm going to go read this http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Repair_settings.php now. The link wa son another thread.
Let me know if that's the right direction.

Thanks

[Kermit]

Only with Settings.php it can be the issue with database username & passwords,if one of them or both would be incorrect,then you would get such an error message

[PenelopeQ]

Using repair_settings.php is easy: simply upload the file to the root directory of your forum with FTP and then access the page in your browser. Once you have finished, remember to delete the file or else you will leave your forum vulnerable

Okay, I added the repair settings file through my FTP. But I'm uncertain about how to do the next step; how do I access the page in my browser? What page? Just go to me forum home?

Only with Settings.php it can be the issue with database username & passwords,if one of them or both would be incorrect,then you would get such an error message

So that makes sense from what I read on other threads where it said the issue would be in Mysql. But what do I do?

[Kermit]

You can just check,if the database informations on your Settings.php correct or not,if correct,then in my opinion the issue can be only with your provider

[PenelopeQ]

You can just check,if the database informations on your Settings.php correct or not,if correct,then in my opinion the issue can be only with your provider

How do I check and how will I know what is correct? I mean, is the information stuff like accoutn info I should recognize or computer techie stuff which looks like Greek to me.

I don't even know how to start.

[oldpilot]

Did the provider give you a reason why they deactivated the account?
A specific offending file? 

Other than that I am not much help but following along.

[PenelopeQ]

No, they were only able to tell me that they could see it was from the smf forum.

If you do a search for the word "connection" from this board only you will see that the same notice has shown up for others recently. That's how I saw that it was a problem with settings.php

[PenelopeQ]

A quick question while I wait a reply...

Should I remove some of my new mods--in case they are cuasing problems? I'm wondering if it would be dangerous to remove them using my ftp--but since I can't get to my forum they will not be deactivated first.

Could that cause greater problems or should I do it?

[Illori]

you may cause more issues then it is worth unless you are manually removing all the code from the files that the mod was installed in.

[PenelopeQ]

Okay, thanks...I won't touch he mods then.

[PenelopeQ]

I have been looking at my settings.php file in notepad.

Under DB info: I don't know about the DB server, name and user... but the password is an old one. Should I cahnge that and upload?

Should I contact my host to find out exactly what the others should say. They are sort of what I think they should be, but they are variations, so I don't know.

[oldpilot]

You can just check,if the database informations on your Settings.php correct or not,if correct,then in my opinion the issue can be only with your provider

How do I check and how will I know what is correct? I mean, is the information stuff like accoutn info I should recognize or computer techie stuff which looks like Greek to me.

I don't even know how to start.

So would just the incorrect password be enough to cause this problem?
Or is there some way to know what is the proper information?

[Illori]

your host should be able to tell you the correct information or fix it and tell you what will work.

[PenelopeQ]

your host should be able to tell you the correct information or fix it and tell you what will work.

Yeah, wouldn't that be nice.
Okay, I'd like to scream really loudly now AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

You guys here are the greatest, always helpful and always attentive.
Bluehost however: about as helpful as my 92 year old bedridden Grandma who has never had a computer.

He said the db password is not the same as the cpanel password and wouldn't change when I change cpanel. Okay, but why did they used to be the same then? At one point months ago they told me something about passwords being synchronized. [Sigh] But he said that this password was set up when I created the db--so Spring 2010. I thought that I only set one password during that process...but there were probably so many steps in the process that I didn't realize or don't remember that I set more than one. I may have just thought I was putting in the cpanel password I'd just set rather than creating a new password--because they were the same.

Bluehost could see my settings.php file and tell me what was in it--so we were both looking at it at the same time. But they can't tell me if anything is wrong with it. They also cnanot tell me from there end when the problems started--even though there have been random problems at the forum for a week or two--I'm pretty sure they were since upgrading to 2.0 and adding a bunch more mods.

What Bluehost did tell me was that my server had a ton of activity and he couldn't say whether it was due to a huge influx of people joining and being active or something else.

But OldPilot did send me a PM about the enotify mod. There was a thread about it causing problems. It was giving notices about responses on threads that I had not posted on for months--and I think the responses to which it was notifying me were also months old. So every time I came back in I'd get this giant series of notice boxes that would scroll through. It was getting pretty annoying. Well, the enotify sounds like a lot of activity.

Any thoughts on that and what to do...Illori, you said I shouldn't delete it since it has not been deactivated yet. But my site is deactivated by Bluehost, so I can't deactivate it. I'm supposed to fix whatever before I ask Bluehost to reactivate and they said if they have to keep deactivating they may cancel my account.

And what about the repair_setting questions I had? Those seemed simpler—something you guys can answer more quickly. I uploaded it but don't know what to do now? I don't know how to "access the page" like it says to do next in the manual.
And if my settings.php file is correct that won't do me any good will it?
The server, db name...in it seemed correct.
It also appears that I created a backup copy of my settings.php before doing anything back in Spring 2010 because I have a settings_bak.php that does not have the specific info filled in.

I'm leaning toward OldPilot being right and the culprit being enotify, but I don't know what to do about that without an active site to visit.

[Illori]

sounds like at this point i would pack up your files and database and go find a host that can provide you support and actually answer your questions.

[PenelopeQ]

I don't even know how to do that. I don't have an active site right now.

[Illori]

ask them for access so you can do a backup, or ask them for a backup otherwise you are out of luck if they will not give you that much.

[PenelopeQ]

Oh, and my main site at Site Build It has almost all there tutorials for Bluehost.

[PenelopeQ]

So no one can help me?
I do not want to change hosts. That does not seem like a solution.

[Illori]

well if your host will not help you the best option is to find a host that can help you. if your host has disabled your account there is nothing that can be done but to move on and find a new host that can work with you and your needs.