Settings.php is blank

[greatlogix]

Hello,

All of sudden forum has stopped working. Forum home page is blank. Reason is settings.php is zero bytes or blank. I don't know how it happens. I did not made any changes to files in few months. I tried to fix it using repair_settings.php but its not working. How to fix this issue? Please help

[Illori]

do you have a Settings_bak.php? if so copy it and rename it Settings.php.

[Kindred]

what version of smf are you running?

[greatlogix]

SMF 2.0.1 . Settings_bak.php is also blannk. Is it hacking attempt? What to do now?

[Illori]

do you have a backup? you really need to upgrade once you get this fixed.

[greatlogix]

No. I don't have backup. What to do now?

[Kindred]

ah... yes.   That was before the race condition was fixed.

no.. it was not a hack, just a rare occurrence (which was, incidentally fixed in a future version - hence the reason you really need to keep updated in your software).... and also demonstrative of why you need regular backups.


As for what you can do now.
get the new installation from our download site.
on your person computer extract Settings.php and Settings_bak.php
upload them to your webserver

edit Settings.php manually ---   

edit in the database connection information (database name, username, password)
edit in the path and URL information for your site/forum
save

if it still does not work as expected, try using repair_settings.php
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Repair_settings.php
but this utility is only useful for updating an existing Settings, not a blank one...  so it wouldn't work as the first option.

[Burke ♞ Knight]

Also, should this topic be moved to the 2.0 support board, and not the Server Performance and Configuration board?

[Illori]

No. I don't have backup. What to do now?

does your host possibly have a backup?

[greatlogix]

Thanks Kindred. It worked. Auto update from admin is not working. I think i need to manually update forum.

[Kindred]

By auto update, are you talking about a host-level updater, like a one click installer?

If so...  Never, ever, ever,never use those.

Smf does notify you, in the admin, and in the package manager, when a new patch version is released...  And each one can be applied, in sequence, thus preserving your forum mods, etc with no interruption.