Plugins stop working

[Mynamehere]

So I have an SMF install, with a couple of plugins (ads, spoiler, awards and stuff). It all works fine and dandy.

And then it stopped working, without any change from my side.
Anyone have any clue WHY?

[Shambles]

You're being a little vague.

Define "it stopped working".

[Illori]

also a list of which exact mods are not working may help.

any errors in your error log related to this?

[Mynamehere]

You're being a little vague.

Define "it stopped working".

They worked. Now they don't.

I used to have awards shown in the signature and next to the avatar. Now they don't.
I used to have a spoiler tag. Now I don't.
There used to be ads on the site, now there aren't.

How is this vague...?

*confused*


Spoiler BBCode
Member Awards
SimpleAds
Referrals System
Super Simple Thread Tags

Are the addons

[Shambles]

It's vague because you said "And then it stopped working" suggesting your installation stopped working.

Now you're hinting that your forum is ok but the mods aren't working ("They worked. Now they don't")

So is your forum ok?

Also,

any errors in your error log related to this?

[Mynamehere]

Ah, I see... guess the language barrier got in the way there.

The forum itself (the core installation) is doing quite ok (except when I uninstall the Simple Ads, then the template gets wrecked). It is the plugins which aren't working (none of them).

[Illori]

are you sure your host did not do something to your install? do you have any other people with access to your files?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

are you sure your host did not do something to your install?

This ^.  If you used a host installer to set up the forum, it may be auto-updating, which will affect your mods.

[Mynamehere]

are you sure your host did not do something to your install? do you have any other people with access to your files?

They deny in every possible tone.

To answer the other question: it is running on Installatron.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Did you use a host installer to install the forum?
Are the non-working mods shown as installed in Package Manager?
Have you tried reinstalling them?

[Mynamehere]

I have used Installatron
Plugins are shown as installed
I tried reinstalling them, but one uninstall destroyed the whole forum (template thing).

I am thinking of just ditching the Installatron and do a "regular" install, but I've tried this before and I just can't seem to get the DB safely "transplanted"

[Kindred]

yeah....  your problems is definitely the use of the "autoinstaller"

Apparently, it auto-upgraded you, using the full upgrade archive -- which overwrote all of your files and thus removed all of your mods.

Here's what you do...

Back up your database

Kill the installatron installation

install the normal installation archive from our site

then DROP all tables in the new install database

and restore your database into the new install database

[Sir Osis of Liver]

You may have to disable auto-updating in installtron even if you delete the damaged install and reinstall from full install package in same directory.  Installtron may not know it's a clean install and might continue to autoupdate.

[Mynamehere]

You may have to disable auto-updating in installtron even if you delete the damaged install and reinstall from full install package in same directory.  Installtron may not know it's a clean install and might continue to autoupdate.

I think I will just dump the new install in another folder....

while the instructions may sound simple to you:

yeah....  your problems is definitely the use of the "autoinstaller"

Apparently, it auto-upgraded you, using the full upgrade archive -- which overwrote all of your files and thus removed all of your mods.

Here's what you do...

Back up your database

Kill the installatron installation

install the normal installation archive from our site

then DROP all tables in the new install database

and restore your database into the new install database

TO me, this is mysterious language.

Can I not "just" run an install, and then replace the config file or something, having it pointing to the existing DB?


Also: wouldn't I run into the same problems if I manually move to an upgrade?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

You have to do a clean install from the Large Upgrade package.  Download, unzip, upload to new directory.  Copy Settings.php and Settings_bak.php from your existing forum to the new install, then run repair_settings.php to fix paths.  You don't need to run upgrade.php.  The host installer will not screw up the new install if it's in a different directory, it won't know it's there.

[Mynamehere]

Doesn't my DB disappear when I uninstall through Installatron?

I am scared ******less, as I already lost the DB a few times....

(if someone would like to volunteer.... *angel eyes* )

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I would not use installtron to install or uninstall a forum.  If you can do a clean install in a different directory, copying Settings.php and Settings_bak.php will link it to the existing database, then you just have to fix the paths.  Once it's up and running, you can delete the original forum files.  The database is in a different place, and won't be affected.  You must backup the database before doing anything else.  Clear all forum logs first, then use your cpanel db backup (if you have that feature), or export the db with phpmyadmin.  Whichever method you use, make 2-3 backups, and confirm that the file sizes are the same, or you could end up with a partial or corrupt backup.

[Mynamehere]

Ah, I see... so, during this installation process, following the manual, I need to create another DB. Is that one just going to be lingering around forever?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If you use the large upgrade package, it does not contain a Settings.php, you're just uploading the forum files without creating a new db.   When you copy Settings.php from your existing install, it links the new forum to the existing db, then you have to run repair_settings.php to reset paths to the new directory.  If you currently have nothing in the db you need to save, it would probably be better to create a new db and use the full install package, then delete the old forum directory and drop the old db.   That would get rid of everything that installtron did.

[Mynamehere]

Ah, ok...

Is there a manual to installing the large upgrade pack? Or is it just a matter of unzipping and uploading?

[Illori]

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/How_to_upload_a_fresh_set_of_files

[Mynamehere]

Thanks,

Extract the package to the forum's directory, making sure that you delete upgrade.php and all the upgrade-x.x.sql files, and overwrite index.php, the sources folder, and the themes folder. You can either use FTP or cPanel's File Manager. On your forum, if you have replaced the standard smiley files with your own and/or replaced the standard avatar files, you might want to refrain from uploading both the smileys and the avatars directory. Important Note: If you carried out the optional step, you should also upload the sources from the large upgrade archive before you reinstall any custom themes.

this bit tells me to just extract the zip and put the files in the folder online, telling me to get rid of everything named upgrade and the old index. But.... shouldn't I also be dumping the files
Install.php
install_2-0.mysql.sql
install_2-0.postgresql.sql
install_2-0_sqlite.sql

?

These names remind me of that thing I had to remove first time, for security purposes.

Anyway, I went ahead and did the thing, and I got a perfect copy. I ran the repair_settings thing. And now, it seems, I need to start all over with the packages again. I only hope that all the awards I did define didn't just go away either, a lot of work went in that...

[Illori]

those files are not in the large upgrade package, so they should be deleted if they are present.

[Kindred]

well, first of all -- it sounds like you used the install archive instead of the upgrade archive....

however, it seems to have worked for you... and yes -- all of your mods were removed...    that is actually the entire purpose of doing a fresh load of files ---   to restore the FILES to the clean state.

anything you defined in the database is still there (and most mods store the data in the database)
However, depending on how you prepared the site for the clean files -- you may have deleted the IMAGES for your awards... hopefully, you have those images saved somewhere locally and can just replace them on the server.

[Mynamehere]

hmm, maybe they were there from before, yes. I did indeed try a full first (but I forgot about that.

I did the upgrade thing, installed the add-ons (minus the advertisement manager, of which I forgot which it was. One did the trick, they other...killed the site). Had to redo all images -I did indeed have a backup...in my trash can on the desktop...

Now, how do I remove the old one? if I just delete the old files, doesn't installatron then reinstall it each time?

[Illori]

if you did not install it again, you can just delete the packages in the package manager.

[Mynamehere]

Uh...
no... I mean: I did a fresh install on a different directory. So the original is now obsolete. How to get rid of it, without killing the DB (again)?

Also: if I upgrade the software, will I get the same problem again?

[Kindred]

1- upgrading should not have killed the database.   If you had database or other issues with the upgrade, it was almost certainly due to using that autoinstaller.

2- if you don't want the original install, then just delete that whole directory and everything in it.