Insurmountable (it seems) glitches after new 2.0.13 installation

[Saul Wellingood]

I'm having a lot of issues with my new board. Years ago, I operated a Simple Machines message board and it was great.

Actually, I shouldn't say "a lot of issues." What is happening us that I constantly have to refresh the board after certain processes...in fact, almost all of them. Sometimes just loading the board, but also when registering, or logging in, etc. People I have invited to try it out from all over the place are having the same problem in both Chrome and IE.

I've used the same server for 16 years and it's never posed any functional problems, so I don't think it's that. And it seems as if others here have had a similar problem.

I'm wondering if I should just either upgrade or downgrade and hope for the best, because as it is I can't really get this thing going as no one will want to play.

Thanks!

[LiroyvH]

You have to refresh because...? It will stop loading? It hangs on loading? Finished loading but shows a white screen? It throws an error? It only loads partially?
What SMF version are you using; and do you have a few environmental details on the server? (Eg: PHP version, mySQL version, caching/no caching, any errors generated, etc. (Did you update the server software in those 16 years? )) Anything in your board error log and the server error log?

[Saul Wellingood]

Sorry about the dearth of details! Let's see...

Version 2.0.13, which I hid in the subject line.

I get a blank page, not a failure to load the page. Sometimes one refresh is sufficient to overcome this while at other times it takes 3 or 4. An example of such a page is hxxp:mysite.com/forum/index.php?action=login. [nonactive]

Some details, some of which mean nothing to me (I am not the server admin, I just rent the space and have most of the privileges I usually need):

PHP Version 5.3.10-1ubuntu3.25
MySQLi 5.5.53
Apache/2.2.22

I am not generating any errors. Technically, everything works, but it's like driving a car from place to place over countless speed bumps on an otherwise immaculate roadway.

Thanks for the quick reply!

[Bob Perry of Web Presence Consulting]

Could you post a link to your site, I want to have a look at this, has to be something simple

[Arantor]

What mods are installed?

[Saul Wellingood]

Hey folks. It's hxxp:www.kemibe.com/forum/index.php [nonactive]

You can get all of the info I suspect you need by looking at hxxp:kemibe.com/test.php [nonactive] (I'll have to zap that before too long as it's a security risk of sorts to have it up there).

[Arantor]

What mods are installed?

[Bob Perry of Web Presence Consulting]

Hey folks. It's http://www.kemibe.com/forum/index.php

You can get all of the info I suspect you need by looking at http://kemibe.com/test.php (I'll have to zap that before too long as it's a security risk of sorts to have it up there).

You do have some issues it seems, but they don't seem to be related to performance, the default page loads instantly, there is a blank screen on the registration page however, did you do a fresh install from the large package or from clicking a link in the package manager, with so few users its hard to judge what the problem is so far...

Correction... now I get nothing... you should most definitely double check the root directory where the forum is installed for a file named error.txt, it should be either there or you may find related entries in same filename one directory level up from the forum directory

If my site were acting this way, the first thing I would do is try the repair_settings.php file and if that loaded properly and everything looked okay with that, I would start from the beginning and do the fresh install again from a fresh copy of the large install package uploaded by ftp and redoing the entire thing from the beginning according to the standards used by everyone who has done this many times and recommended by SMF, and answer me this please, is that Wordpress running what you have posted in the root directory? or I should say your root domain looks like some type of blog system or custom html, all credits are removed, its hard to tell?

[Saul Wellingood]

What mods are installed?

Sorry about that! Er...I'm not sure what you mean. I performed the installation from the Web interface and the only changes I've made are to the index page, the style sheet and the default header image.

You do have some issues it seems, but they don't seem to be related to performance, the default page loads instantly, there is a blank screen on the registration page however, did you do a fresh install from the large package or from clicking a link in the package manager, with so few users its hard to judge what the problem is so far...

Correction... now I get nothing... you should most definitely double check the root directory where the forum is installed for a file named error.txt, it should be either there or you may find related entries in same filename one directory level up from the forum directory

If my site were acting this way, the first thing I would do is try the repair_settings.php file and if that loaded properly and everything looked okay with that, I would start from the beginning and do the fresh install again from a fresh copy of the large install package uploaded by ftp and redoing the entire thing from the beginning according to the standards used by everyone who has done this many times and recommended by SMF, and answer me this please, is that Wordpress running what you have posted in the root directory? or I should say your root domain looks like some type of blog system or custom html, all credits are removed, its hard to tell?

No Wordpress installed. I do have a file called error.log in a "logs" directory that is parallel to my root directory, which is "web." That is, the index page of my small website, along with a bunch of other pages and files and the "forum" directory, are in there. I'll download it when I get a chance later.

[Arantor]

What changes have you made? Details might be important.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

What mods are installed?

I performed the installation from the Web interface

Managed to load it once, now it's blank.  Did you use a host installer?  Where did you get the theme?  If you have admin access, change theme to default Curve.

[aegersz]

Did you take a restorable backup first ? Or is there a quick way to undo this ?

Are you seeing any errors in your Webserver logs ?

I get the same reaction, blank pages on all but the first attempt at a menu option.

[Saul Wellingood]

No pertinent errors in the server log, which goes back to 2013.

The theme I was using is called "BeCool" and it's associated with version 2.0.9. I reverted to Curve, and that seems to help in Chrome but not IE.

I haven't started using the forum at all, obviously, and have the native .zip package ready to reinstall if I need to. I thought at first that the permissions might be off despite the Web interface green-lighting my every move -- I thought 755 when they wanted 777, but I am plainly no expert.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Did you use a host installer?

777 is blocked by some hosts for security reasons.  755 dirs/644 files should work.  Main index now loads in IE11, but Login and Register links are blank.  You need to delete the install and reinstall using large upgrade package.

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

[Illori]

actually you need this link http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/How_to_upload_a_fresh_set_of_files if you do a new install you may loose what is in your database.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

It's a scratch install, nothing in the db but basic settings and admin account.  It's a mess, so better just to start over with clean install and db.

[Saul Wellingood]

Thanks, people! I had to go screw off for a few days, but I will do the reinstall -- as with almost everything to do with computers, saying "f*ck it" and just cratering the whole mess and beginning anew was what I was leaning toward anyway.