Reinstalling a database

[sheryltoo]

Not sure if this is the right board for it so if it isn't, please move it.
I'm not even sure if this is something you all can help me with but I'll ask any way.
I got an e-mail from my host yesterday saying I was using an old version of PHPBB and needed to upgrade it.
It was for a forum that I really never used since I wasn't sure what I was doing and thought SMF was all I needed so I just left everything in a folder in cpanel. The folder also contained my files for the SMF site I was using.
I told my host I just wanted to delete that phpBB forum and thought I could do it by just deleting the files listed in my smf folder.
Apparently that wasn't what I was suppose to do so they took care of some things for me.
I got an e-mail from them this morning saying they had to delete all the files in the folder that housed my SMF site but they said they preserved my database so I can install a fresh copy of smf but I don't understand how to do that and use my old database.
When you preserve a database, does that mean all my post and member's list is preserved?
I have no idea what I'm suppose to do or where to even start.
I did make a back up of my site, just before I tried removing the phpBB forum but I'm not sure that's going to be of any use if I have to install a fresh copy of smf.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Sheryl

[Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail]

I am not sure whether your host was doing the right thing. In backup, I usually believe that it involves two things, the site files and the database files. This is due to the fact that some things rely on the forum or site files like custom smiley or avatar or images attached etc. You can try installing using upgrade package to install on old database since using normal install package might not work properly. By doing this, you might miss other files as mentioned above. But so far posts are concerned, I think they all will be just fine.

[tumbleweed]

I find it strange you had PHPBB files in your SMF folder. Anyways.
#1FTP into your webspace all the files required by SMF, Make sure you have the correct version. Before you FTP the files
#2 upload the settings.php and its back up file into the web-space. If the settings.php file was from the working SMF before they deleted it. It will have the correct settings and you will not need to set those (database) settings up.
#3 toss i the repair_settings and fix all settings that may have gone haywire.
http://download.simplemachines.org/index.php?thanks;filename=repair_settings.php

I forgot check in your web space control panel that the database is still named it is stated in the settings.php. I am pretty sure they did not save your database as something else. However one never knows.

[sheryltoo]

I don't know why I put the phpBB files in my folder for my smf site unless it was because I wanted the site to have the same name but I never really did anything with it and then forgot all about it.
In any event, thanks for trying to help me but as it turns out, my host fixed everything for me.
I think for the most part my site looks fine except I'm missing all the smileys I installed and my mods but that's not a big deal.
Sheryl

[Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail]

Glad to hear that your problems are solved. Good luck with your new reborn forum.

[sheryltoo]

Thanks and I just realized not only am I missing my smileys, I'm missing some of the images that go along with the themes.
I'm using the default theme and and so far I've realized I'm missing the icon that says there's a "new" reply  to a post. I could be missing some more images because there's tons of red x's where an image is suppose to appear. I thought the red x's were for my smileys but now I think it's probably for default images.
I have another forum that uses SMF RC5 which is the same version for this reinstalled forum and that site shows several different themes, not that I really need them and different images with the word new on them. I'm wondering if I'm missing some images.
I looked in the extracted files and they're not there so they couldn't have been installed to begin with so I'm not sure where to find them or how to fix this.

[sheryltoo]

Hmm, this is really strange. I am using IE 8 but I also have a mac computer and when I went to my site on my mac, all the icons are there including the smileys I thought I lost.
And I can see the new image on this site for a new post so why can't I see them at my site?
It can't be an ie issue because I wouldn't be able to see the icons here, right? Is there a setting in my profile that lets me see images?

[Illori]

if you right click on the missing images and get their properties do the images exist where the code thinks they should be?

[sheryltoo]

The "new" image says it's path goes from images/ to english-utf8 but there's no folder in my files for english-utf8. That could explain why there's that particular problem except why would I be able to see this image on my mac computer?
As far as my smileys, the path leads to my smiley folder except the smileys are missing from the folder so I shouldn't be able to see them at all I would imagine, yet I can see them on my mac.
This doesn't make any sense to me so I don't even know how to go about fixing it.

[Illori]

create a folder on your server named english-utf8 and put the new.gif from english in that folder. can you provide us a link to a post on your forum with a smiley in it?

[sheryltoo]

I could try making that folder but that doesn't explain why I can see the new.gif when I'm using my mac computer and Safari for the browser. The gif's properties are still the same so the folder shouldn't be the problem.
I checked a few smileys using both my pc and mac computers and the properties are all the same yet I can't see certain images or smileys on my pc.
I'm using Windows 7 with ie 8. I have a third computer with Vista and ie7. Maybe I'll start that up and see what happens.
In any event, here's a link to a topic that has two post with two missing smileys.
Reply # 1 and # 5 should both have smileys. Let me know if you see them.
http://daysofourlives.sherylspage.com/index.php?topic=4099.0

[Illori]

sounds like your forums default language differs from the default language of your user account.

also your smilies path does not seem correct

http://daysofourlives.sherylspage.com/Smileys/default/sleep.gif leads to a 404 page do the smilies actually exist on your server at that path?

[sheryltoo]

Under my profile summary, it shows Language: English. I don't know how that got there or if it's suppose to be there since I don't show any language at my other site that doesn't have a red x problem.
How would I go about changing my language or how do I check to see what language my site is?

As to the smiley, that particular one isn't in a folder under smileys so I don't know why it shows up if I'm using my mac computer.
I was thinking of trying to reinstall RC5. If I do that, do I again use the full install?

[Illori]

under admin -> languages you can see which languages are installed and which is default.

also for the smiley issue check under admin -> smileys and message icons for which are your default and check under admin -> themes and layout for which is the default smileys for that theme.

[sheryltoo]

I found the language page and it says English.
I made a new folder in my Smiley folder and uploaded a bunch of the smileys that were showing up as red x's and then changed the smiley path and default to this new folder so now I'm seeing a lot more smileys. I must have lost a few cause I can't find them on my computer or my back up drive so I guess I'll just delete them from the forum but none of this explains why I can see everything just fine on the mac computer.
And I still need to figure out why I can't see the "new" image next to a new post.

Do you think reinstalling RC5 could help? If so, would I use the full install or the upgrade package?

[Illori]

so your default language in your profile is english? and your forums default language is english? when you right click on the new image and get its properties it says it should be in an english folder? does it exist there?

[sheryltoo]

It is in the English folder but the properties say utf8. Maybe that doesn't matter as long as I have an English folder? Except why can't I see New?
Did you try looking at any post at my site? Do you see the word new next to all the new post?

[Illori]

do you have english-utf8 installed on your forum? if so delete it and see if that helps. I dont see any new threads on your forum to check that issue myself.

[sheryltoo]

No, I don't have english-utf8 installed. At least I don't see it.
Sorry, I forgot. You can't see if there's new messages if you're a guest.
I don't know if that's something I set up or is it just the default for smf forums?

I'm still wondering if I should try and reinstall my site but I don't know which version to try.

[Illori]

I am willing to take a closer look into this issue, for now please read http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=228940.0 and if you agree please pm me an admin username/password to your forum and I will see what i can do to help you.