blank (white) pages in admin area

[WhiteJC]

Hi

Back in September 2021 I had a similar issue, it was "fixed" by uninstalling and reinstalling a broken mod, embed tweet BBCode

However I'm now getting blank pages again, I uninstalled (and reinstalled) the mod hasn't had any effect.

SMF 2.0.19 PHP 7.4

The black (white) pages are, only in the admin area with no screen errors

Configuration
Core Features
Features and Options
Security and Moderation
Languages
Server Settings
Modification Settings
Email Inactive Users

Forum
Posts and Topics

Maintenance
Mail

all other Admin screens work

this is from the error log:
[24-Feb-2022 20:54:24 Europe/London] PHP Warning:  fopen(/home/friends8/public_html/forum/cache/data_ba0a3d690998a33c1d4136d16d0b46d2-SMF-modSettings.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/friends8/public_html/forum/Sources/Load.php on line 2897
[24-Feb-2022 20:54:24 Europe/London] PHP Warning:  fclose() expects parameter 1 to be resource, bool given in /home/friends8/public_html/forum/Sources/Load.php on line 2901



this shows that *modSettings.php is missing? the cache directory has its permissions set to 755

what do I need to do to fix this?

[Kindred]

no, it's not modSettings that is missing. Look at the whole error and filename.

Clear your SMF cache directory of all files except index.php and .htaccess (e.g. delete all data* files)

[Illori]

and once you are done with that you should really upgrade your install to SMF 2.0.21 at least.

[Arantor]

When did 2.0.20 and 2.0.21 come out?!

[Kindred]

and once you are done with that you should really upgrade your install to SMF 2.0.21 at least.

Illori, 2.0.19 is the last in the 2.0 branch.

upgrading to 2.1.3 is a good plan though.

[Illori]

and once you are done with that you should really upgrade your install to SMF 2.0.21 at least.

Illori, 2.0.19 is the last in the 2.0 branch.

upgrading to 2.1.3 is a good plan though.

close enough.

[WhiteJC]

no, it's not modSettings that is missing. Look at the whole error and filename.

Clear your SMF cache directory of all files except index.php and .htaccess (e.g. delete all data* files)

I've deleted all the data* files

still getting blank pages


I want to upgrade to 2.1.3 but I'm reluctant to while the pages are missing/blank as when I try to upload the large upgrade (from the package manager) I get an error
"Although the package was downloaded to the server it appears to be empty"

if fixing these blank pages doesn't help I'll manually upload the files 

[Illori]

if you want to upgrade to 2.1.3 you need to follow Upgrading SMF

[Kindred]

You can not upgrade to 2.1 by using the package manager.
Only "point" releases use the pacman

[WhiteJC]

You can not upgrade to 2.1 by using the package manager.
Only "point" releases use the pacman

ok that makes sense can I upgrade to 2.1.1, then 2.1.2 etc of do I need to go the large upgrade root?

will getting these blank pages be resolved if I upgrade or am I best getting the blank page issue resolved first?

[Arantor]

The large upgrade will replace all the files - whatever mod was breaking things should be forcibly disabled, making the problem go away.

[WhiteJC]

The large upgrade will replace all the files - whatever mod was breaking things should be forcibly disabled, making the problem go away.

do you think its worth me disabling the mods, one by one, to see which one is causing the problem?

[Arantor]

You could try that, yes.