Locked out due to ban rule

[MortenMacFly]

I need some help urgently: I was fighting against SPAM that originated from one particular IP address.
So I thought it might be a good idea to block this address. But I must have done something wrong!
The result is, that I locked myself out - I cannot login, the forum tells me immediately:

An Error Has Occurred!
Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!

What can I do now???

[CRM 114]

What can I do now???

Can you log in from another IP, e.g. from a Mobile Phone, at work or a friends?

My attempt would be, to change (not delete) the entry directly in the database (table: ban_items).

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Easiest possible solution, empty your browser cache and reboot your computer or phone, and retry.
If this does not help, you can try to login from a different device completely, or as CRM 114 suggests and check the ban rule in the database to see if you can find out what went wrong, and fix that.

[MortenMacFly]

Thank both of you. Unfortunately, I already tried a different ISP, even a different country. But I might have hit a main server or the rule was bad in general, because even my Chinese college is blocked now (I am in Europe). It seems everyone is blocked.

So I will have to handle this low-level on the table: ban_times as suggested by CRM 114.

Now I have the next issue: I did not setup the forum nor do I host it. All I have is (theoretically) admin access. Is there a phpadmin interface to work on the tables or do I need a low.level access (ssh or shell) to do so?

Oh dear, I've learned so much through my mistake: I even setup the ban to never expire. I'll never do that again this way... :-(

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Usually phpmyadmin is included in hosting so you would need to ask the host about that,
but if you have FTP access you could probably also just temporarily install PMA yourself alongside the forum.
For example, if your forum is in the root folder, just install PMA in /pma or somesuch.

[CRM 114]

So I will have to handle this low-level on the table: ban_times as suggested by CRM 114.

There was a typo in my posting, the correct table is ban_items.

[MortenMacFly]

Guys, I did it!
The hint with the table was very good. I just removed that last entry and now everything works again.
An, indeed: After checking the IP which was 10.42.x.x I realised it points to a private network (kubernet) so this was supposed to not work out well!

Thank all of you very much!!!

(...and I've learned my lesson quite well.)

[CRM 114]

Fine.