Changed cPanel access password now SMF can't find DB

[Maschinen Krueger]

I changed my cPanel log in password and made the forum Admin email host change and then get this message

Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.`

Anybody help me? I can log into cPanel with the new password.

[sherpa サイバー侍]

It maybe the temporary error becouse your server is busy

[Maschinen Krueger]

It maybe the temporary error becouse your server is busy

It's had the same message for 4 hours now.  My host shows no errors on the server. The rest of my site, non forum, is up and running as normal. I can connect to the DB, view it, and have made a successful backup. Is something not communicating between the DB and the forums because of a password change? I tried to change the PW back but my host won't let me since it was used before.

Also, I can't connect with my FTP since I made the password change. Related?

As you can tell, I'm a total newbie at this.

Thanks.

[sherpa サイバー侍]

changing cPanel password has nothing to do with SMF about the ftp you have to give new password to ftp manager becouse it is still remebering the old password.

you can access database means not smf is getting access.
have you made any change in settings.php?
link to your forum

[Maschinen Krueger]

I've changed the password in the FTP manager.

I have not edited the settings.php file.

[Maschinen Krueger]

OK, I think I know what the problem is, but what is the best solution.

my settings.php does not have the correct password. There was a weird page load problem when changing it, it must have accepted the first attempt but not accepted the second attempt.

[SlammedDime]

If Settings.php does not have the correct password, change it...

[Maschinen Krueger]

If Settings.php does not have the correct password, change it...

Is this easy enough to do manually?

download the settings.php
edit for correct password in notepad
upload and replace settings.php

Is that it?

[charlottezweb]

Yes, that's correct. 

Let me guess -- you either installed via Fantastico or when you installed SMF, you used your cpanel login instead of creating and assigning a database user to your SMF database.  I've seen this quite often.

The best thing for you to do is to create a database user in cPanel, and then give it full priveleges to your database. 

Then edit Settings.php to show the password you created for the database user.  Also, you'll need to change the database user to reflect the new user you set up.

The format for the user should be:  cpanelname_dbusername (where cpanelname is your cpanel login name and dbusername is the user you create).

You don't want SMF using your cPanel password as you'll face this problem any time your password changes not to mention the possible security implications.

[Maschinen Krueger]

Yes, that's correct. 

Let me guess -- you either installed via Fantastico or when you installed SMF, ...possible security implications.

You got it. I have a fellow admin who knows his way around DBs pretty well. I sent him the repair_settings.php and he was able to fix things up basically as you described.

I was trying to resolve this myself so I don't always have to go crying to him when something comes up.

So, the new username I created has the authorization to read and write to the DB the same as the default username. Probably shouldn't ever delete this. If I change this new user PW via cPanel, do I have to manually change it in settings.php which started this whole mess, or does this automatically update from the cPanel change.

Odd thing is, I had changed the cPanel PW before but it did not have this result.

I knew it was a password issue, and "knowing is half the battle."

Thanks. You can mark this resolved.

[charlottezweb]

If I change this new user PW via cPanel, do I have to manually change it in settings.php which started this whole mess, or does this automatically update from the cPanel change.

The new user is not the same as your cPanel login user.  So there's really not a need to ever change it unless you just want to be proactive in altering your passwords from time to time.  But yes, if you go under mysql in cPanel and change the db user's password, you'd have to update Settings.php as well.