Can't Access Core Features, Forum Profile and...

[susieQ.V]

I am have had SMF 2.0.5 installed with no problems since August.

Sometime between yesterday and today something has gone wrong with the forum.

When I click on my 'forum profile' it takes me to the site error page.

When I click on 'core features' in the admin menu, it takes me to the site's error page.

When I view the members list via the admin panel and error log, I can see the first page of both, but when I click on the next page number at the bottom to see the next page of members or errors in the log, it takes me to the sites error page.

The summary across the top of the error log indicates that there is a critical error, but I have no idea what it is because it is not on page 1 and I cannot advance to any of the others pages to have a look.

I appear to have lost access to important features in the forum.

I have been able to check the data base and it says that there are no errors. I have also restored the data-base from a back up from yesterday and that did not help.

At this point I do not know what else to do.

[kat]

A URL for your site might be a good place to start.

Can you get to Admin>Maintenance>Logs? If so, anything weird, there?

[Kindred]

when you say "the site's error page" what exactly do you mean?


Since SMF does not have an "error page" by default, I have to wonder if you are using a mod or some configuration on your host side?

[susieQ.V]

It's not a mod. The forum is part of a larger site. The Home page has a link to the forum on it. When something isn't found the a 403 is generated on the site's HP theme.

It's a closed forum which is why the I didn't include the url although I will be happy to create a test acct for someone.

I now have lots more info and detail to offer thanks to one of my members.

There appears to be something wrong with the urls generated by SMF.

My member left a post saying when she clicks on 'forum profile' the url it brings up the following url which generates a 403.

http://mr-reeves.com/forum1/?action=profile;area=forumprofile [nofollow]

When she change the ; to &, in the url, it brings up the forum profile page.

http://mr-reeves.com/forum1/?action=profile&area=forumprofile [nofollow]

I used this information to access the page I needed in the error log in the forum maintenance section by changing:

http://mr-reeves.com/forum1/?action=admin;area=logs;sa=errorlog;desc;filter=error_type;value=critical [nofollow]

to:

http://mr-reeves.com/forum1/?action=admin&area=logs&sa=errorlog&desc&filter=error_type;value=critical [nofollow]

The error message is:

Apply Filter: Only show the error messages of this URL
http://mr-reeves.com/forum1/index.php?action=admin;area=packages;sa=remove;package=SimplePortal_2.3.5.zip;b7f56037=db78a7bba5de250cf9020a94f065faf4 [nofollow]
Apply Filter: Only show the errors with the same message
Administration login attempt!
Referer: http://mr-reeves.com/forum1/index.php?action=admin;area=packages;sa=remove;package=SimplePortal_2.3.5.zip;b7f56037=db78a7bba5de250cf9020a94f065faf4 [nofollow]

I have no package by that name installed.



I honestly have no idea if thiscritical error message is related to the problem at all. What I can say is earlier in the week, everything appeared to work fine and now when I try to access various pages within the forum, it results in a faulty link with ':' where a '&' should be.

Has anyone seen this before and if so is there a way to fix it? I also don't know what to do about a critical error with a non-existent mod and I have checked my records.

Note: I have copied & pasted the urls from the url bar and on preview they are showing up as inactive and with a hxxp:// - I don't know why that is since that is not how they appear in the message.

[susieQ.V]

Unfortunately, I have a site back-up from August just before I upgraded to 2.0.5 and one from 9-12-13. The problem may have already occured by the 9-12-13 backup and I was unaware of it since I don't normally visit all of the area of the forum each day.

1. Is restoring from the August backup a reasonable thing to try.

2. If I restore from the August backup, afterwards can I restore to the 9-12-13 back-up of the database without causing additional problems?

[kat]

Odd that the error's citing Simple Portal and you don't have that showing in your mods list, innit? I wonder if some detritus, from that, could be causing this?

If you restore the backup, you won't need to restore the database, just the software.

[susieQ.V]

Thank you for answering, K!

I am not tech savy. If I restore the site backup, will the software be in that or are we talking about a new installation of SMF?

That site backup is from August and after it is restored, I would then like to restore the data base from two days ago to have the most recent posts. Is that a reasonable thing to do?

[kat]

The posts, members, etc. are in the database. No need to worry about those things.

I'm wondering, now, though. If you uninstall the 2.0.5 update, from Package Manager, that should put you back to 2.0.4. At least, then, you'll be able to see if it was that upgrade that screwed things.

[susieQ.V]

Uninstalling 2.0.4 does not fix the problem.

Before I updated to 2.0.5, I had the shoutbox plugin installed and it was working fine with 2.0.4. After I upgraded to 2.0.5, the shoutbox stopped working. I assumed it wasn't compatible with 2.0.5 and uninstalled it.

I just looked up Simple Portal and apparetnly it works with the Shoutbox. I have never installed it but I am wondering if the problem resulted from the incompatibility of the shoutbox with 2.0.5. Regardless, downgrading to 2.0.4 does not fix the funky urls.

If I restore the site from the August backup it will be 2.0.4 and have the shoutbox. First, I would be looking to see if the old restore is functioning properly. If it is, then I would uninstall the shoutbox and then upgrade to 2.05.

Does that seem reasonable?

Also if I am forced to a new install, will I be able to restore to my current database?

[kat]

You know... It might save you a lot of hassle, to do this:

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

My test forum is 2.0.5 and it has Simple Portal on, shoutbox and all.

I installed it using emulation and it went on, without a hitch.

But, this :& thing is making me scratch my head. The...

http:mr-reeves.com/forum1/?action=admin;area=logs;sa=errorlog;desc;filter=error_type;value=critical

to:

http:mr-reeves.com/forum1/?action=admin&area=logs&sa=errorlog&desc&filter=error_type;value=critical

thing is just not making sense. If something's transposing one, for the other, it'd affect the "http://" part, too.

Let me do a bit of research...

Hang on a mo... I wonder if this is ridiculously simple... Could something in your forum's cache have got corrupted? Try emptying it out, in Forum Maintenance. You never know...

[susieQ.V]

Thank you! Will do.

[kat]

I'm only gonna be popping in and out, for another hour, os so, coz it'll be "Snuggles" time, around then.

Let us know how you get on, though, woncha?

[susieQ.V]

Clearing the cache didn't help, so I will do the clean install as you suggest and hope for the best. I check in after that. Thanks again and have a good evening!

[kat]

Oh, I will.

Might be an idea to take another backup, before you get on that, though. (Just in case)

[Kindred]

Wait...   Beforeou go down any more of those roads from k@, you need to answer some questions.

Why is your forum URL not including index.php?
That suggests that you have sme modification or htaccess which is rewriting the URL to something stupid...

Second thing is that the semicolon should not be a problem unless our host is being stupid with their configuration and is possibly trying to disallow completely valid urls, because they have a semi colon...

[susieQ.V]

I don't know why the URl isn't including the index.php and to be honest I can't remember if it ever did. It was not something that I noticed.

No modifications have been added since August and the site was working fine until at least several days ago when I had no issue accessing my forum profile, logs and other admin menu items. Yesterday was the first time I starting seeing these weird things.

I haven't added anything to my htaccess file recently, but I have a backup of that from earlier in the week and from last month so I can go and check those backups against the latest version to see if there is any weirdness there.

I already did the clean install following the instructions at the provided link and checking them off as I did them and it broke the site.

My host is currently in the process of restoring it from an August backup just before I upgraded so until I see if that works and I can regain access to the site, I can't check anything else out there.

[susieQ.V]

Thank you! A wordpress plugin added a bunch of junk to my htaccess file early on friday. I deleted the plugin shortly after I installed it and one, I didn't realize that it added stuff to the htaccess file and apparently it didn't clean up after itself.

I still don't have access to my forum so I can't see if that was the problem and it is moot since I will be restore to mid August before upgrading to 2.05.

Thanks for that suggestion. I would never have thought to look there and at least I have now gotten the htaccess file cleaned up.

[kat]

Nicely figured, Kindred!

[susieQ.V]

The forum has been successfully restore from the August backup and is functioning properly.

Thanks K@ and Kindred for your help!

[kat]