[Free] Can someone help me fix my friend's old broken forum and update it?

Started by CharlesMabe, November 11, 2014, 10:15:05 PM

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CharlesMabe

I have a friend who owns a site currently using SMF 1.1.19. In the past, we have tried to update his forums but we have had tons of trouble. We've tried all sorts of things, such as using the database in a new SMF installation and then upgrading, and other things. I personally scoured the SMF documentation but nothing I tried worked. His site now suffers from a number of bugs and he has since lost a lot of traffic. We eventually gave up and years passed.

But now I want to try again to get his site forums updated, so I want some help. Maybe we can modify his databse, or maybe we can do something else. His site has been around since 2005 or so and it used to have quite a successful community before the forums broke. I just want to help give him a lively community again.

I'll even negotiate an amount of payment if we get his forum fixed and upgraded successfully. Thanks.

margarett

Please update your subject to include Free/Paid according the rules of this board.

You might just:
- backup everything
- Upgrade to 2.0.9 with the large upgrade package Upgrading SMF
Do note that you will loose any themes, MODs and custom coding you might have. PM me if you want me to do it for you and include some details of the current setup (url and an admin account to be able to check what's currently running)
Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

Irisado

In addition to what Margarett has stated, it would be helpful if you could clarify whether by help you mean that you want someone here to explain to you how to fix the problems (in which case this is the wrong board for this topic), or whether you want to give someone access to the forum to fix it for you (in which case this is the correct board for this topic).

Please could you clarify?
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

CharlesMabe

Quote from: margarett on November 12, 2014, 05:41:29 AM
Please update your subject to include Free/Paid according the rules of this board.

You might just:
- backup everything
- Upgrade to 2.0.9 with the large upgrade package Upgrading SMF
Do note that you will loose any themes, MODs and custom coding you might have. PM me if you want me to do it for you and include some details of the current setup (url and an admin account to be able to check what's currently running)

1. I don't know whether it will end up being free or paid. I don't even know what people would do concerning my problem, so I have no idea whether people would find this really easy somehow and do it for free, or would request payment for it. I guess I'll find out.

2. The upgrade package never worked. We tried many times. I am not sure what I could do about it, so for starters, I either want someone to look at my database or to try to do an upgrade for me and figure out what's wrong through that. It doesn't "just work", trust me. I NEVER come to support without trying something many times, many ways.

margarett

PM me the details I asked before. I'll check it. Like you said: if it's simple, it's free ;)
Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

CharlesMabe

Quote from: Irisado on November 12, 2014, 05:57:45 AM
In addition to what Margarett has stated, it would be helpful if you could clarify whether by help you mean that you want someone here to explain to you how to fix the problems (in which case this is the wrong board for this topic), or whether you want to give someone access to the forum to fix it for you (in which case this is the correct board for this topic).

Please could you clarify?

I want to give someone access to the database used. Trust me, we tried everything already. If this were about learning how to do an upgrade, I wouldn't be here. No, something is wrong, and I'm pretty sure it's with the database. The forums still works though, so it's not irreparable.

Irisado

Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

CharlesMabe

I am currently requesting a backup of the newest version of the database, or at least access to phpMyAdmin.

CharlesMabe

I have downloaded the MySQL database and am heavily considering installing XAMPP to try to do some offline test upgrades so I can refresh my memory as to the problems I run into.

margarett

Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

CharlesMabe

Alright, I tried to import the old database into a fresh installation of SMF 1.1.19, which is the version that the old database was using. I am doing this offline with XAMPP, and I was importing via shell, since the database is too large to import via phpMyAdmin. I got this error:

ERROR 1054 <42S22> at line 7273: Unknown colum 'is_redirect' in 'field list'

That line is this (minus the commented-out section right above it):

--
-- Dumping data for table `smf_boards`
--

INSERT INTO `smf_boards` (`ID_BOARD`, `ID_CAT`, `childLevel`, `ID_PARENT`, `boardOrder`, `ID_LAST_MSG`, `ID_MSG_UPDATED`, `memberGroups`, `name`, `description`, `numTopics`, `numPosts`, `countPosts`, `ID_THEME`, `permission_mode`, `override_theme`, `is_redirect`, `redirect_clicks`, `redirect_count_clicks`, `redirect_target`, `redirect_url`) VALUES


I can't move forward if I can't import the old database. What do I do now?

margarett

No, don't do it that way.
Import the backup into an empty database ;)
It will create and fill the tables ;)

The way you did it, SMF created the basic tables layout and content. But your backup contains some "non-default" fields, that don't match that basic layout, therefore it fails.

DROP all tables from that database then import the backup. Then run repair settings to adjust the paths to your local setup. Once running, backup everything. Then you can proceed to upgrade to 2.0.9. Txaram! :)
Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

CharlesMabe

Quote from: margarett on November 14, 2014, 06:53:32 PM
DROP all tables from that database then import the backup.

Doesn't work. I get this:

# mysql -u root -p <database name> < <filepath.sql>
Enter password: ******
ERROR 1064 (42000) at line 775412: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check t
he manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to
use near '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w' at line 1


On that line (line 775412) is some doctype information:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en" dir="ltr">
<head>
[...]


Not sure what SMF requires of that line.

CharlesMabe

It's been two days since the last post, and I am not able to find the forum rules in order to see if I am allowed to bump topics or not. So... Bump.

margarett

I don't know what content is that... Can you expand some more lines above and below?
Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

Irisado

Quote from: CharlesMabe on November 16, 2014, 03:17:04 PM
It's been two days since the last post, and I am not able to find the forum rules in order to see if I am allowed to bump topics or not. So... Bump.

Bumping your topic is allowed after 24 hours have elapsed, but continuous bumping if nobody has replied is not something we allow.  I hope that clears up any doubts :).
Soñando con una playa donde brilla el sol, un arco iris ilumina el cielo, y el mar espejea iridescentemente

CharlesMabe

Quote from: margarett on November 16, 2014, 05:15:09 PM
I don't know what content is that... Can you expand some more lines above and below?

No? It's a MySQL database ending in a webpage within HTML tags, so unless you can give me an educated reason to do so, I don't think expanding it a few lines will give any more relevant information.

If you haven't noticed, that line is a doctype, which continues with HTML head and body tags which are filled with some scripts and content. The MySQL file ends a few dozen lines later with the end of the HTML tag.

Is there supposed to be a webpage at the end of this MySQL file? Because that's what this is...

Kindred

You can not import php or html files into a MySQL database...

I don't know how you backed up your databae originally, but it is looking like it got corrupted with non SQL files.
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Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

margarett

Quote from: CharlesMabe on November 16, 2014, 08:22:19 PM
Quote from: margarett on November 16, 2014, 05:15:09 PM
I don't know what content is that... Can you expand some more lines above and below?

No? It's a MySQL database ending in a webpage within HTML tags, so unless you can give me an educated reason to do so, I don't think expanding it a few lines will give any more relevant information.
I do know how a SQL file looks like. And I know it shouldn't have that content, UNLESS it was part of something stored there. That's why I wanted to see something more than just the html.

Quote from: Kindred on November 16, 2014, 10:01:24 PM
I don't know how you backed up your databae originally, but it is looking like it got corrupted with non SQL files.
^^ This.
You will need to look inside the backup file and check if there is extra content inside. If so, and the "good" content is still there, you might be able to save it. But that requires some manual labor...
A good way to start is to export the database of a clean SMF install. You will not have content but the tables structure will be there, so you can compare with what you have.

Good luck ;)
Se forem conduzir, não bebam. Se forem beber... CHAMEM-ME!!!! :D

QuoteOver 90% of all computer problems can be traced back to the interface between the keyboard and the chair

CharlesMabe

The database imported without errors this time!

Now I have this on the forums index, though:

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

Now what?

Update: Why don't I see anything in the Online Manual about importing forum databases to new installations of SMF?

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