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

[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)

[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?

[CharlesMabe]

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

[CharlesMabe]

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]

Topic title updated to free for the time being.

[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]

That's a good idea So you learn while at it

[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:

Code Select Expand

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):

Code Select Expand

--
-- 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!

[CharlesMabe]

DROP all tables from that database then import the backup.

Doesn't work. I get this:

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# 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:

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<!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?

[Irisado]

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 .

[CharlesMabe]

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.

[margarett]

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.

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

[CharlesMabe]

The database imported without errors this time!

Now I have this on the forums index, though:

Connection 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?

[Colin]

You can use repair_settings to correct the database credentials to allow SMF to connect.

What is repair_settings.php?

[CharlesMabe]

You can use repair_settings to correct the database credentials to allow SMF to connect.

What is repair_settings.php?

Will it work for SMF 1.1.19?

[margarett]

Yup

[CharlesMabe]

The settings seem to be correct, but after deleting repair_settings.php, the forum index still gives me the same "Connection Problems" error. I AM getting PHP errors on the top of the page, so that might be worth looking into:

Code Select Expand

Warning: mysql_fetch_assoc() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in D:\System\XAMPP\htdocs\smf\repair_settings.php on line 390

Warning: mysql_free_result() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in D:\System\XAMPP\htdocs\smf\repair_settings.php on line 392

Warning: mysql_fetch_row() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in D:\System\XAMPP\htdocs\smf\repair_settings.php on line 407

Warning: mysql_free_result() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in D:\System\XAMPP\htdocs\smf\repair_settings.php on line 409

This database came from a website. I am using it on a local installation of SMF. So my url paths are different. I still think my info is correct though...

[margarett]

First you need to correct the local mysql info. Then you save. Then you correct the paths info and save again. And it should be fine then

[CharlesMabe]

First you need to correct the local mysql info. Then you save. Then you correct the paths info and save again. And it should be fine then

Yeah, I already did that twice. That's what the page for repair_settings.php said here: http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Repair_settings.php

[Kindred]

Because that is not how it is done. Import the database and then add the large upgrade archive files plus ypur original settinga.php

It shows connection problems because your settings.php is not pointing to the correct location.   Use repair_settings.php

[CharlesMabe]

Because that is not how it is done. Import the database and then add the large upgrade archive files plus ypur original settinga.php

What are the "large upgrade archive files"? I'm not upgrading-- I'm transferring from an online site to an offline site hosted locally on my computer so I can test upgrading from there.

It shows connection problems because your settings.php is not pointing to the correct location.   Use repair_settings.php

That's what I just did. I just said that all the settings were correct in repair_settings.php and it didn't work.

[Kindred]

In which case the settings were obviously not correct.

[CharlesMabe]

In which case the settings were obviously not correct.

I'm almost certain they are. There's not really many settings to get right or wrong.

I'm still wondering what that "large archive upload" thing you were talking about was, and I'm still wondering why the SMF Online Manual doesn't have a page about transferring a forum database into a new installation of SMF. I could really use a detailed, tested example to refer to right now...

[Illori]

I'm still wondering why the SMF Online Manual doesn't have a page about transferring a forum database into a new installation of SMF. I could really use a detailed, tested example to refer to right now...

we have a very small team and cant cover every possible issue and case that users have.

[kat]

It kinda does...

On the page describing how to backup, it also tells you how to restore. You just restore it to a different server and change a few settings, with repair_settings.php.

The large upgrade is this thing (For SMF v2.0.9):

http://download.simplemachines.org/index.php/smf_2-0-9_upgrade.zip

We tried to get "large upgrade" to be referred to as "Upgrade" and the small one to be a "patch". That doesn't seem to have caught-on...

Thinking of it from a "Windows" perspective, a large upgrade (Upgrade) is moving from XP to W7 and a small upgrade (patch) is like installing a service pack.

[Kindred]

And the reason the FAQ does not describe it the way you are referring is that ---   installing and then importing is not the correct way to do it.

As I said:
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Hosting_-_How_do_I_move_my_SMF_forum_to_a_different_host
http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/How_to_upload_a_fresh_set_of_files

[CharlesMabe]

In your signature, "backup" is actually a noun and "back up" is the verb. You should have used "back up". 

[Irisado]

Moved to support, as it has turned into a support topic .

[CharlesMabe]

I'm using the 2.0.9 Upgrader now but the Step 1: Login "Continue" button does nothing at all. Just refreshes the page with no errors.

Edit: By the way, I NEVER got repair_settings.php to work offline, or online with a modified database of a different name. So that's 1 of 2 things that I did everything correctly in but just couldn't get working. And we're looking at 2 of 2 now... This is why I first asked if there was someone I could pay. Because-- like I said-- this forum is broken. This isn't just some common installation/upgrade help...

Second edit: If someone thinks I'm just putting in the wrong information, they can take a look at the upgrade page and see if they can't help me perform the upgrade. Just PM me for the page. I really don't think it works though.

[Kindred]

you requested help with TWO issues.

Focus on *ONE* first, then move on to the next.

What version of the forum WAS installed originally?
Use THAT version and get the forum running correctly.

THEN do the upgrade process.

It certainly SOUNDS like you are trying to do the upgrade BEFORE you have confirmed that the connection details are correct and the forum is actually running...

[CharlesMabe]

you requested help with TWO issues.

Focus on *ONE* first, then move on to the next.

What version of the forum WAS installed originally?
Use THAT version and get the forum running correctly.

THEN do the upgrade process.

It certainly SOUNDS like you are trying to do the upgrade BEFORE you have confirmed that the connection details are correct and the forum is actually running...

Nope. I gave up trying to do the upgrade offline-- it just never, ever connected. I've been spending most of every day working on this stuff, trying all sorts of things. I had to learn to use SSH, too (and that actually worked out). I'm trying to do the upgrade on my friend's live site now. The database was connected. I did everything the upgrade instructions asked me to do. But the upgrade just doesn't work. The Continue button for the first step does nothing.

I've tried to upgrade his site before, and it was just as difficult then. I'm considering going back to my previous proposal: somebody else take the database, throw it into a new installation of SMF, and do the upgrade, and I will be willing to pay them. I'm not sure what else I could do at this point...