Line of odd characters above the header & non refreshing page content

[tonzodehoo]

I have returned to simple machines after a time away.
I have installed v2.01 and loaded a theme which I had used in a previous installation elsewhere.
In the top left hand corner there is a line of characters which appear before the header and in the index.php file I believe.
Can I remove these from the index.php file?
I also inserted another logo into the them but what I have noticed is that the page does not refresh after the changes. Even after I have completely removed the new logo image completely the page does not refresh. I have tried it in two other browsers and disabled the cage, emptied the cache etc but to no avail.

Even after removing the characters from the index.php file the page does not refresh.
Is this the line which generates the characters:
die("\x47\x49\x46\x38\x39\x61\x01\x00\x01\x00\x80\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x21\xF9\x04\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x2C\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x01\x00\x00\x02\x02\x44\x01\x00\x3B");
   };

Maybe its something obvious. Any inputs would be much appreciated as I reconnect with simple machines.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Any odd text at the top of an index file is one of the most common tell tale signs that your server has been compromised, in other words you may have been hacked. It can of course just be something else, but I would not rule anything out at this point.

What version are you on exactly?
Could you share the url?

[tonzodehoo]

Hello Aleksi,
Many thanks for your response.
The url is here:
http://thegorbals.co.uk/stfrancisparentcouncil/index.php

I think I realise that the server is slow to refresh the changes to the images even after refreshing the cache so the image issue is down to this sluggish response. The line of figures is one that I thought removing the line above from the index.php file would resolve that issue.

[Arantor]

The line you point out from index.php is unrelated. If it was related, the first 4 characters of text would be 'GIF8'. If you have removed that line of code, please put it back otherwise you will likely make a problematic situation worse.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

You may want to check other index files too, root index.php, index.template.php of any and all themes, and so on. And if you find the matching code, copy the code here including a few lines before and after.

Also check the folders for any files that you do not recognize, or have been modified very recently.

When did this appear?
Was it immediately when you installed the theme, or later?
Where did you get the theme from?
Does it appear if you switch to the default (curve)?

[tonzodehoo]

Hullo, Thanks for the input.
It is theme related. The characters are only apparent when using the one theme I want to use.
I am using a theme which works with another forum and fits in well with the scheme of the rest of the website.
Is Firox Multicolor by smfsimple. I note that its no longer available for download so I guess its not current or supported though it does still work. Not sure if there is an equivalent which fits in with what I want to achieve.

Is it likely that the characters are generated by the die command in the index.php due to the  theme being incompatible in some way? Just thinking.

[Tonyvic]

vbgamer45 gave you a download link in a previous topic by yourself.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Mind attaching the themes index.template here temporarily?

[Arantor]

No, it absolutely isn't (as already pointed out). Firstly, a die command means it stops all execution at that point so it wouldn't have any other content after it. Secondly, the first four characters out of that list of codes translates to "GIF8" - the first 4 characters you'd find in a GIF file (because it's telling SMF to emit a single blank pixel as an image - and what you have does not correspond).

If you can attach the index.template.php file of the theme here, maybe that'll help.

[tonzodehoo]

vbgamer45 gave you a download link in a previous topic by yourself.

I was given a link and I used it to compare it to a version I found on another drive from the older forum I'd setup many years ago just to see if there had been any changes and check it was all as it should be.
It all seemed to be fine.

[tonzodehoo]

If you can attach the index.template.php file of the theme here, maybe that'll help.

Thanks for the info.

Here is the index template from the theme.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Just to make sure, is that copied from the server now - or a copy from a file you had handy before?

[tonzodehoo]

Its a copy from the server a few moments ago.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

Okay, then at the same time I'd say good news and bad news. I don't immediately see anything to explain that in there, and logically that should be the place to output something like that.
So good news, the file seems to be ok - bad news, we still don't know where it comes from.

[Deaks]

does it show just on that theme or does it show on other themes?

[tonzodehoo]

Just with this them. Its the only other one installed apart from the default and Core ones

[Sir Osis of Liver]

That index template does not cause the characters above header when run in Curve, it's apparently coming from somewhere else in the theme.

[tonzodehoo]

Just noticed that the line of characters is at the start of the body div before it loads the stylesheets and not before the header as I first mentioned.
Not sure if that helps at all?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Can you zip the theme and attach it here, or pm ftp access (server/user/pw)?

[tonzodehoo]

Here it is.

Thanks



Edit: Private theme removed at request of theme author