Can't Reach Forum

[jgret]

Hello! I'm unable to reach my forum--I get HTTP ERROR 500.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what version of Simple Machines it uses, other than I know it's very old. (Forum was started about 13 years ago.)  I had an admin who made modifications to the SM software for me, and coded my website, but staunchly refused to install the recommended updates over the years for fear the modifications would be lost. She passed away last year, now the forum is unreachable, and I'm stuck.

Can anyone help? Thank you!

http://www.thegoldpost.net/forum/

[Kindred]

a 500 error is a server side issue.

You would need to check with your host.

[jgret]

The rest of the website is accessible, though. Only the forum can't be reached. Would that still be a hosting problem?

[Illori]

it could be, we cant really tell you until we know what it says in the server error log.

[Kindred]

actually, given that you are running  some version of 1.1.x the problem is likely that your host forced an update of your server's php version. SMF 1.1.x will not run on php 7.0 and above.

[jgret]

Yikes, what do I do then? (I'm not familiar with any of this.)

[jgret]

it could be, we cant really tell you until we know what it says in the server error log.

Where would I find this?

[Illori]

in the folder where your forum is there should be an error_log or similar file, open it and reply back with the last few lines.

you will need to upgrade to 2.0.17

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Upgrading

[jgret]

in the folder where your forum is

I'm stuck at this part. What folder? (Apologies, but I had someone doing these things for me, so I'm clueless.)

[Illori]

what is the URL to your forum?
do your host use cpanel for the hosting control panel?

[jgret]

http://www.thegoldpost.net/forum/

Yes, cpanel. So I look there?

[Illori]

yes you will look in your cpanel, look for the file manager, look for public_html folder, double click the icon on the left , look for forum folder from there, double click on the forum folder icon, then look for the error_log file, click on it one time, toward the top of the page click on edit, on the popup click on edit, scroll down to the bottom and paste back here the last few lines of the file.

[jgret]

Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41
[09-Mar-2020 21:36:25 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php:41
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41
[09-Mar-2020 21:36:57 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php:41
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41
[09-Mar-2020 21:41:02 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php:41
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If you can pm cpanel access (url/user/pw) I'll have a look.

[SpacePhoenix]

Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41
[09-Mar-2020 21:36:25 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php:41
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41
[09-Mar-2020 21:36:57 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php:41
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41
[09-Mar-2020 21:41:02 UTC] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function set_magic_quotes_runtime() in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php:41
Stack trace:
#0 {main}
  thrown in /home/dqlgfgdt/public_html/forum/index.php on line 41

Just quickly googled "set_magic_quotes_runtime", it was removed from PHP in version 7.0 so the server the OP's site is on is running 7.0 or newer.

[Kindred]

which is what I figured.

The resolution is to update to 2.0.17

[jgret]

I really appreciate everyone's help, thanks so much!  I will check out the upgrade link that was posted earlier. I'm sure I'll be back here crying for more help though 

[jgret]

Well this didn't take long... ha ha

There's no way for me to make a backup first, right?

[Illori]

not from within your forum. you need to do it manually. both for files and the database.

[Kindred]

https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Backup

[jgret]

Thanks again to both of you!

[jgret]

The instructions are very difficult for a lay person to understand 

So far I've:

1. Backed up my files via cpanel
2. Downloaded the "large upgrade"
3. Extracted the files

Now I'm stuck on "upload the files to your website." My cpanel has a file manager where I can upload. So do I go to the extracted files on my computer and upload them one by one? If so, do I choose "overwrite existing files?"

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I've never been able to get cpanel file manager to upload more than one file at a time.  There are over a thousand files in upgrade package.  Use an ftp client (FileZilla), it's much easier and faster.  Have you backed up your database?  That's much more important than the files, it contains all your content.

[jgret]

Yes, I backed up.

These are what I upload?

[Illori]

you can upload the zip and use the extract function in the file manager to extract it over the existing files.

you need to go into phpmyadmin and do a backup, or download the backup from your cpanel if it offers it. those are your files not the database.

[jgret]

I'm sorry, I don't understand. I have zero knowledge of any of this, so I need an explanation for a 5-yr-old.

Do a backup of what?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Forum consists of two basic components, the files, which are the working parts, and the database, which contains all of your content - members, posts, settings, etc.  Files are expendable except for /attachments, database is critical if you don't want to lose everything and start over from scratch.

[jgret]

Confused... what did I back up originally then?

[jeffreyzone]

Hi everyone! This is an excellent community. I'm pitching in to help here, and it seems like she's at the point of running the upgrading tool. The instructions state:

"The final step in upgrading SMF, is to run the upgrading tool. Navigate with your browser to the upgrade.php file (it can be found in the directory where SMF is located) and run the upgrade, for example: (I am not allowed to post the link that is in the instructions, but it looks like a standard hyperlink)."

The present questions: Does she use an Internet browser such as Chrome to navigate to the upgrade.php file?
If so, will it be obvious at that point about how to run the upgrade?

Could one of you post a screen shot to show us what to look for?

Thank you all so much for helping with this!!!

[Sir Osis of Liver]

You mustn't do anything until you're certain you have complete backups of files and database.  Having that, upload the large upgrade package to forum root, point your browser to www.yourforum.com/upgrade.php, that will load upgrader and instruct you how to proceed.  The upgrader makes major changes to the database to convert it from 1.1 to 2.0, you must have a complete backup before you start the upgrade.

[jgret]

I have no idea if I have a complete backup of everything. I thought I did, but now I'm nervous that there's something else. I'll attach a screenshot of how I made a backup.

point your browser to www.yourforum.com/upgrade.php

What does this mean? Where do I find that link?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

That's a cpanel backup feature, it may be doing automatic daily backups of everything in your account and saving them for a period of time (usually 30 days).  You have the option of selecting and downloading a backup to your computer.  In the worst case, you should be able to ask host support to restore a recent backup if things go badly (they sometimes do).  If you're on a crappy host, things could get even worse.

You link to upgrade.php by typing the complete url in browser address bar.

[jgret]

Thanks for your patience

www.thegoldpost.net/upgrade.php

When I type that into my address bar, I get:

Not Found
The requested URL was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
--------------------------------------------------------

As for the backup, isn't doing it from my cpanel what I want? This is the email I received once I was done:

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If you've uploaded the package correctly, it should be at www.thegoldpost.net/forum/upgrade.php.  It's not, so you didn't.

[jgret]

The "large upgrade" package you mean?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

 

If you can pm cpanel access (url/user/pw) I'll have a look.

[jgret]

If you can pm cpanel access (url/user/pw) I'll have a look.

I can understand you getting frustrated, but since I have zero knowledge of any of this, I can't make heads or tails of the instructions or your explanations.

Doesn't granting you cpanel access give you control of my entire site?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I'm not frustrated, but it's difficult to assist you from here if you're not understanding the instructions in the wiki and the followup posts in this thread.  You have to upload the contents of the 2.0.17 large upgrade package to your /forum directory, that's where your forum is currently installed.  On most hosts (not all) that will be /public_html/forum/.  Once you've done that, and confirmed in file manager that the files are there, you should be able to link to www.thegoldpost.net/forum/upgrade.php and upgrader script will run and guide you through upgrade process.  The 1.1 files are still in the /forum directory, 2.0 files are not.

[jgret]

On most hosts (not all) that will be /public_html/forum/.

Ohhhhh. I did not know to put the files there. I'll try it, thanks!

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Going offline, good luck.

[jgret]

Thanks for the help, it's working so far. 

[jgret]

It worked, yay! The forum is back! Thanks to everyone for your help!

[m4z]

And it worked without giving strangers your admin password, which is even better! The explanations here might help others in the future.

[jgret]

Hopefully! An upgrading guide just for newbies would be even better! 

[m4z]

Well, that isn't easy to write. Environments differ wildly, basically every step outside of SMF would need to cover several different options.

[jgret]

Well, that isn't easy to write. Environments differ wildly, basically every step outside of SMF would need to cover several different options.

I understand; I meant more of a general overview, in addition to the steps. It just wasn't clear to me what I was actually doing, because of the language used (which was too technical for someone with zero experience).

[Illori]

that is why we have the this forum, when further clarification is required we can provide it here.