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I'm hoping somebody can help me out. My forum has been working perfectly for quite a while, but just recently the left and right columns quit showing up.

I tried to play with the settings in the control panel, and after updating, my config file had been rewritten with a blank file.

Luckily, I had a backup.
So, now, any changes to the control panel result in a blank config file and a broken forum. And, i have blank left and right columns in my forum. The main body content of my forum still works fine.

Any ideas about what could be causing this?

Thank you,
Evan

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Several issues could cause it.
One the server did it. Due to over quota bad connection,etc.
Two there is a known bug that will cause it under certain conditions identified by SD. And should be addressed in the next release if that happens soon
Third somebody hacked your site and wiped your data.

First item ,What version are you using?
Do you have a release with the security patch installed?
If not then do so.
I would also start checking your server logs and see if something shows losts connections on a regular basis,Constant errors such as over bandwidth or most important over storage space
Then I would start looking at the hard part
Meaning looking for script files that don't belong. Which would be a clue you have bee hacked.

Also don't forget to double check the ftp file/folder permissions i case they got changed


Last edited by Ruben; 10/26/2012 3:56 PM. Reason: Added comment

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I'm pretty sure I know what this is - but I don't have a fix for it yet.

It's the function lock_and_write <- it has been incorrectly written.

I have worked around it using file_put_contents but you can't use this if you have more than one admin (as it doesn't lock the file during writing) and anyway it's not a proper fix as it won't work with upgrades.

Quote
$check = file_put_contents("{$config['FULL_PATH']}/includes/config.inc.php",$newconf);
if (empty($check)) {
$admin->error($ubbt_lang['NO_WRITE_CONFIG']);
}

Can you please give me as much info as you have on php / MySQL and server etc. (I need to compare with the servers I have that work, and don't work, with this problem.)


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Thanks for the replies.

I'm running 7.5.6
UBB Control Panel says I'm running PHP Version 5.2.17, but my host says it is 5.3.13
MySQL is 5.0.91-log

Technically, I only have one Admin. One other guy has privileges, but he doesn't mess with the control panel. Will the fix you suggested work for me?
Don't worry about upgrades - I've already screwed because my board has tons of custom work. Plus, no sense in worrying about something that may not happen frown

What's weird is that my board was working perfectly for at least a month since the last time I changed anything. Why would it go down now?

I have unlimited bandwidth and storage space - that shouldn't be a problem.

The problem occurs every time. It's not a fluke that the config file got wiped - it will happen every time I try to use the control panel.

My permissions all check out OK according to the control panel.

The scripts folder has the same number of files as it did a month ago.

Thank you,
Evan


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Well
Quote
I have unlimited bandwidth and storage space - that shouldn't be a problem.
This really does not exist in the real world

If you in fact have modded your site then I would suspect that it may be the issue.


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Here is my suggestion since you have modified your source code
Open a support ticket, Or hire someone to fix it for you.


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Originally Posted by Ruben
Well
Quote
I have unlimited bandwidth and storage space - that shouldn't be a problem.
This really does not exist in the real world

Although I'm sure you are right in a theoretical sense, for all practical purposes I think it does... ipage.com
[Linked Image from campinnforum.com]

I will open a support ticket. Thank you for your help.

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I'm telling you mate - I'm 99% sure it's that function.

Are you on a shared server?
If so, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that your host has tweaked something in the period between your board working and failing.

Of course we can't dismiss Rubens comment about your modified code.
But I suspect that the mods were done prior to this happening, right?

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Driv, I went and read the difference in fwrite and file_put_contents; file_put_contents is just a wrapper for fopen, fwrite, fclose; so I'm not sure what in the function can really be held responsible for it...


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Hi Giz, I would never argue with you on php as I am just a 'dabbler'.

That said, I've done quite a bit of testing on this - and when that function is replaced by my amateurish attempt - I get my forum working again.

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Originally Posted by Evan Scamman
Originally Posted by Ruben
Well
Quote
I have unlimited bandwidth and storage space - that shouldn't be a problem.
This really does not exist in the real world

Although I'm sure you are right in a theoretical sense, for all practical purposes I think it does... ipage.com
[Linked Image from campinnforum.com]


I will open a support ticket. Thank you for your help.

I see where you are coming from and I visited Ipage
But I will tell you for 3.29 usd a month they are skipping out on something. Could be resources such as cpu and ram.

But Driv may be onto something that they changed something on your site if it was working before
There are tons of server settings that could have been changed that impacts you as a consumer.
Just one item is what ubb version are you using and what current php version are you really on!
I believe that 5.3 is not supported yet. I have not checked in a while though So If they upgraded you to a newer version of php that may be the issue.

Last edited by Ruben; 10/27/2012 3:38 PM.

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Originally Posted by Ruben
Just one item is what ubb version are you using and what current php version are you really on!
I believe that 5.3 is not supported yet.


<light-bulb over head moment>Ahhhhhh.....</light-bulb over head moment>

Hey Ruben, that's interesting. I wasn't aware of that.

Guess who else is running php5.3? (...and has this same problem.)

I would be very interested to know how many others of you are using 5.3+.


Originally Posted by Evan Scamman
UBB Control Panel says I'm running PHP Version 5.2.17, but my host says it is 5.3.13

Hey Evan, any chance of asking your host when they upgraded?

Last edited by driv; 10/27/2012 4:11 PM. Reason: When was the upgrade?
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Anyone know, where in the docs does it say that php 5.3 is not supported?

Is anyone using php 5.3?

Thanks smile

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PHP Version 5.3.3
MySQL client version: 5.1.61


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So that shoots a hole in the php version theory frown

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After I posted that I was thinking about it.
I know I had a issue on a version 5.3 but it may have been mysql not php. It had something to do with the ubb install script.


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Originally Posted by Evan Scamman
UBB Control Panel says I'm running PHP Version 5.2.17, but my host says it is 5.3.13

If PHP says it's 5.2.17 it's 5.2.17; it's simply taking the version number from the php version installed and configured for your webspace. phpinfo() does not lie (which is what the UBB uses).


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I want to test this on another server (shared host also php 5.3).

I'll proceed anyway, but Giz, have you written an transfer tut for non-shell access transfers.

I just want to be sure of doing things by the book...

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It's ok, it all went by the book smile

ha ha new default threads style is dark - that's a surprise wink
(May put a few people off...?)

Last edited by driv; 10/28/2012 7:54 PM. Reason: dark
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LOL glad it all worked out though. I had this happen once while I was editing in both the server side conf file directly while working on the same thing from the CP. It is always good to have a backup file of your settings for this one, as it is a pita if you have an html includes series in your stuff.


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I'd never trust the backup of a MySQL database to a web script; if the DB is too large and you hit the PHP Max Execution time you'll end up with your data missing and at times you'll not even realize this...



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Originally Posted by Dunny
LOL glad it all worked out though.
Not yet Dunny wink
I've still got to import the sql - it was late in the UK when I posted that and I was starting to make mistakes... crazy

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Originally Posted by Gizmo
I'd never trust the backup of a MySQL database to a web script; if the DB is too large and you hit the PHP Max Execution time you'll end up with your data missing and at times you'll not even realize this...
I've heard you say this before. How then, do you import the data without the luxury of shell access?

As far as I can see, BigDump is my only option.

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If your host don't have shell access, you should look for a new host... They all claim it's for security, but if they do an efficient job of security in the first place this shouldn't even be an issue.

As for what to do, you could TRY using the GZip compression option with PHPMyAdmin, or using a program such as SQLYog which has a virtual tunneling script that it uses to interface with ones server (though it's pretty slow and it's not free).

Some control panels allow you to make backups from the control panel itself; where this option isn't ideal, it makes a server side copy of data from the server, so all data should generally be in tact.

Regardless, always make sure your backup is complete!


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Well, I got it imported, but not using BigDump.
(That's the first time that it's failed me.)
Actually it failed three times without proper error identification.

So I tried mysqldumper which gave me the sort of alert I am used to receiving from BigDump. (I wonder if something has changed in BD?)

Anyhow the problem was that when trying to save ubbt_SAVED_QUERIES I was getting a 'Field can not be NULL' alert.

Well, that's easily rectified by deleting all my queries (the dbase is way too big to search through all the text, just to remove the one). They can be restored manually easily enough.

Anyway I know this is verbose, but in the interests of anyone else experiencing difficulties, it's always good to make records of what happened.

By the way Giz, I know that you don't like or approve of this method, but I really think that you should consider people who don't have shell access when writing your transfer/ upgrade tuts. Not everyone is in your position of having shell access. Not everyone wants to change hosts for this reason.

Alternatively, if you aren't interested - I will do it and make reference to my experiences.


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Could you adapt the guide that's already there to using the mysqldumper and I can just dump it into the FAQ forum and to the wiki? Would probably make things go a lot faster since I've got a sick guinea pig right now that needs constant attention...


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I will take a look this weekend.

Hope the GP is ok smile

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He's doing better at this point...

[Linked Image from sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net]


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LOL you were serious Gizmo! I thought you were talking about one of the other little ones in the nest tongue

Nice Pic though! They are cute (in their Guinnea Pig sorta way).


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heh - to be honest, I wasn't sure if it was a euphemism or not wink

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Oh, I was pretty literal lol...


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Thanks for all the continued input.

So, to answer some questions:

I had all mods complete and working for about a month before the problems showed up. After about a week, the problem seems to have mostly fixed itself. That is, the sidebars have started showing up again about 95% of the time. Perhaps they changed something on the server and have now fixed it - most of the time... Hmmm... Doesn't really make sense.

I don't know when ipage upgraded to 5.3. I can ask them if that is still a relevant issue.

I'm not sure if I can make changes in my CP without overwriting my config file - I'll have to test that out when I get back home.

Is Driv's fix still valid? If there is a chance it will fix my problem I will give it a try.

Think you.


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