Page hangs when approving moderated users

[bstillman]

I have it set so every user that registers is moderated. I look over their details, make sure they're not a bot, and approve them. I've been doing it this way for years, no biggie.

Fast forward to last night. I moved the site to a new server. That's been an adventure, but anyways. Now when I go to approve a new user, the page hangs ONLY if the radio to send them an email is selected. If I chose not to send them an email, it goes through just fine. If I just let it go, it comes up as a blank white page. I've already read the FAQs on here about white pages. Nothing fit this. I disabled all plugins, and still the problem persists. The real kicker is, as soon as I hit submit the user is approved an the email is fired off. The page just never gets a response back or something. What. The. F*ck.

[bstillman]

I just noticed quick replies hang as well.

[Steve Machol]

To troubleshoot this, first reupload all the original vB non-image files (except install.php). Make sure you upload these in ASCII format and overwrite the ones on the server. Also be sure to upload the admincp files to whichever directory you have set in your config.php file. Then run 'Suspect File Versions' in Diagnostics to make sure you have all the original files for your version and that none show 'File does not contain expected contents':

Admin CP -> Maintenance -> Diagnostics -> Suspect File Versions

[Note: In some cases you may also need to remove any of the listed .xml files in the includes/xml directory.]

Next, disable all plugins.

Note: To temporarily disable the plugin system, edit config.php and add this line right under <?php

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

Then if you still have this problem, create a new style and choose no parent style. This will force it to use the default templates. Finally empty your browser cache, close all browser windows then try again. Make sure you change to the new style and view your forums with it.

Do you have the same problem?

[bstillman]

To troubleshoot this, first reupload all the original vB non-image files (except install.php). Make sure you upload these in ASCII format and overwrite the ones on the server. Also be sure to upload the admincp files to whichever directory you have set in your config.php file. Then run 'Suspect File Versions' in Diagnostics to make sure you have all the original files for your version and that none show 'File does not contain expected contents':

Admin CP -> Maintenance -> Diagnostics -> Suspect File Versions

[Note: In some cases you may also need to remove any of the listed .xml files in the includes/xml directory.]

Next, disable all plugins.

Note: To temporarily disable the plugin system, edit config.php and add this line right under <?php

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

Then if you still have this problem, create a new style and choose no parent style. This will force it to use the default templates. Finally empty your browser cache, close all browser windows then try again. Make sure you change to the new style and view your forums with it.

Do you have the same problem?


Sorry, I guess I should've updated this. It was actually AME causing the posts and quick replies to hang. It has it's own setting for the full forum path. It was still set for the old server. Turning on "show_errors" in PHP allowed me to see the errors being generated, saying it couldn't find the AME cache folder.

Approving new members still has the same problem and no errors are displayed. Disabling all plugins doesn't effect it. Going back to the default template doesn't change it. Definitely cleared cache and all that jazz. Restarted Apache. Etc. Of all the bugs I've had to deal with during the server move, this is the only one left (well, minus waiting for someone to help me fine tune my configs).

[bstillman]

Update: When approving a members and the screen goes blank white, while tailing the error_log I get the following exactly when the white page appears:
[Thu May 07 13:25:26 2009] [notice] child pid 7616 exit signal Segmentation fault (11)

[Steve Machol]

'Segmentation' faults are server issues. You or your host will need to check the server error logs.

[bstillman]

'Segmentation' faults are server issues. You or your host will need to check the server error logs.

What server logs would you recommend looking in? This error is an Apache/PHP error, and isn't really an error. It's just a notice. If I back down the logging level to log errors only it won't appear. I just thought it might help you help me figure out the problem. So does this mean you're passing this off as a server error and not going to help? Not even a suggestion?

[Steve Machol]

I don't know the names of the logs on your server. Regardless this is a server issue not a vB one. Sorry you think this is 'passing it off' when in fact I'm just telling you the truth.

[bstillman]

Well, in my db error log I'm getting hundreds of these errors:


Database error in vBulletin 3.8.1:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT * FROM vbb_user
WHERE email LIKE '%bstillman@xxxxxxxxxx.net%';

MySQL Error : MySQL server has gone away
Error Number : 2006
Request Date : Sunday, May 10th 2009 @ 11:28:42 PM
Error Date : Sunday, May 10th 2009 @ 11:30:49 PM
Script : http://www.xxxxxxxxxx.com/showthread.php?p=215980
Referrer :
IP Address : xxx.xxx.xx.xx
Username : Unregistered
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version :
================================================== ===

The email address is mine, which makes this even more puzzling. And the Script/referrer aren't always the same. But the invalid sql is always the same. Any ideas? It does it with all plugins disabled and using the default style.

[Steve Machol]

This is a server issue. You'll need to contact your host about this. Here are the reasons for the MySQL server going away:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=310265#post310265

Also from the MySQL site:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/gone-away.html

[bstillman]

For anybody else having this issue:

It seems if in the email options you do NOT send the -f option with sendmail, the hanging goes away. Interesting. This seems to be a problem with PHP 5.2.9, as it does not happen with 5.2.8. Only vBulletin had this issue. On my test server I replicated the issue with the same software versions. I backed PHP down to 5.2.8, and the problem went away. I then upgraded back to 5.2.9, and the problem came back. Disabling -f resolves the problem 5.2.9. On the test box Wordpress has no issues send emails, so I'm thinking it might be an incompatibility with vBulletin, PHP 5.2.9, and using the sendmail -f command. I have no way to verify this though. Maybe it's fixed in vb 3.8.2? I don't know, and can't upgrade just yet. I'll try it on my test box and let you all know what I find.

I just thought I'd pass this along here since I'm sure I'm not the only who has or will run into this problem.