Logout Problem

[kumo2]

Hey,

We just upgraded to 3.8.3 from 3.7.4, and are having a problem with users appearing to be logged in and out as they click around the board...

This doesn't happen when "remember me" is flagged, but due to the nature of our forum, many of our members would prefer not to be doing that...

Thanks,

Tom

[Steve Machol]

If they do not want to click on the Remember me then I doubt there is much you can do about this. This is because many ISPs, such as AOL but not limited to them, change the IP address with almost every click which logs them out unless they are using cookies via 'Remember me'.

Nonetheless try this. Upload the tools.php script in the 'do_not_upload' folder of the vB zip file to your Admin CP directory and run it from your browser. Use this to reset the cookie domain and path back to the defaults. And then leave your cookie domain and path at the default settings. There is no reason to change these. If you need to specify a unique cookie, use the cookie prefix setting in config.php instead.

[kumo2]

We know for sure that it is happening with static IPs...

[kumo2]

we reset the cookie and path... its still happening...

[Steve Machol]

Try logging in as one of these users to see if you have the same problem. If you don't, then the cause is somewhere on their end. It's impossible to know exactly what it is but some possibilities are: browsers, browser settings, cookies being blocked, Internet and security settings, ISP and/or cache issues, firewalls, ad-blockers, spyware, proxies and any other application that affects Internet content.

[kumo2]

Its happening to all accounts...

[Steve Machol]

Even yours? Then the only possible exp,anation is that you have made a modification that is causing this.

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.

You cannot have the same problem if you follow those instructions and the instructions from prior posts.

[R1lover]

One other common issue is having two different URL links on your site... one with www and one without www...

ie:

http://mysite.com

and

http://www.mysite.com

If a user logs in with www.mysite.com and then browses to a page that is mysite.com then it will show him or her as logged out until they browse back to a www. linked page.

To resolve this add a url redirect to your htaccess file to send everyone to www.

[AbadiRed]

One other common issue is having two different URL links on your site... one with www and one without www...

ie:

http://mysite.com

and

http://www.mysite.com

If a user logs in with www.mysite.com and then browses to a page that is mysite.com then it will show him or her as logged out until they browse back to a www. linked page.

To resolve this add a url redirect to your htaccess file to send everyone to www.

Great info, thank you for this helpful post

[kumo2]

Not thinking its plugin related... the only mod we use is vbseo... will give it a look though....

We already have all traffic forced to go to the www sub domain...

[Sador]

Hello,

I noticed I had the same problem, when some users(even me) log in he or she gets automatically logged out, as if they never even logged in. Not after a few minutes or something, just in a second. They just get redirected to the index page where they can login again, and so on. That account does show up as logged in on who's online, but somehow it seems he can't keep connected. If I set 'remember me' there is no problem at all, it works fine. But if don't, I just get logged out again. I have disabled all of my plugins right now, but it still happens. The weird thing is that it happens on Internet Explorer 7, but not on FireFox (if I try to, anyway)

I never had this problem before, so it has to be something either a plugin or a update in the vBulletin software did, I guess. I now run vBulletin 3.8.3.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[kumo2]

We've updated vbseo, the only plugin we use... it hasn't changed anything.

If there is anyone out there that has experience with load balancing vbulletin, please get in touch and let me know your rates...

[kyle]

our forums also have the same issue, with both IE and ff users, d we tried removing all plug-in but did not salve the issue Any words from VB on this one?

[kumo2]

They appear to be as stumped as we are.

[tomcat59]

One other common issue is having two different URL links on your site... one with www and one without www...

ie:

http://mysite.com

and

http://www.mysite.com

If a user logs in with www.mysite.com and then browses to a page that is mysite.com then it will show him or her as logged out until they browse back to a www. linked page.

To resolve this add a url redirect to your htaccess file to send everyone to www.

This aparently was the cause of my logout problem. What I don't understand is that (prior to logging out without the 'www') I cleared all cookies (and verified this) and I was still logged in. I will add the redirect to my .htaccess to fix this for all pages. Thanks for the useful info!