[Forum] Cannot add Ad's after upgrade to 4.0.8 and Internal Server Error

[TxsBmw]

Ok I just recently upgraded from 4.0.6 to 4.0.8. Upon doing so I went to Advertising >> Add New Ad (or to even edit an exisiting ad) and anytime I would click save an Internal Server Error pops up and the Ad Template for that corresponding ad is not edited with the new content. When I try and manually add the ad to the template instead of the advertising section I get a semi blank page (all that shows is Style Manager at the top).

I checked with my hosting company and this is what they say:

After multiple attempts to debug the error we have found that the reason was on the following "Ad HTML" field content. It looks like the script can not correctly handle/parse the current content and return 500 error page as a result. With simple text typed in we did not receive error message.

I am not exactly sure what may have happened. I have tried repair/optimize tables. I even deleted the entire site (minus the database) and uploaded fresh files.

I did do a search here on the forums but didn't come up with anything. Is this a bug in the new version? As of right now I can only add an ad if it is pure text (no html).

[TxsBmw]

Ok after some further investigation. I cannot update any template. Just tried adding something to the footer template and same thing happened. I get a "semi" blank page once I try and update it.

[TxsBmw]

I still cannot figure this out. This is what the host said when I asked what was showing in the error log:

Only the following error appears in the logs:

[Tue Nov 16 22:06:16 2010] [error] [client xx.xx.xxx.xx] Premature end of script headers: ad.php, referer: http://www.xxxxxxx.com/xxxxxx/adminc...logsidebar_end

It`s not very informative and that is why it took us so long to trace the issue with the "Ad HTML" field.

I have re-uploaded all of the non image files in ASCII format. I have disabled all plugins. I have tried using the default style (although not sure how that would help since this is happening in the AdminCP, and I am still getting the Internal Server Error when trying to update or add an ad with html or update a template.

[Trevor Hannant]

Internal Server Errors come from something on your server itself blocking the script from executing. You should review your server error logs and speak to your host regarding this

[TxsBmw]

Already have per my previous posts. They say that they have checked everything and it is nothing on their end that it is something with vbulletin causing it. I have used them for 6 years and this did not appear until I upgraded from 4.0.6 to 4.0.8.

As of right now I can not update any templates not even the default vbulletin template theme. I can add Ads as long as they are pure text with NO HTML.

[Trevor Hannant]

vBulletin doesn't have an Internal Server Error message in it - that's generated by the server so there should be an entry in the error log.

Are you running mod_security, mod_security2 or suhosin on your server?

[TxsBmw]

Right I understand that VBulletin does not have an Internal Server Error Message within it. However, there is a bug within VBulletin causing it. And the answer is No to the last three. suhosin was enabled but they disabled it for me and it's still happening. This is what they say about the bug they found in the ad.php file of vbulletin:

We checked this issue in more details and here is what we found.

The problem is that VBulletin cannot correctly generate template (PHP function "compile_template" in file "/****/****/public_html/portal/admincp/ad.php") due to the fact that the following combination of symbols cannot be parsed correctly (please see the screen-shot attached):
{{}}

In case we remove the following string from your "Ad HTML" field, everything works properly:
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
if(typeof(networkedblogs)=="undefined"){networkedblogs = {};networkedblogs.blogId=616371;networkedblogs.shortName="military_life_network";}
--></script>

Thus we can tell you that this error isn't related with any of the server settings and this bug can be only fixed by VBulletin developers.

[TxsBmw]

Ok so it is not the ad.php file, it is that the templates cannot parse the { } characters. Is this normal? Is there anyway to fix this?

[Steve Machol]

Any decent host should have Internal Server errors logged. I would press your host further.

Internal Server errors are generally related to either a server problem, or added code to the vB files and/or templates.

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 products (except vB Blog and vB CMS if you are running the Suite.)

Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Manage Products -> Disable

Then manually uncheck all plugins that are not for 'vBulletin Blog' and vBulletin CMS' here:

Admin CP -> Plugins & Products -> Plugin Manager

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?

[Zachery]

If you have custom javascript in your template, can you add <vb:literal> around it </vb:literal> Though it shouldn't be generating an ISE.

[TxsBmw]

Steve all of that was already done (actually did it a couple of times), you may of not seen it as I said that I had done those things over a couple of posts.

Zachery - YOU ROCK!!!!! That fixed it. Is this something I will need to remember to do in the future? Or is this something that vbulletin will fix?

[Steve Machol]

In my defense if you had done that already, then Jake's solution would have been irrelevant since it was a modification causing this.

[TxsBmw]

Ummmm who is Jake and what modification?

[Steve Machol]

Sorry, I meant Zach. And I refer to this modification:

If you have custom javascript in your template, can you add <vb:literal> around it </vb:literal> Though it shouldn't be generating an ISE.

Custom javscript is a modification and you would not have had that error if you had followed my instructions which is a normal part of the troubleshooting process.

[TxsBmw]

I think you misunderstood. It happens anytime I try and add an ad via Manage Ads or New Ads. After that I tried to manually add it via the template for that ad and it would happen. Turns out that according to my host VB can't correctly generate template (PHP function "compile_template") with javascript(?) because it cannot parse the characters { } correctly. They said the specific file in question is adminfunctions_template.php

Wrapping <vb:literal> </vb:literal> around the javascript in the code fixed the problem and allowed me to display the ad.