loss of data, page becomes white screen

[StevenAvery]

Greetings to the forum,

vBulletin 4.2.6

This has happened to me 2 or 3 times so far.

I use my forum, www.purebibleforum.com more or less as a blogging platform. Generally works great.

At times I put in a fair number of images on a page. Maybe 5 or ten.
2 or 3 times, the page has locked up
In the last case, the first page, posts 1-10 went blank, post 11 was fine on page two.

Any ideas as to how to avoid this?
Or minimize the damage.

Rather annoying, although it has not caused major problems, in the last case I had the page open in another browser,and did a printout, which helped with the restore using OCR (and I added many extras.) If this happened on a long thread of many pages, it could be disaster.

And if I simply downloaded the database file once or twice a day, or more frequently if modified, would I have an easy revert?
As I really do not want to involve my host, since their revert might be too old anyway, if I am very active.

Right now, I am simply duplicating what I feel might be a problematic image-laden thread in a private area.

Other than this, I am quite happy on 4.2.6.
Your thoughts welcome!

Steven

[Wayne Luke]

The error_log would be defined in the PHP.INI file. It could be any file, that is just the most common name. Your host should be able to look at the configuration files on the server to determine what the name of the PHP Error Log is on their server. We cannot. If your host cannot find this file, then you should find a new hosting provider.

[Mark.B]

Thanks for your help on this. A few follow up questions, since it happened again today.

My host did not see a PHP error_log, but I could double check that.

However, I went into the Admin Options, and turned on the error logging to a file for PHP and Database errors.
(I did not see a display_errors option .. help on that one., presumably that would bring the error to the screen.)

When I place file paths for the logging option, I presume it can't help to have the path already created.
And the name of the file --- it will create the file with the first entry? Or do I have to put in a 0 byte file?

Riight now we are simpl8y swapping out the MYSQL file, so I can gather the data from a day ago. Then I will set that aside, and we will put the current one back. And I will redo the problematic page from my notes off vBulletin. I think that makes sense. No charge from my host, although of course it will be good if I learn how to do it myself.

Steven

These are not vBulletin options and you will not find them in the vBulletin AdminCP - you will need to speak to your hosting provider or server administrator.

What you are getting are server errors, not vBulletin errors. However if we can get details of the full error we may be able to point you in the right direction.

[StevenAvery]

A blank page normally indicates a PHP error with display_errors turned off. Please look at your PHP error_log file to see what the error is. If you do not know where you PHP error_log file is located, please ask your Hosting Provider or Server Administrator. Once we know what the error is, we can provide more guidance.

Thanks for your help on this. A few follow up questions, since it happened again today.

My host did not see a PHP error_log, but I could double check that.

However, I went into the Admin Options, and turned on the error logging to a file for PHP and Database errors.
(I did not see a display_errors option .. help on that one., presumably that would bring the error to the screen.)

When I place file paths for the logging option, I presume it can't help to have the path already created.
And the name of the file --- it will create the file with the first entry? Or do I have to put in a 0 byte file?

Riight now we are simpl8y swapping out the MYSQL file, so I can gather the data from a day ago. Then I will set that aside, and we will put the current one back. And I will redo the problematic page from my notes off vBulletin. I think that makes sense. No charge from my host, although of course it will be good if I learn how to do it myself.

Steven

[Wayne Luke]

A blank page normally indicates a PHP error with display_errors turned off. Please look at your PHP error_log file to see what the error is. If you do not know where you PHP error_log file is located, please ask your Hosting Provider or Server Administrator. Once we know what the error is, we can provide more guidance.