PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function imagecreatetruecolor()

[baobabit]

My forum was running OK first thing this morning but shortly after I logged in to the Control Panel the forum died (without me changing any settings). The error message in the log files are as follows:
[Wed Nov 16 08:47:07 2016] [error] [client 62.24.181.135] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function imagecreatetruecolor() in /var/zpanel/hostdata/zadmin/public_html/forum_pearldentalclinic_co_uk/core/vb/image/gd.php on line 498, referer: http://forum.pearldentalclinic.co.uk/core/image.php

[Wed Nov 16 08:47:10 2016] [error] [client 111.118.241.77] PHP Notice: Undefined index: birthday_search in /var/zpanel/hostdata/zadmin/public_html/forum_pearldentalclinic_co_uk/core/vb/api/user.php on line 210

[Wed Nov 16 08:47:10 2016] [error] [client 111.118.241.77] PHP Notice: Undefined index: joindate in /var/zpanel/hostdata/zadmin/public_html/forum_pearldentalclinic_co_uk/core/vb/api/user.php on line 231

[Wed Nov 16 08:47:10 2016] [error] [client 111.118.241.77] PHP Notice: Undefined index: posts in /var/zpanel/hostdata/zadmin/public_html/forum_pearldentalclinic_co_uk/core/vb/api/user.php on line 232

There are several more of the same "undefined index" errors that I haven't bothered to list.

Can you suggest a cause & solution?

Thanks, Adam

[Trevor Hannant]

Are you running 5.2.4 or did you upgrade to 5.2.5?

[baobabit]

I am running 5.2.4.

I have resolved one of the problems - that related to "PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined function imagecreatetruecolor()". I got the hosting company to initialise the "GD" services on the server.

However, the other problems still recur, crashing the forum. It looks like whenever I log in to the Control Panel it triggers the errors like this "PHP Notice: Undefined index: ".

Update: I have discovered that it only crashes the forum on my browser. Could this be related to cookies? If I use Chrome to access the Control Panel it causes the forum to fail when I try using Chrome to view it, but it's still OK if I view it using Firefox.

[Trevor Hannant]

So when you access the forum, what do you actually see when you're getting that error?

[baobabit]

The error message is as follows:

A System Error has occured.

The software is experiencing a systems error.

You should attempt to repeat your last action. If this error occurs again, please contact the site administrator.


I can replicate the issue as follows:
1. Open a browser and successful view the forum
2. Open another tab on the browser (or a new window) and access the Forum's control panel
3. Go back to the first window/tab and hit refresh - the forum crashes and displays that error message
4. If I close the window for the Control Panel the forum still doesn't work - but will recover in a few hours
5. If the Control Panel and the Forum are opened with different browsers (e.g. Firefox & Chrome) the problem doesn't occur

[Trevor Hannant]

Strange that different browsers seems to get round this...

Are the cookie prefix values the same in both config files?

[baobabit]

I can see the Cookie Prefix set to "BB" in config.php (in the root folder) which I am guessing is for the general forum pages.

Where will I find the other config file (presumably for the Control Panel pages)?

[Trevor Hannant]

The other file is core/includes/config.php

[baobabit]

OK, they have the same prefix - so I'm guessing I need to change one of them. Is that correct? Is it a simple case of changing the CP cookie prefix to something like "bbcp"?

Whilst on the subject, I noticed differences between the two settings so can you also confirm this is OK.

Here is the generic cookie setting:
$config['cookie_prefix'] = 'bb';

and this is the Control Panel:
$config['Misc']['cookieprefix'] = 'bb';

The first has an underscore in the middle whereas the second does not and also makes reference to ['Misc'] (whatever that's for!)

Thanks, Adam

[Mark.B]

Both cookie prefix values need to be the same. The variables are done like that, one with an underscore and one without, there are reasons for that I believe, but the actual values need to be the same.

[baobabit]

Ah, OK. Seeing as they're the same that's clearly not the problem. Any other suggestions?