V.Strange issue.

[braindg]

I am experiencing a very odd issue on my forums - without any changes my end, and apparantly none from the Hosting Company

1. Unable to access PM (white screen)
2. unable to use some drop down menus
3. unable to select "send private message" from userID drop down (white screen)
4. pages stop parsing half way down, and produce HTML code about 1/4 of the way down the screen.
5. attachments only load 1/4 of image upon open in new window.

I do not suffer from this problem as do many others, yet there are Loads of people suffering from the above issues..

As a test i logged on as one of the affected people, and I was able to replicate the issues. Its like its a Profile issue, previously i was thinking INternet Cache etc, however this was all cleared, other PC's tried, other Windows profiles, but the above problems were still resident, if the same UserID was used.

In an attempt to resolve the issue I Have:

1. repaired databases,
2. deleted PM's (as i thought this may be an issue when users were trying to PM and stuf)
3. Logged on as one of the guys on my pc and i get the exact same problems
4. spoke to Hosting company, who say there have been no updates around the time of the problem occuring.
5. I have made no changes to code in over 2 months.

Spec:
vBulletin 3.5.3
PHP Version 4.3.11
Apache/1.3.36
MySQL - 4.1.19

[braindg]

Additionally, the guy that helps run the site with me is having this problem. I log in as him on my machine, no problems.. He logs back in as him, on his machine and he has the problems..

However, if he logs on as his wife, on the same machine... no problems.. wtf

[Steve Machol]

This may be due to mod_security. See this thread:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167121

If that doesn' work then to troubleshoot this, remove any hacks and disable your plugins, then see if you still have this problem.

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

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

If so, 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.

Next, 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?

[braindg]

But, ive not changed anything in over 2 months? no hacks, no plugins? how can this just happen?

I noticed this thread?

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=191587

Perhaps related?

[Steve Machol]

I doubt that's related but you're certainly welcome to check into it. If you don't want to follow my advice., that's fine too.

[braindg]

I doubt that's related but you're certainly welcome to check into it. If you don't want to follow my advice., that's fine too.

im doing htaccess now, just find it hard that something just stops working. - but im no expert

[braindg]

the thing that confuses me, is this... if it was the above issue would that not affect everyone?

as it stands, i dont have any problems, the guy that helps me run the site does. if i log on as him, from my pc I dont suffer the problems he does. It cant be an ISP thing, cos loads of people around the world either do, or dont have the problem.

i should have got him to log on as me i suppose, didnt think of that at the time, might try that tomorrow.

thanks for your reply, im waiting to hear back from the guys that are having problems after me changing the forum/.htaccess file.

[braindg]

ok, just read that the changes made using the above issue thread did not resolve the issues.. i changed the forum/.htaccess file to contain

<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
</IfModule>

[Steve Machol]

Since you cannot duplicate this problem when logged in as one of these users, the problem is on their end (except for the possible Apache issue). It's impossible to know exactly what it is but some possibilities are: browsers, browser settings, Internet and security settings, ISP and/or cache issues, firewalls, ad-blockers, spyware, proxies and any other application that affects Internet content.

[braindg]

Not exactly, this is where it gets weird.

I logged on as another user who was experiencing the issue, and this time I saw, for the first time what all the fuss was about. Pages not fully loading parsing html 1/4 of the way up the page. unable to use the userID Dropdown menu, basically all the symptoms as explained above.

I managed to resolve this issue by removing all of his PM's from phpmyamdmin. Great I thought, ive sussed it. However I done the same for another user, and it didnt work, he is still having the issue.

[braindg]

Oops forgot to add.

Going back the the first example i gave you, the one where I couldn't replicate the issue..

I changed his usergroup from Admin, to another one and asked him to log in, at which point, all of his problems went away, i then changed the group back to admin, and the problems returned. He is set up pretty much exactly as me, permissions etc, although he doesnt have access to styles, and a few other things in the admincp. (and I have no problems)

So he logs in with admin account - issue.
He logs in with wifes account - no issues. (so cant be browser related)
He Logs in with another group - no issue
He logs into differnt windows acount - issue
He logs into another PC - issue.
I log in as him - no issue
I log in as him in other group - no issue.


any ideas?

[Steve Machol]

If it's not server related, then it's due to a customization you've made. To troubleshoot this, remove any hacks and disable your plugins, then see if you still have this problem.

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

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

If so, 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.

Next, 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?

[braindg]

I have implemented the above suggestion.

BTW:What causes attachments to only half load?

[Steve Machol]

That is almost certainly a server issue.

[braindg]

That is almost certainly a server issue.

Any ideas what? I'd like some ideas to take back to the hosting company.

through out all my investigations I have had at the back of my mind the following comment. "ive not changed anything in ages, why all of a sudden has the site stopped working"...