Help: SMF FORUM problem

[Alpha33]

Ok I am so angry >.<

I payed for a smf forum (hosting account) I go on the forum, and here is how it goes:

I open admin area

"You do not have the latest version of smf, click Here to update to 1.1.4"

I click it
A thing comes up saying 'Test successful, test successful, test successful, so I click install.

A white screen comes up and the browser says it's done, and it didn't even install!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO I click refresh, same thing....a million times....
so then I get an e-mail saying my account used to much server data or something and now whenever I go on there I get a freaken error saying SERVICE IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE, and I think the problem of that is that #&^$#^#)&%_#&%ING SMF installation not working!!

Ok can someone give me a solution? This is annoying!

[Vno]

You're not the only customer that is experience this RIDICULOUS problem. This problem has been an on going issue and Siteground is not fixing it.

It's not just upgrading the specific package (smf 1.1.4) but it's overall has to do with any package you want to upload to the server using SMF Admin panel, Siteground simply can't handle a file that is big.... RESULTING BLANK PAGE! Speaking of BIG file, these SMF packages are not even big at all. It's rediculous!

And just in case if you want to use phpmy-Admin to do a restore backup.... FORGET IT!

I am also disappointed that as a customer, I can't even contact Siteground regarding a technical problem such as this. The Help Desk menu has changed and now everything is all tutorials.

I currently have 3 separate accounts with Siteground, if this problem doesn't fix... looks like I just have to take a loss and find another reliable host.

My other friends use SMF thru different hosts and they don't have problems like this!

Admin, if you're reading this: Please have someone fix the problems.

[Collin1000]

: Finally, someone answered my chat.

Mira: Welcome to SiteGround.com Hosting Services!

: Just a very simple question

: http://forum.siteground.com/showthread.php?t=5452

Mira: you can reach our tech support via the ticketing system

: The user said your SMF hosting doesnt work

: http://forum.siteground.com/showthread.php?t=5452

: Is that true?

: 2 users have reported it as an issue.

: Is it really broken?

Mira: I will ask you to contact our tech team

Mira: as we are a Sales departmet here

: Ok, how do I ask them?

: I am asking the sales team because I do not want to buy something that is broken

Mira: May I Ask you if you are our customer?

: At this time, yes, I am a current siteground customer, but I am asking this on behalf of someone I am referring here who read that thread.

: He wont buy the hosting unless you guys assure him its NOT broken.

Mira: just a moment, please

: Ok.

: Hello?

: Hello? M
ore then 9 mins have gone by since I got any responce from you. Just checking if the session disconnected?

: Seeing as you have not replied in over 13 mins now, I am going to assume the sesssion droped or you forgot about me.

: Ok, I have been waiting for well over half an hour

: I am going to open a support ticket.

: Well over half and hour waiting here

I opened a ticket and am waiting!

[Collin1000]

And here is the tech's reply:

Hi Collin,

Thank you for contacting SiteGround Support Team.

I have just read through the forum post.

The Service Temporary Unavailable message which this guy is experiencing can be indication of several things.

I am almost certain that the problem is not in the SMF installation itself.

This error message may be an indication that the SMF is out of server resources. However, it is really less likely to run out of resources on the new servers which we have implemented. The most probable reason is that the client's account has limitations on cpu and memory usage due to issues with his account or application. However, this is only a guess and the best solution will be to advice him to contact us so that we will be able to check if there are any other problems with his account and react properly to the case.

If you need more information or help feel free to reopen this ticket.

Best Regards,

Andrey
Support Team
SiteGround.com

Thanks! Very helpful and informative repsonce, considering he was basically guessing at the problem.

[Vno]

It takes seconds for any siteground staff to create an SMF and duplicate the exact procedures we took and I am sure he/she will see exactly what we're talking about. (once an SMF is created, try to upload a package thru SMF admin panel and you will see.)

I strongly believe that this is not an SMF problem NOR a problem within our PCs. It's a Siteground problem, BUT let's just hope that I am wrong. Otherwise it will not look good on siteground's behalf.

I've created a couple SMF's for my friends, they use different host... absolutely no problem what so ever.

Thanks Siteground in advance for looking into this matter. This problem is really annoying.

Btw, is there a way to submit a help-desk ticket without going through bunch of tutorials and ended up with no submission option?

[Alpha33]

Ok but what about this stupid Service unavailable thing? I'm paying for this and I better be able to use my forum!

Service Temporarily Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

[Collin1000]

At this point, open a ticket in the cPanel catagory. Ignore the FAQ and click the link at the footer.


In the issue description, post EXACTLY this:

This is an update to the ticket Collin posted for me last night.

In a nutshell, my SMF package manager will not let me upgrade SMF.

I am also getting random "server down for maintance" errors that cause my forum to not work at all.

If the service is not up, I should not be paying for it.
My issue is still unresolved, and I am unable to access my website due to server down errors.

Please read this topic to catch you up to speed, and see previous action taken on other customers accounts.
http://forum.siteground.com/showthread.php?t=5452

Thank you for your help!

[Vno]

Thanks for the help, Collin.

I just sent them a help-desk ticket. Let's hope for the best.

~Vno

[Svetlio]

Each one of our servers allow several php versions to run.

You can define which one to be used for your application.

We have performed several tests and found out that the problem occurred only with php 5.0.5.

The SMF script worked flawlessly with php 4.4.4. and php 5.1.6.

Thus I have added the following line in the .htaccess file, which is located in the smf directory of the customer:

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php51 .php .php3 .php4 .php5 .phtml

Then I tested and there were no problems to upload and install external packages.

[Collin1000]

And, TADA!
Thank you very much Svetlio!

You should make that standard on all your SMF packages. I dont understand why you would put them on an incompatable server.

[Anatoli]

In fact all our shared hosting accounts are alike and have all three versions of Php.

By default, all accounts are set with php 5.0.*. As we have explained, this can be easily changed.

We will soon switching to php 5.1.* if we come upon more issues like this one.

Thanks for your feedback.

[SgtMic]

I have the same "timeout/ whitescreen" problem trying to install packages/mods. They will upload just fine, installing them is another thing.

[speedfreak87]

I have the same "timeout/ whitescreen" problem trying to install packages/mods. They will upload just fine, installing them is another thing.

I get the same thing, it still installs them though for me.. just get the annoying white screen, then I open another window go to my site and then my admin panel and check, get nothing hit refresh and it's there.. scared the crap out of me the first time it happened, cause I though I messed up my site, but it worked. did it for the last 3 mods I installed.. works fine though.

[Anatoli]

Please check the above posts on how to switch to Php 5.1 which should solve your problems.

[eeyore]

Just tried to change it on mine, but it wont let me
I cant change the permissions for the file ether.


www.warwithgravity.com/data is the forum (fantastico installed)

i have a wordpress site at the root of the public_html folder: would this be effected? Also is this were i have to edit the .htacess file?

[martin v]

You are supposed to edit the .htaccess file located under the data directory where your forum is installed. This will solve the issue you are experiencing and you should not have any problems.

If there is no .htaccess under the specified directory simply create one and add the needed handlers as explained above:

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php51 .php .php3 .php4 .php5 .phtml

Best Regards

[eeyore]

cheers, worked a treat

[mewmewfo]

I am sorry to drag this thread up, but I am experiencing the same problem (timing out during the upgrade installation) I have tried creating a new .htaccess file in the directory containing the forum files but it is still not working :c I have also editted the .htaccess files in the main public_html directory as well. Or if I have created the .htaccess file wrong? :c Please help moi!

[Svetlio]

Please read the following article from which you will learn how to create a .htaccess file and enter the correct handler in it in order to change the php version for your installation:

http://kb.siteground.com/article/How..._versions.html

If you still have problems to complete the script upgrade, please post a ticket in our Help Desk, in the Exclusive Professional Services->Application upgrade category and we will assist you.

[blizz-craft]

Its better of you download the .zip file from http://simplemachines.org/
To get the updates, dont go to the downloads area, they only support latest versions. So go to the forum of the SMF, than go to latest news, scroll through it, and download the .zip file that says something like this:
SMF_1.0.0-1.1.4.zip