SUBMARINEMUSEUMS.ORG Forum
General Boards => Website Updates and Off-Topic Discussion => Topic started by: Lance Dean on September 08, 2008, 07:04:19 PM
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Guys I'm about to pull my hair out here. I can't get Tom Bowser's problem fixed. He cannot view this forum. He can see the various pages of the website, but not the forum. He either gets a blank white screen or an error message (deals with MySQL database).
His IP address is no banned. He has tried across both Internet Explorer and Firefox. I don't think he's able to get the forum to load at all to the point of even get the chance to log in.
There are NO errors showing up in my logs. I have run multiple repairs and they can find nothing wrong. I can log into his account from here.
I just have no idea what could be stopping him from viewing this forum.
This one has me stumped. Have ANY of you experienced ANY problems lately here at all?
:uglystupid2:
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I'd guess the problem to be on his end from the sound of things. Have him try another computer first. He can go to a library to try this out if needed or a neighbor.maybe the police station (ok kidding there).
If that works - he needs to uninstall one of the affected browsers and reload that one - then see if that works. If that works - do the same for the other one. He can also check is blocked sites list to see if some reason his spam and virus protection flagged this site. Do that under Tools, then options.
Using a different PC is the key - if that works then he knows it is on his machine.
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Ya might want to have Tom delete this site off of his favorites list and then go through and clean out his "cookies" and then try to get back on to this site, other then that it does sound like his computer is experiancing the problem... But what the heck to JT and I know???? we are both TM's :idiot2:
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Well, no doubt his profile account was messed up. I couldn't even access it. So I created him a new account and deleted the old account. Then I ran a query that made his new account take over all posts made by his old account.
I'm thinking it is now a weird cookie problem. If this still isn't resolved tomorrow, I'll probably rename the cookie that this forum uses. Then we'll all have to grab a new cookie after that. I like cookies.
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I don't know from what I remember "Cookie" didn't wash his hands all that much. Did enhance the diesel flavor in our chow. Cumin and diesel in our SOS was bon appetite!
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hehe!
ok ok, BEWARE! I'm changing the cookie name now. That means if you save cookies from here to remember you, you'll have to relog next time around.
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If he is still having problems and it's still not showing a problem from your end have him turn his anti-virus off and try and access it. Sometimes it can block certain apps. (Blocked my Firefox once and MSN IM) Could just be the settings. I would check this especially since he was getting error messages.
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Well, he can browse the rest of the website, just not the forum. Would antivirus be able to keep him off the forum? Hmm...interesting.
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Now I am not 100% sure. But depending on what antivirus he uses yes. A program or app used to run the forum he might have blocked with out knowing it in the past making the site visable, but when the forum comes up and runs the app blocks it and times it out.
Either have him turn off the antivius or try another computer using the same screen name and password. I would say 10/1 it's on his end. Especially since there is no errors in your log. Unless it's a conflict in the server then just recreate the profile. But I doubt it's that since no one else is having any problems.
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OK had to log back in - but no problems. Sometimes computers make good sea anchors (if all else fails) :crazy2:
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Well, he ran CCleaner, rebooted, and still cannot access the forum. He says in Internet Explorer he gets a white page, in Firefox he gets an error:
"Database Error: MySQL server has gone away
File: /home/lancedea/public_html/submarinemuseums/forum/Sources/Security.php
Line: 279"
I'm asking for help from the people who know SMF forums much better than I, and for the heck of it I put in a trouble ticket with the web host. I'm just not getting any error messages and without error messages I don't know which way to go.
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I flipped the switch for "Disable Hostname Lookups" just now which is part of the security settings. I'm betting this will work.
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Lance,
Something else that you might want to ask him to do is go to his security center on his computer and go to internet options and then go to trusted sites and type in this addy and then hopefully it will take without him having to make his computer a boat anchor or chock block for his car. And yes they work for both occassions especially if it is a big truck that he is using it for the parking break. :2funny:
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Tom Bowser is back! It was the "Hostname Lookup" security function of the forum. I'll just keep it turned off and watch closer.
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How was it conflicting with him? Old browser? His settings? What?
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How was it conflicting with him? Old browser? His settings? What?
Good question. His old IP addresses used to start with 12.214.xx.xxx and now they are 173.16.xxx.xx.
Now, when anyone comes to this forum, the first thing SMF does (or used to do) is take your IP address and use the whois function of the server to get the hostname of each IP. For example, my IP address resolves to my host bellsouth.net.
Why bother? For banning purposes. You could ban an IP address and/or hostname.
If you'll look on your profile it has a section for IP address and under that it has (now) a blank area for hostname.
The hostname lookup takes resources. When you get a "MySQL has gone away" error that means a function of the SMF forum is either taking too long to respond or it is taking too many resources on the server. For some reason, Tom's new IP address was taking too long to resolve or else it was not resolving at all. The forum saw this as either an error or a security risk (probably a security risk).
My guess is the new IP address Tom has is within a new range of IPs that perhaps hasn't been fully registered across the web. Or his host doesn't have something configured correctly.
Either way, the forum should initially load faster now for EVERYONE as you won't have to wait for a hostname lookup to be done on your IP address.