Nothing can be saved in the admin

[surajprasad]

Hi,

I have been running a processwire based film magazine for more than 3 years now. The resources are wonderful, and the forums are full of information so much so that I did not have to ask a single question during the design process or later. I just added it in the showcase section when the site was done. http://projectorhead.in

But in the last week I have been facing some real trouble and the forums dont seem to have anything related. 

The problem;

Once in the admin section, I cannot publish any new content, pages that have some exisiting content, dont accept anything. If I wish to update module settings/ install or uninstall any new module, it does not work either. Every click on any button meant to achieve something in the admin leads to a 404 error in the front end. 

It started from one page but now nothing would change in the admin, it feels like it has become a hard ball of metal which would just not move. 

 

The attempts;

1. I upgraded the entire installation, thinking it was due to the outdated version. I am running the latest stable, 2.7.2, php version 5.6

2. I turned on the debug in config.php, it threw some notices and warnings, have fixed all barring one, where imagesize wants another variable, it hasnt created any issue in the past. 

3. I cleared up all caches using the filemanager, removing cache files. Since the backend will not let me purge caches, I had to use the file manager. 

4. I cleared the cache table from the phpmyadmin. 

5. ProcessImageMinimize was throwing up errors, so I removed the calls from the template and deleted the module using file manager. 

6. Saw some suggestion about the .htaccess rules, played around and nothing worked, however the .htaccess is being duly read and used by the server. 

 

I am out of options and having to stall the latest issue of our magazine, would really appreciate some quick help on what else I could try, possible solutions etc. 

I hope I have described the problem sufficiently, but if you need any more details, please ask. 

Best.

[netcarver]

Are any of the DB tables corrupt? You should be able to repair tables from within PHPMyAdmin.

Also, is there an issue with free space on the server? I've had machines grind to a halt before when running out of space in the /var partition.

[surajprasad]

Hi netcarver,

Grateful for the reply. 

The server has around 80GB free space, its on shared hosting, but I can control the php version I use. 

I have repaired the tables using mysql database wizards, but there seems to be no problem. 

When I removed the ProcessImageMinimize module, the site is throwing errors about that module not existing. See attachment. The public interface is showing an internal configuration error.

I am clearly at my wits end, since there is no indication of what might actually be going wrong. 

Thanks and grateful.

[adrian]

Quote

5. ProcessImageMinimize was throwing up errors, so I removed the calls from the template and deleted the module using file manager. 

Did you just delete the files, or did you properly uninstall it? If not, at this point it might be easiest to go to modules DB table in PHPMyAdmin and delete the row for that module. Then do a Modules > Refresh and see if that helps.

[surajprasad]

Hi Adrian,

Grateful to see you reply, been a follower of your posts for a long time. 

Like I said, no action in the admin would result in anything, but a simple 404 error. So uninstalling the module was not working either, hence I deleted the files from the file manager, and removed all calls to the module from the template files. Uploaded the template files via ftp, and got this as errors. 

I have removed the DB table corresponding to ProcessImageMinimize but the error still shows up. 

On the public front it shows internal server configuration error. I can still log in to the admin, but nothing after that works.

Grateful.

[adrian]

Maybe it's a cache issue since you can't get to the admin to do a Modules > Refresh, try emptying the "caches" database table. Sorry you said you already did that

I think there is something though in the fact that all your other pages work, just not the homepage and the admin.

If you still have no luck, if you PM me access details (FTP and PW login) I'd be happy to take a look for you.

Unrelated, but you have a JS syntax error - take a look at the console.

PS It seems unlikely, but have there been any changes made to the .htaccess file recently. Did you replace it when you upgraded to 2.7.2?

[surajprasad]

8 minutes ago, adrian said:

Maybe it's a cache issue since you can't get to the admin to do a Modules > Refresh, try emptying the "caches" database table.

I think there is something though in the fact that all your other pages work, just not the homepage and the admin.

If you still have no luck, if you PM me access details (FTP and PW login) I'd be happy to take a look for you.

Unrelated, but you have a JS syntax error - take a look at the console.

Adrian, 

I have access to the admin to perform the Modules>Refresh. Have done that a couple of times, and even now. No effect. 

Had accessed the database from phpmyadmin, emptied the cache table a couple of times in the past few days . No effect. 

In the front end the error on the homepage cropped up after I deleted the module files and truncated the table in the database, before that there seemed to be no issues in the front end. 

Sending you the login details for the admin area and the ftp login, would be honoured to have you take a look. 

Grateful. 

[surajprasad]

The issue has been solved, thanks to the help from Adrian. 

For those who might get into a similar situation, the culprit is the mod_security. Here is how it all came about;

I have a shared hosting environment and the mod_security had been activated recently for all my domains in the hosting setup. While everything had been fine for a long time, suddenly one day the mod_security decided to kick in. 

The problem may seem a minor glitch in the beginning, and you may begin by clearing up your cache, refreshing the modules and doing a core upgrade to the latest stable version. If any of these help you to solve the issue, great. 

If not, then try disabling the mod_security and then refreshing the site. In my case it solved the issue and everything came back to normal. If it does not help, then you might have to look at other possible issues in the forums. 

Best.