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Client went edit crazy now site is blank
Errant character making db choke?

Comments on Client went edit crazy now site is blank

sparkalina
Forum Regular

Usergroup: Customer
Joined: Nov 25, 2003

Total Topics: 70
Total Comments: 211
Posted Jan 15, 2006 - 12:07 PM:

My client which uses one of my three licenses westchesterlax.com was doing some spring cleaning...editing categories and such and suddenly the site was blank.

At first I thought it might that they didn't regenerate counters or somehow put a strange character into an edit that is causing the entire site including the admin section to go blank...

I went to the support section and tried all that was suggest about blank screen issues and that did not fix anything.

I also installed an old old (too old to be really useful) back up and managed to get it to somewhat function to this tells me there might be some errant character screwing up the script OR the counters need to be regenerated.

I cannot regenerate counters because of course the admin area is blank too. I also can't find the labeled field in the db (if it exists) to set this number manually.(I've been looking, hoping this was the problem)

Can you list some of the keyboard characters entered in a title or description field that could make the database choke? I've been searching but there are a ton of links and categories and I'm doing this cluster F$ck fix pro bono so my time is limited to search for this needle.

I'm sorry ahead of time for not reprimanding my client by telling him to make a freaking back up before he sweeps house. smiling face

Help!

Various facts:

client does not have ftp access, only admin access through the browser to edit the site. He only edits/adds/deletes links/categories I told him not to touch the settings.

THANKS AGAIN! WSN LINKS ROCKS.
sparkalina
Forum Regular

Usergroup: Customer
Joined: Nov 25, 2003

Total Topics: 70
Total Comments: 211
Posted Jan 15, 2006 - 7:40 PM:

Okay, I tried something I found from a post in your support forum from 2004 and tadah the site works again.

I ran the sql:

UPDATE wsnlinks_settings SET content='no' WHERE name='compress'

the site is now back.

what exactly does that sql statement do? I was desperate and tried it. I was ready to reinstall the backed up database if that sql screwed things up.
Paul
developer

Usergroup: Administrator
Joined: Dec 20, 2001
Location: Diamond Springs, California

Total Topics: 61
Total Comments: 7868
Paul
Posted Jan 16, 2006 - 4:55 PM:

It changes the setting back to how it should be. That you had to do that means it's an old (3.1 era or older) WSN Links and someone went into the admin panel settings and changed 'GZIP compress output?' to 'yes' without reading the big red warning next to it (or perhaps the version didn't have the warning, but I don't recall one that didn't). That option caused so many support incidents and is only mildly useful for a few people whose apache install doesn't gzip, so it was removed about a year ago.
sparkalina
Forum Regular

Usergroup: Customer
Joined: Nov 25, 2003

Total Topics: 70
Total Comments: 211
Posted Oct 21, 2006 - 10:29 AM:

Dear Paul,

I just wanted to thank you for keeping a large back up of postings on this forum.

My client made the same mistake yesterday and I came to this forum to try and remember my solution.

And there it was....

Thanks again for a great product and wonderful support.

WSN ROCKS...
Paul
developer

Usergroup: Administrator
Joined: Dec 20, 2001
Location: Diamond Springs, California

Total Topics: 61
Total Comments: 7868
Paul
Posted Oct 21, 2006 - 11:35 AM:

You should have the client upgraded since any version that old has security issues. Many pre-3.3.8 users have been hacked and everyone will be eventually if they never do anything about it.
sparkalina
Forum Regular

Usergroup: Customer
Joined: Nov 25, 2003

Total Topics: 70
Total Comments: 211
Posted Oct 21, 2006 - 11:50 AM:

Can do. I've recommended upgrading to them.
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