[shibby2]

Hey everyone, my forums stopped working today. I guess the host upgraded PHP or something.

Every time I try to go to my forums now, a download box pops up and it downloads the index file.

They supposedly downgraded PHP, and it worked for a little bit, now back to the same thing. They did something with the httaccess file too I guess. I also was getting a parse error in the init.php file also for alittle while, but now that's not even happening anymore.


I really don't know what to do and the host tech support is absolutely worthless. Any idea what is going on here? Any idea what php version would work best? My forums are all 3.8.2 or 3.8.4.

Thanks for ANY help!

[Dr.CustUmz]

php 5.6.4 works best with 3x but it's best to update the core files and use more current php versions, I have not completely finished upgrading mine either but soon I feel I will have no other choice. I wont leave vb3, I have tried programming on vb4 and it's not worth the headache to me.

[shibby2]

Thank you. I will tell them 5.6.4 is best. This is terrible, I feel helpless. My forums are pretty active, I can't have them down for this long. It's been a few hours already.

Any idea why it would download the index file when trying to access them instead of just opening the forum? Is that because of the php version too?

Thanks so much.

[Dr.CustUmz]

That I have no idea on, a php file should not be downloadable. This seems to be something more server related. Maybe they didnt have the right index's set.

[shibby2]

For some reason they can either be on php 5.2, or php 7.2.

When on 5.2, it downloads the index file when trying to access the forums.

When on 7.2, a parse error in the init file comes up.

[Dr.CustUmz]

On 5.2 try downloading your includes/config.php and place the disable plugins code at the very top so the top of your config file should look like

<?php
define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

Then upload it back and see if your site loads up

Try yoursite.com/admincp also

If you get in turn your boards off for now and give your members a message

And if that works, a plug-in is causing the issues.

Now if that doesn't work the last thing I can think to do is upgrade to the latest version of vb3 but first have them switch it to php 7.2

I'd be careful with this, already having issues, MAKE A BACKUP, files, db anything you need.

[john2k]

First thing I would check is to verify that PHP is or is not configured for your site. It might be that PHP is not properly configured in the virtual host settings in the webserver software for your site. PHP not being configured for a virtual host would probably cause the webserver to treat .php files as files to be downloaded rather than files to be parsed & executed as PHP.

[shibby2]

thank you everyone for the help. This has been a nightmare. Im going in circles.


quick question.... how can you find out what version oh PHP your forum is currently using? On my other host, where theres no problem, they tell me my VB3.8.4 forum is running on 7.3.

If I go into the admincp on my forums, and click on phpinfo, it says 5.4 is being used.

The host insists it's running on 7.3, which from what I understand, doesnt work for VB3.


How do I know for sure what it's running on?


Thanks.

[Dr.CustUmz]

create a php file name it what ever, add:

Block Disabled:      (Update License Status)
Suspended or Unlicensed Members Cannot View Code.

to it, upload it and navigate to that file.

it will tell you 100% everything you need to know.

also on vb3 would be throwing you errors on 7.3 (unless you have updated it yourself)

--------------- Added 26 Feb 2021 at 23:23 ---------------

I will have a php 7.4 compatible version of vb3 for you tonight

[shibby2]

Ok thanks, I'll try it in a lil bit.

[snakes1100]

What hosting panel is your host using, did you verify that php & apache are loaded properly?

An upgrade of php will/can break things, but with it downloading instead of executing the script, it doesnt sound like apache & php are built right or php is not enabled.