Search…

X3 Photo Gallery Support Forums

Search…
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

17 Mar 2021, 19:19

- Installed MIN package on this site - https://gallery.butzbach.net with no changes except admin PW
- Turned of diagnostics page and have just a rotating circle.
- 'ImageVue' on FB mentioned MBSTRING and ICONV but both appear to be installed.

Instead of making a HUGE post, I posted all outputs on my forum: https://forum.butzbach.net/index.php?topic=20.0
Webhost is Powweb.com
 
User avatar
mjau-mjau
X3 Wizard
Posts: 13993
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 03:37

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

17 Mar 2021, 22:54

I checked the link, and the source output starts correctly, but stops suddenly in the middle and returns "500 (internal server error)". This is definitely what happens when PHP encounters a missing extension, which (as far as I can remember) was mbstring or iconv when it happened to others. I can see in your post that these extensions seem to be installed ...

Do you have a link to phpinfo() output? Just upload a file phpinfo.php with the following code inside:
Code
<?php phpinfo();
At this point, I can't really diagnose further unless you can provide FTP for me so I can do some tests. Possible?
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

18 Mar 2021, 05:39

phpinfo output was on the forum under the php.ini post, but made a more readable version here - https://gallery.butzbach.net/phpinfo.php
If you need more than this I can PM you a temp FTP account for testing. 
 
User avatar
mjau-mjau
X3 Wizard
Posts: 13993
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 03:37

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

18 Mar 2021, 07:57

I did check your panel and phpinfo, but unfortunately I can't see anything wrong. As far as I can remember, this was missing mbstring or iconv when it happened earlier, but they seem to be installed on your server. Basically your server "chokes" where the "context" (page content) section starts, and there is some function there that is triggering the error.

Error logs
Normally, a 500 internal server error should log into your server's apache error log or PHP error log. It would normally state the exact reason also, and I'm pretty sure it's some missing PHP extension.

PHP version
You are using PHP 7.4. Do you have some interface to select PHP version or update? Perhaps to PHP 8 or downgrading to PHP 7.3? Often, changing PHP version solves the issue.

FTP
Failure to detect the exact issue from error logs, and I would be forced to test via FTP and start eliminating causes until I find the exact cause. Trust me, I would like to avoid this, but it might be the only way to locate the error. It would definitely be best if we could search up your error logs.
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

18 Mar 2021, 10:19

hmmm.  At first I was like BINGO! downgrading PHP from 7.4 to 7.3 fixed the issue and was able to view the page https://gallery.butzbach.net
However, when I went back into \panel and tried to log in, the page just refreshed back to the login page and wouldn't let me in. Curiously I moved PHP back up to 7.4, I could log back into \panel, AND the site was still working???  Seems this was a 'turn it off and back on' episode - but that does not tell me what went wrong to fix the issue.

I'm not sure if I should keep looking for what went wrong or just take it as a workaround and say it's fixed.  I had 'http://galleryproject.org/' years ago with PHP 5.3 but it got frustrated when I had to fix it everytime PHP came out with a new version, and stopped using a gallery altogether.  If you're wondering I Googled "PHP 7 Gallery" to find this gallery compatible with 7.  And thank you!

** UPDATE: Installed a second Full version demo at https://butzbach.net/gallery2 - same issue, resolved by down/up-grading PHP.  In addition to this confusion, went back to the first gallery and made a change (hid the lalala page). Went back to view gallery and it had the spinning circle again.  Toggled PHP, nothing happened.  about a minute later I refreshed page and it started working.  Same thing when I add pictures, just have to toggle PHP. Will make more changes and try some different things.
 
User avatar
mjau-mjau
X3 Wizard
Posts: 13993
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 03:37

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

18 Mar 2021, 22:11

Answered in private message!
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

29 Mar 2021, 12:36

Hello, starting fresh again... but first had to resolve an SSL issue with my webhost, which is fixed.

But back to PHP.  Powweb hosting has the following selectable PHP7 versions 7.4.10, 7.3.2, 7.2.9, 7.1.1, and 7.0.15.  Choosing any version under 7.3.2 gives warning "PHP versions of software older than 7.3 will no longer be supported. Change your PHP setting for increased performance and security."  I had the latest version 7.4.10 set when I initially installed X3 Gallery but it gave me the spinning green circle on the main page after the fresh install.  A workaround I discovered is to set PHP back to 7.3.2, which after a fresh install will work correctly, but the X3 diagnostics gives me"  Your PHP version 7.3.2 has a bug that could affect X3. See this post for more info."  I want to run the X3 gallery with the latest 7.4.10 because eventually 7.3 will become obsolete.

This time I would, if you don't mind, like you to test my host's PHP versions.  It seems to work with version 7.3.2, but not with the host's latest version 7.4.10.  I left you info on PM to test install X3 on my site and check for issues, if any, since it seems to work today.  Thank you!
 
User avatar
mjau-mjau
X3 Wizard
Posts: 13993
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 03:37

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

30 Mar 2021, 00:41

I answered in private message to avoid post fragmentation.
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

30 Mar 2021, 08:39

Note: Sent you PM with additional data.  With Pro license I created SQL DB, and temp FTP account for troubleshooting.

I asked Powweb about PHP8 ... ""I'm afraid the PHP version 8 is not yet in plan. The version 8 may be available in the future."" - So we're stuck for now with a working gallery on 7.3.2, and trying to work out issues to get it to 'their' latest version 7.4.10 (to avoid/remove the 7.3.2 bug)

When you've checked out all the settings in FTP let me know, and I'll update the PHP to 7.4.10 to see if we can resolve the 'rotating green circle' issue that started this post. - Standing by!
 
User avatar
mjau-mjau
X3 Wizard
Posts: 13993
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 03:37

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

31 Mar 2021, 00:15

Ok, so now I have access to your server, and everything seems to be working correctly on PHP 7.3.2. If you want me to deep-diagnose PHP 7.4.10, you will need to update to PHP 7.4.10 ... As mentioned, almost certainly we will find that a missing or misconfigured extension is causing the error, in which case it's back to you again. I would have been interested in checking your error logs, but they are not available to me on FTP. Also, none of my business, but I am curious why it seems important for you to stick to this host ... There are clear bugs in their PHP configs (why else difference between versions?), and why they can't offer PHP 8? We offer our own flamepix.com hosting (which is a bit expensive for most) as a direct reflection of misconfigured hosting services.
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

31 Mar 2021, 21:35

PHP changed to 7.4.10. Feel free to test/wipe/clean install as you wish.  I'm not sure about the error logs but found a place to download "log files" - "Log files list every request made to your Web site. Every time you have a visitor, your log file is updated with information about that request."  I saved it in the gallery folder as "access_log_####.gz  This is the latest one, and I can check tomorrow if another one is created.
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

31 Mar 2021, 21:44

Also, this is just a personal domain I've had for over 20 years just to dabble with html/ script/ etc.  Powweb was the cheapest and have always stuck with them.  I had "http://galleryproject.org/" running back when it was PHP 5.3 but after the 7 update and they quit supporting that project I ditched having a gallery all together.  Recently found yours searching for a gallery designed for PHP7, so now this is my new toy.  If 7.4 ends up being a real pain, i'll go back to 7.3.2 and run the x3 gallery ... until my host upgrades to PHP8.  But that will be years to come.  Let me know what you find with 7.4.10 - and thank you!
 
User avatar
mjau-mjau
X3 Wizard
Posts: 13993
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 03:37

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

01 Apr 2021, 01:59

Ok, so I did some testing, and eventually found out where it chokes. Basically your PHP 7.4 is missing ctype_alpha() which is part of the PHP core. You can see the error in a test file and in error log I created:
https://gallery.butzbach.net/test.php
https://gallery.butzbach.net/error.txt

The function is part of TWIG templating which is used in X3. It's also a part of PHP core, and is not normally installed as an optional extension. Also, this is not specifically related to PHP 7.4 ... It's just that the setup of PHP 7.4 on your server is missing this function. Ask your host, and they should enable it!

More info from external links:
https://www.drupal.org/project/location/issues/470948
https://github.com/twigphp/Twig/issues/2051
https://wpml.org/forums/topic/i-upgrade ... is-broken/
 
Butzbach
Topic Author
Posts: 8
Joined: 09 Mar 2021, 13:10

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

01 Apr 2021, 09:26

NOTES: https://forum.butzbach.net/index.php?to ... sg31#msg31

Thank you! Powweb host enabled ctype_alpha() and spinning circle went away immediately.  Added another test folder and pictures successfully.  I will save another [access_log_####.gz] in the gallery folder if you need to review anything further, but I think it's good to go!

Only last note I have, seeing that I ignored it since I can log in to panel, is session.save_path.  I've seen this several times in your Support Forums (viewtopic.php?f=52&t=9126&p=40774&hilit ... mes#p40774) but basically it can be ignored since everything works.  Let me know if it's ok to ignore:
PHP session.save-path directory is not writeable.
Your server session.save_path is set to 
Code
/hermes/phpsessions

, but this directory does not seem to be writeable. If you can't login to your X3 panel, it means X3 can't save the login-session, in which case you need to contact your host. You can ignore this warning if you are able to login to your X3 control panel.
 
User avatar
mjau-mjau
X3 Wizard
Posts: 13993
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 03:37

Re: Rotating green circle on main page after fresh install

02 Apr 2021, 00:38

Glad it's working.
Butzbach wrote:I will save another access_log_####.gz in the gallery folder if you need to review anything further, but I think it's good to go!
I won't need this. Now we know what the issue was, and besides, access_log doesn't help much ... I would have been looking for "error_log".
Butzbach wrote:Only last note I have, seeing that I ignored it since I can log in to panel, is session.save_path.
If login works, then you can ignore this, as the test is a false positive.