Can't accept licence agreement

**traciemc** · 26 Jul 2012, 10:15 AM

I'm trying to install V1.5, but during the installation process I select to accept the terms and conditions, hit continue, and the page just reloads with the default "I don't accept" reselected.

I've downloaded the zip file twice, and uploaded to my server twice. The result is the same each time.

Server has:
PHP version 5.2.17
MySQL version 5.0.95

I can't complete the installation because I can't accept the License agreement - any help, please?

**schoolboy** · 26 Jul 2012, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by traciemc

I'm trying to install V1.5, but during the installation process I select to accept the terms and conditions, hit continue, and the page just reloads with the default "I don't accept" reselected.

I've downloaded the zip file twice, and uploaded to my server twice. The result is the same each time.

Server has:
PHP version 5.2.17
MySQL version 5.0.95

I can't complete the installation because I can't accept the License agreement - any help, please?

More info required:

WHAT TYPE of server (windoze, linux, other)
HOW did you send the program files to the server?
Did you SET UP A DATABASE first?

**traciemc** · 26 Jul 2012, 08:59 PM

Thanks for your help - more information as requested:

Linux, running Apache 2.2.22. Unzipped on my local computer, uploaded to server via FTP, using BlazeFTP. Database was setup before running install.

I've installed Zencart many times over the past 8 years, and this was done in exactly the same way as I've always done it previously, I've never had a problem in the past, so this is very strange.

**traciemc** · 26 Jul 2012, 10:11 PM

Additional information, which I'm wondering is connected:

This client already has a Zencart running on their server, v1.3.9h - has been running fine for over 12 months, but has now spontaneously (ie without changes made to the cart) started having the issue of not being able to add anything to the shopping cart, combined with the "security error when trying to login" message.

I have tried to locate a fix to this, but none of the FAQs or threads that I've read have helped yet, and I decided that if I was going to be spending time working on the cart that I may as well just upgrade to 1.5 instead of spending time trying to fix the problem we currently have with 1.3.9h.

So, I am trying to install 1.5 in a different directory so that I can get that up and running before upgrading.

I don't know if the issues with 1.3.9h and the problem with trying to install 1.5 are linked to something that's changed in the server settings, perhaps?

**traciemc** · 28 Jul 2012, 02:42 AM

I have now also tried an installation of v1.5 using the automatic installation in cPanel (something I normally avoid doing).

After doing an automatic installation, any attempts to login to the admin area just result in the login page reloading. Any attempts to create a customer account also results in the account creation form just reloading, with nothing being submitted and no account being created.

Any thoughts, anyone? Is this a sessions issue? I'm happy to go back to my hosting provider, but I would like to have some idea of what the problem is so that they don't just brush me off.

**traciemc** · 28 Jul 2012, 10:47 PM

Well after much troubleshooting, I have discovered the problem, although don't understand the reason why - could anyone please explain it to me?

My client has recently had an SEO company working on their site, and I discovered that a .htaccess file was added. I removed this file, and hey presto! Everything works normally with the site again.

However, I don't really understand what the settings in the .htaccess file are doing and why they would stop the cart working. I would like to go back to the client and to the SEO company and tell them what has happened so that they don't repeat it, but need some help working out what it is to tell them - please?

Here is the .htaccess file, I've removed the server paths and website address, and noted this. Can anyone please tell me what these settings are doing and why they would interfere with the cart working?

The cart is installed in a subdirectory on the server, so the reference to index.php is not to the index.php for the cart, but for the main website.

I'm more than happy to PM the full .htaccess file to anyone who could offer advise, and it would be much appreciated.

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(removed path)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ (removed website address)$1 [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^.*/index.php
RewriteRule ^(.*)index.php$ (removed website address)$1 [R=301,L]

**DrByte** · 29 Jul 2012, 12:50 AM

Those rewrite rules may not be compatible with how you've chosen to set up Zen Cart. Those rules are trying to force a certain format of URLs and if they don't match then they intercept them and mangle them before forcing the user to a different address. When a so-called "SEO" person (many of them are just experimenting) stuffs those into .htaccess it's because they can't figure out any smarter way to make the rest of the stuff on your site work consistently. And they're only doing those things to try to force search engines into a certain experience, which has nothing to do with normal operation of your website with human visitors. Be careful how much you pay those folks.

**traciemc** · 29 Jul 2012, 02:31 AM

Thanks DrByte :)

It's not my site, and I'm not employing these people :) I built the site for a client, and she has since employed this SEO company (and it is a commercial SEO company, not an individual, so I imagine they are charging her a pretty penny). It looks like they have made changes to the .htaccess file without at least having the courtesy of informing me that changes have been made.

I'm fairly angry right now, had I at least been told that they had made changes to the .htaccess file, then it's something I would have looked at earlier, rather than wasting hours trying to fix a problem that was nothing to do with my setup of zencart or with the hosting provided by my supplier!

**schoolboy** · 30 Jul 2012, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by traciemc

Thanks DrByte :)

It's not my site, and I'm not employing these people :) I built the site for a client, and she has since employed this SEO company (and it is a commercial SEO company, not an individual, so I imagine they are charging her a pretty penny). It looks like they have made changes to the .htaccess file without at least having the courtesy of informing me that changes have been made.

I'm fairly angry right now, had I at least been told that they had made changes to the .htaccess file, then it's something I would have looked at earlier, rather than wasting hours trying to fix a problem that was nothing to do with my setup of zencart or with the hosting provided by my supplier!

We have had similar issues when a client employs a 3rd-party, gives them access to the server, then phones US to complain when things are broken.

We do this now:

1. In our INITIAL CONTRACT, we have a clause dealing with what happens if the client gives such access to a 3rd-party.
2. The day we hand over the site, we do a full backup of it, and we send a COPY of the backup to the client (usually on a flash-drive these days).
3. If the site breaks as a result of 3rd-party interference, we charge double-time rates to repair it, plus an audit fee of no less than £500.

You should now submit an invoice to your client for all the time you have spent on this, and also advise her that her "so-called SEO Experts" came within a whisker of not only breaking the site, but sending confused info to the search engines.

Core zencart DOES NOT HAVE a HTACCESS file in the root of the installation. If there is ever a htaccess file there, it is because someone has deliberately put it there...