Blank page on admin login (1.5.4, GoDaddy) - solved

[swguy]

Worked like a champ on MAMP; uploaded to GoDaddy and got a blank page on admin login page load (couldn't even login).
NO EARTHLY IDEA WHY But this worked after about an hour of sweat-soaked cardiac arrest inducing debugging:

in admin/login.php, I changed the "require" for application_top.php to an "include".

The parameters of the configuration were:
- cart in a subdir.
- 1.5.4
- GoDaddy hosting
- upgraded DB from 1.3.8.
- no logs on blank page.
- PHP 5.3.24 (but also happened on a PHP5.2.x.)

Take it for what it's worth. :)

[DrByte]

Since PHP 5.3 is no longer in development, do you mind testing it on 5.4 and 5.5 ... if GoDaddy even offers those modern versions to you?

[swguy]

Unfortunately, the process of upgrading PHP destabilizes the site and this is a production system, so I can't.

Any developers out there have test accounts on GoDaddy?

[DrByte]

- no logs on blank page.

I'm assuming you mean no /logs/myDebug-xxxxxx.log files?

What about Apache error_log messages at the time of the blank page? The reason I ask is because since your problem is happening before application_top can load, that also means it's happening before Zen Cart can tell the errors to be logged in /logs. And therefore the server's default logging is still in place, and in most normal hosting companies that logging is in the Apache error_log log file.
The details in that log will help inform the "why" behind the problem.

[DrByte]

You could also add an "include" for the extra_configures/error_logging.php file before the "require" to application_top, to attempt to intercept the error logging before the problem with application_top occurs.