Home page blank, admin works fine

[FloridaJohn]

I have a seasonal business on my website and have not looked at it recently. I went to try and do some work on it today and noticed that the store home page is blank. The admin control panel works fine and seems to be communicating with the database fine.

I haven't made any changes to this system in months, and it worked fine the last time I looked at it. There are no error messages in the log files.

I'm at a bit of a loss on how to troubleshoot this problem. The only clue I can give (which may not be much), is that when I click on "Online Catalog" from the Admin home page, it is sending the browser to "website address/index.php?main_page=". There is nothing after the "=", but I'm not sure there is supposed to be or not.

I have checked out the support page on blank pages, but that hasn't been much help since the log files are not giving up any information.

Anyone have any ideas on where to start looking?

[mc12345678]

I have a seasonal business on my website and have not looked at it recently. I went to try and do some work on it today and noticed that the store home page is blank. The admin control panel works fine and seems to be communicating with the database fine.

I haven't made any changes to this system in months, and it worked fine the last time I looked at it. There are no error messages in the log files.

I'm at a bit of a loss on how to troubleshoot this problem. The only clue I can give (which may not be much), is that when I click on "Online Catalog" from the Admin home page, it is sending the browser to "website address/index.php?main_page=". There is nothing after the "=", but I'm not sure there is supposed to be or not.

I have checked out the support page on blank pages, but that hasn't been much help since the log files are not giving up any information.

Anyone have any ideas on where to start looking?

I would verify that the folder location to store the log files is identified to the proper location... This is easiest done by posting the contents of includes/configure.php (obscure DB login credentials)

It may be possible that something has been overwritten/lost but the important thing is for you to try to access the site like a customer which normally wouldn't include anything past website address..

Do you host sub-sites/sub-domains? what if you try to access: website address/index.php

[FloridaJohn]

I would verify that the folder location to store the log files is identified to the proper location... This is easiest done by posting the contents of includes/configure.php (obscure DB login credentials)

Here it is:

<?php

/**

 * dist-configure.php

 *

 * @package Configuration Settings

 * @copyright Copyright 2003-2007 Zen Cart Development Team

 * @copyright Portions Copyright 2003 osCommerce

 * @license http://www.zen-cart.com/license/2_0.txt GNU Public License V2.0

 * @version $Id: dist-configure.php 6329 2007-05-16 15:36:56Z drbyte $

 * @private

 */

// Define the webserver and path parameters

// HTTP_SERVER is your Main webserver: eg-http://www.yourdomain.com

// HTTPS_SERVER is your Secure webserver: eg-https://www.yourdomain.com

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://websitename.com');

define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://websitename.com');



// Use secure webserver for checkout procedure?

define('ENABLE_SSL', 'true');



// NOTE: be sure to leave the trailing '/' at the end of these lines if you make changes!



// * DIR_WS_* = Webserver directories (virtual/URL)

// these paths are relative to top of your webspace ... (ie: under the public_html or httpdocs folder)

define('DIR_WS_CATALOG', '/store/');

define('DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG', '/store/');



define('DIR_WS_IMAGES', 'images/');

define('DIR_WS_INCLUDES', 'includes/');

define('DIR_WS_FUNCTIONS', DIR_WS_INCLUDES . 'functions/');

define('DIR_WS_CLASSES', DIR_WS_INCLUDES . 'classes/');

define('DIR_WS_MODULES', DIR_WS_INCLUDES . 'modules/');

define('DIR_WS_LANGUAGES', DIR_WS_INCLUDES . 'languages/');

define('DIR_WS_DOWNLOAD_PUBLIC', DIR_WS_CATALOG . 'pub/');

define('DIR_WS_TEMPLATES', DIR_WS_INCLUDES . 'templates/');



define('DIR_WS_PHPBB', '/');



// * DIR_FS_* = Filesystem directories (local/physical)

//the following path is a COMPLETE path to your Zen Cart files. eg: /var/www/vhost/accountname/public_html/store/

define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '/websitedirectory/');



define('DIR_FS_DOWNLOAD', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'download/');

define('DIR_FS_DOWNLOAD_PUBLIC', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'pub/');

define('DIR_WS_UPLOADS', DIR_WS_IMAGES . 'uploads/');

define('DIR_FS_UPLOADS', DIR_FS_CATALOG . DIR_WS_UPLOADS);

define('DIR_FS_EMAIL_TEMPLATES', DIR_FS_CATALOG . 'email/');



// define our database connection

define('DB_TYPE', 'mysql');

define('DB_PREFIX', 'zen_'); // prefix for database table names -- preferred to be left empty

define('DB_SERVER', 'serverlocation');

define('DB_SERVER_USERNAME', 'username');

define('DB_SERVER_PASSWORD', 'password');

define('DB_DATABASE', 'database');

define('USE_PCONNECT', 'false');

define('STORE_SESSIONS', 'db'); 

// use 'db' for best support, or '' for file-based storage



// The next 2 "defines" are for SQL cache support.

// For SQL_CACHE_METHOD, you can select from:  none, database, or file

// If you choose "file", then you need to set the DIR_FS_SQL_CACHE to a directory where your apache

// or webserver user has write privileges (chmod 666 or 777). We recommend using the "cache" folder inside the Zen Cart folder

// ie: /path/to/your/webspace/public_html/zen/cache   -- leave no trailing slash

define('SQL_CACHE_METHOD', 'none');

define('DIR_FS_SQL_CACHE', '/websitedirectory');



?>

Do you host sub-sites/sub-domains? what if you try to access: website address/index.php

Yes, there is more to this particular website than just the store. All the other 'static' pages are working just fine. Just the landing page to the store is coming up blank.

Thanks for the help. I hope it's something simple I am overlooking.

[FloridaJohn]

I still haven't solved this issue, but looking at the system logs (not the zencart ones), I see the following error appear several times:

[Sun Jan 03 12:32:53 2016] [error] [client 50.62.130.219] ModSecurity: Access denied with connection close (phase 2). 1 [file "/web/httpd2/modsecurity.d/activated_rules/modsecurity_gd_07_post_guardian.conf"] [line "25"] [id "10710"] [msg "BLOCKED - Automated Floods(cached)"] [hostname "72.167.158.233"] [uri "/"] [unique_id "Vol3Za3J2F8AACap13QAAAAz"]

Some basic research shows this could be a hack attempt (and ModSecurity is working as designed), but I am wondering if something in the zencart system got corrupted and is sending something out that is being interpreted as "bad" and therefore preventing my main page from appearing.

The Admin panel continues to work perfectly without any hiccups. I just can't get the main page to display.

There are no recent entries in the zencart log files.

Any help in tracking this problem down would be much appreciated. This system was working fine as late as Dec 15, and I have made no changes to the system what so ever, aside from some pricing updates from within the Admin system.

[kobra]

What is your "Landing Page" comprised of??
Is it a ZenCart Page?

You also posted the contents of "dist-configure.php" when contents of "configure.php" was asked for
We can not help if you respond with erroneous information

[FloridaJohn]

What is your "Landing Page" comprised of??
Is it a ZenCart Page?

I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "landing page." If you mean the home page of the website, then, no, that is not a zencart page. If you mean the main page of the "store", then, yes, it is the main zencart page. The first page a customer will see when interacting with zencart. This is the page that will not appear, located at "website address/index.php?main_page=".

You also posted the contents of "dist-configure.php" when contents of "configure.php" was asked for
We can not help if you respond with erroneous information

That is the contents of my "configure.php" file located in my "/include/" directory. Are you saying that is not the correct configure file that should be in that location? It has worked successfully for several years in that location.

[DrByte]

//the following path is a COMPLETE path to your Zen Cart files. eg: /var/www/vhost/accountname/public_html/store/

define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '/websitedirectory/');

You've taken the time to obscure all the helpful information, so we must ask: Is "/websitedirectory/" in this DIR_FS_CATALOG entry actually the complete physical path to the folder in which your ZC files are stored? It needs to be. It's not a "relative path" which assumes it's located below some other folder. It must be the complete actual folder path.

I'm assuming you've taken the same liberty with DIR_FS_SQL_CACHE and that it's the same as DIR_FS_CATALOG with '/cache/' on the end.

On the assumption that everything else you've obscured is factually correct, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the configure.php contents.

So, since you've said there are no myDebug-xxxxxx.log error logs being recorded in the /logs or /cache folders (per http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?124-blank-page ) then you'll need to work with your hosting company to view the Apache error_log on your server where the server is recording the errors triggering the blank page before the Zen Cart logging infrastructure can intercept and relocate the logs to the more easily accessible /logs folder.

[kobra]

I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "landing page."
Just the landing page to the store is coming up blank.

So please clarify what your referencing as to "your landing page" here
I assume that you mean the ZenCart's main page

[FloridaJohn]

You've taken the time to obscure all the helpful information, so we must ask: Is "/websitedirectory/" in this DIR_FS_CATALOG entry actually the complete physical path to the folder in which your ZC files are stored? It needs to be. It's not a "relative path" which assumes it's located below some other folder. It must be the complete actual folder path.

Yes, this is the correct path and the same one that is listed in the admin configure.php file.

I'm assuming you've taken the same liberty with DIR_FS_SQL_CACHE and that it's the same as DIR_FS_CATALOG with '/cache/' on the end.

Yes, correct. All of these settings have been unchanged for a year and everything worked fine up until (as near as I can tell) about two weeks ago.

On the assumption that everything else you've obscured is factually correct, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the configure.php contents.

OK. At least we've ruled something out.

So, since you've said there are no myDebug-xxxxxx.log error logs being recorded in the /logs or /cache folders (per http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?124-blank-page ) then you'll need to work with your hosting company to view the Apache error_log on your server where the server is recording the errors triggering the blank page before the Zen Cart logging infrastructure can intercept and relocate the logs to the more easily accessible /logs folder.

I have contacted my hosting company (GoDaddy), and they cannot find anything on their side that shows any problem. Their suggestion was to ask you guys.

[FloridaJohn]

So please clarify what your referencing as to "your landing page" here
I assume that you mean the ZenCart's main page

OK, sorry about that, I didn't realize I had introduced that term.

I do, indeed, mean the ZenCart main page (as seen by the customer).