HELP.. killed my phpmyadmin when trying to reset password.. now nothing works

Zen Cart 1.5.0 running on Windows/Linux with MySQL version 5.0

My website has been up and running for a couple years now with very few problems.

Well I got a sale on it the other day and payment came through fine (PayPal) but never got email regarding it. So I went to login on admin and forgot password. Clicked on resend button and nothing came through email. Searched Zen Cart website tried to follow the phpmyadmin directions and messed something up.

Now the public site is not working and the admin login screen is not work and my blog is not working either. I thought I backuped the dang thing but apparently I didn't.

Any suggestions? the only thing I tried to changed as the phpmyadmin.

thanks
carol

look at this please ..

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https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=2

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by haredo

look at this please ..

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Afternoon,

Yes I tired those directions and after a few tries I finally got it right. The message was that it was sucessful BUT now when I try to anyting on my domain NOTHING works.. well except for the index.html.

That page has two links on it; one for the blog and the other for the store. If no choice is made it is set to time out and take guest to the store.

When it goes to the store it comes up with the Zen-Cart error page that states, Sorry! There seems to be a problem connecting to our database. Please give us a few minutes to remedy the problem. Thank you.

When I try to go to the blog it comes up with the HTTP 500 IE error screen.

Thanks for any suggestions!
carol

okay.. so I tried it again.. this is what i'm getting.. which i think was what happened the other day when i tried to change it..

DELETE FROM zen_admin WHERE admin_name = 'Admin';# MySQL returned an empty result set (i.e. zero rows).

INSERT INTO zen_admin (admin_name, admin_email, admin_pass, admin_level)
VALUES ('Admin', 'admin@localhost', '351683ea4e19efe34874b501fdbf9792:9b', 1);# Affected rows: 1

suggestions?

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Affected rows: 1

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That is the expected response to the SQL statement you ran. Nothing wrong there.

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Originally Posted by DrByte

That is the expected response to the SQL statement you ran. Nothing wrong there.

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Okay.. it said it ran sucessfully.. but my site is gone still.

need suggestions on how to get everything back without having to reinstall and redo all my products.. :(

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

When it goes to the store it comes up with the Zen-Cart error page that states, Sorry! There seems to be a problem connecting to our database. Please give us a few minutes to remedy the problem. Thank you.

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That means that when Zen Cart is trying to use the database credentials in your two configure.php files to login to the database, it was refused or the connection failed.
Talk to your hosting company to fix database problems.

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

When I try to go to the blog it comes up with the HTTP 500 IE error screen.

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Zen Cart doesn't have a blog. Your 500 errors will need to be fixed in consultation with your hosting company.

Your hosting company has access to server logs which explain the exact details of "500" errors. The details are never shown to the browser, for security reasons.

Hosting is telling me that there is no backup. I thought I had run the backup before changing but I guess I didn't. So they can't "fix" it.. oh but they will have someone work on it for $150 or something like that. The guy told me sounds like there is a string that go changed that just needs to get changed back.

I wondered about the admin_profile and the admin_level. Could I have chaged one the wrong way and that cause the difference? as for the blog I'm not sure why that doesn't work. I think there was a database on that because of the wordpress. But not entirely sure.

Sounds like you changed the password on your MySQL database, and need to tell all your other software what that new password is.

That's not a Zen Cart application issue. Your hosting company will have to help you with the process of changing your database password. That is NOT the same as the "admin password reset" that you were doing in your previous post.

now i'm totally confused.. what other software?

thanks for any help.

That would be any software which uses a database, such as Zen-cart. You need to ensure db name, username and pw are reflected in your two configure files.

thecousil,
I'm guessing you don't "get" how a web-based database-driven application works.

1. MySQL is your database engine. In it you create various databases that are used by your various web applications. Each database is assigned a database-username and corresponding password. These are used by your web software applications to authorize those applications (ie: php scripts) to access the database content. In the case of Zen Cart, you enter this information in the two configure.php files. You do something similar for Wordpress.

2. INSIDE the database tables (ie: "zen_admin" or just "admin" if you're not using tablename prefixes like "zen_") there might be places where your store's back-end security credentials are stored, such as the username and password you type in when you wish to login to your Zen Cart store's administration area.
Further, in the case of Zen Cart there's also customer account usernames and passwords that are stored in other tables to allow your customers to authenticate themselves when wishing to shop.

So ...

The MySQL database username and password are managed from your hosting company's control panel services, and in some less-sophisticated services maybe even handled via phpMyAdmin under the database-privileges section. It's VERY RARE TO EVER CHANGE THIS INFORMATION ONCE IT IS INITIALLY SET. And that is completely external to anything related to Zen Cart. The only part that Zen Cart cares about is that if you change the username or password in that area, you need to tell Zen Cart about it in the configure.php files. Same with Wordpress.
Contact your hosting company for help with managing your databases. If you've fooled around in there and broken things, then you really need the help of someone who can work with you interactively at the server and figure out what you've broken and how to fix it. Again, that's not a Zen Cart issue.

Earlier in this discussion you talked about resetting your Admin username and password. The assumption made by those persons trying to help you is that you were talking about your Zen Cart Admin User account password. That's what the tutorial https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=2 is referring to: ie: the username/password you use to login to your store's administration section to configure the store and manage orders.
IF THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT INITIALLY THEN ALL THIS DISCUSSION IS MOOT BECAUSE WE DIDN'T GET ENOUGH INFO FROM YOU INITIALLY IN ORDER TO DIRECT YOU ELSEWHERE.

I doubt this discussion has anything to do with your customer account password in your storefront, so no need to discuss that.

This is what happened..

I got a sale (doesn't happen very often).. I didn't know I got a sale until I got the email from PayPal. I never got one through the website.
Went to the website admin login screen and couldn't remember my password.
Used the button on the screen to get a new password and no email came.
Came to this forum found the myphpadmin directions.
Logged into hosting service.
Forgot password there and had to reset that.
Finally got logged into database and followed the directions for resetting username and password.
After trying and failing a few times I finally got the successful screen shot and returned to website to test.

Nothing worked.

Called host and they told me there was no backup (I thought I had backed up but didn't). They could work on it but it would be $150 or so to try to fix it or if he were me he would search online since it sounded like only one thing was changed. Not enough sales to pay to justify that. All the information is still there.. just something not connecting in some string (according to host).

So I searched and ended up posting.

Where are the configure.php files? I remember when I was setting everything up years ago changing php files. Not sure if it was for the Wordpress or the Zen-cart though. Like I said this site has been set up for years with no problems (well initial problems) but none in the last at least 3 years.

thanks for any suggestions, information or anything.. :)

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

Hosting is telling me that there is no backup. I thought I had run the backup before changing but I guess I didn't. So they can't "fix" it.. oh but they will have someone work on it for $150 or something like that.

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We host with a company that does AUTO-BACKUP every 6 hours... cost of which is built into their very modest hosting fees.

With eCommerce, 'tis VITAL to host with a good host - or your business is at risk.

Unfortunately it's way past 6 hrs since the problems arose. All the files are still there.. unfortunately something is just not syncing up.. or something..

I think that you have done this:-

You have gone into your host account c-panel, and in the database management area, you have configured a NEW database user and NEW database password, then assigned that user to the database in question, and removed the original username and password.

Now... any site trying to find that database cannot do so, because the CONFIGURE files of the websites are being told to apply the database's ORIGINAL database user and password.

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

Zen Cart 1.5.0 running on Windows/Linux with MySQL version 5.0
My website has been up and running for a couple years now with very few problems.

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When did you upgrade to ZenCart 1.5.0?

When did your problems start? Before the upgrade, after the upgrade, or was it a result of attempting to upgrade?

I'm asking this because ZenCart 1.5 hasn't been around for "a couple of years", which means you are either mistaken about the version number, or, for some reason or other you've failed to mention the upgrade, which leads to the second of my questions.

If your problems started before you upgraded, many of the symptoms you have mentioned smells suspiciiously like you store may have been hacked.

Cheers
Rod

Rod,

I have no clue when the last upgrade was. I haven't touched the website in a couple of years so it was a couple years ago.

When the issued started I was NOT upgrading anything. I was trying to get into the admin section to see if I could get more information about an order that I did not receive an email for. I couldn't remember my password so I clicked the password button but never got an email so I searched and tried the directions for the myphpadmin and messed up a few times and finally got it right.

I'm still at a loss and my site is still down.. is there away to reinstall and move files over or should I just try to find the configure files and check and make sure all the information is correct there.. ahhh.. LOL

carol

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

Rod,
I have no clue when the last upgrade was. I haven't touched the website in a couple of years so it was a couple years ago.

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In that case you are/were not using V1.5.0 as originally stated/implied. You were *probably* still using V1.3.8

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

When the issued started I was NOT upgrading anything. I was trying to get into the admin section to see if I could get more information about an order that I did not receive an email for. I couldn't remember my password so I clicked the password button but never got an email so I searched and tried the directions for the myphpadmin and messed up a few times and finally got it right.

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I fear that you didn't actually forget your password. Someone had changed it on you. You only ended up 'getting it right' because you managed to change it back to something else.

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

I'm still at a loss and my site is still down..is there away to reinstall and move files over or should I just try to find the configure files and check and make sure all the information is correct there.. ahhh.. LOL

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I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I am now convinced that your site was was hacked, at least that's what all the evidence seems to point to.

There is no easy fix.
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.p...ing_From_Hacks

Cheers
Rod.

So you believe I was hacked. Okay I can deal with that.

Is there anyway to use the backup files I have to restore the store front.. and by backup I mean everything that is not related to the SQL that you can only access through the host, or that I think is what you can only access through their website.

Now to get my blog back, which is more important to me right now than the store but both need to be up and running.

Thanks,
carol

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

Is there anyway to use the backup files I have to restore the store front..

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Err, well yes. That is the entire point of making backups.

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

and by backup I mean everything that is not related to the SQL

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And by backups, we generally mean everything that could possibly get corrupted, lost, modified or destroyed, *including* the SQL database.

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

that you can only access through the host, or that I think is what you can only access through their website.

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There are a number of ways to backup SQL data, the most used (and recommended) method being via phpmyadmin, but cPanel also has its own tools that allow you to do this.
I'm somewhat confused about your terminology though ("what you can only access through their website"), because how else does one make *any* backup if not through the site that the files or data is being hosted on?

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

Now to get my blog back, which is more important to me right now than the store but both need to be up and running.

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I seem to recall that you were using WordPress for your blog? Has this been left as long between updates as your ZenCart installation was? If so, you've got double the problems. Wordpress is more notorious for being hacked than zencart, so this will also need to be checked for hackers files, upgraded, and restored from backups. Oh, and guess what, Wordpress also makes extensive use of SQL, much like zencart does, so if you don't have a backup of the ZenCart database I have to assume you don't have a backup of your WP database either.

That's the bad news.... I can however provide you with a little hope that all is not lost (perhaps). While is is quite possible that your host doesn't keep a backup of their users /home/ files (I shall refrain from saying what I think about such host), they *should* have a a *series* of regular backups of all of the SQL databases. I won't go into details, but the odds are extremely high (99.99%) that their entire server(s) are dependent on these in one way or another, which means if they don't back these up they are screwing themselves over big time, and *when* one of the drives fail (not *if*) they'll never be able to recover their own systems.. such a failure will probably put them out of business. I hope no host is *that* stupidly unprofessional.

Anyway, assuming they do have these backups, they could restore your database(s) to sometime before the hack. They are under no obligation to do this for you though, so you can expect to pay... It could take them considerable time to locate, extract, and restore the files specific to you .. in fact it could take them a lot longer to do this whan it could to restore their *entire* system (which they won't do for a single user, because such backups will affect *all* of their users, and themselves.

Nonetheless, this is a possibilty for you.

As for the backup of your *files* (the stuff in your home directory), which is most of what your 'store front' consists of, these are not essential for their servers operation, so as stated, they may not even have these backed up, and if you don't either, then this makes your question a moot point, and you have no option than to start afresh.

Now for more bad news..... A programs files, and the SQL database they use are intrinsically linked, and should never ever be backup up (or restored) separately. Attempting to do so is just asking for problems. You'll end up finding some parts of the system may work, while other parts fail miserably. This is going to be true for both your zencart system and your wordpress system.

Now a little more good news. *We* have no way of knowing exactly what files (or database) have been modified (or accidentally corrupted). It is possible that only one or two relatively minor things have actually been affected, and a *skilled* professional could take a look at things, identify these minor issues (even though the consequences may be major) and actually *fix* them for you and you'll have lost nothing. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DO THIS WITHOUT ACCESS TO YOU SITE though, so asking questions about it is simply wasting *everyones* time.

This same professional may end up spending several hours trying to recover for you, before coming to the conclusion that recovery simply isn't possible, which is going to leave you with a large bill with nothing really productive in return (from your perspective). So this is a bit of a gamble.

My gut feeling is telling me that even if you had good/current backups of everything *you* will still have troubles trying to restore things yourself, so on this basis, I'd be inclined to suggest you seek some kind of expert help for a preliminary inspection of your site to get some idea how much (or how little) damage has actually been done.
(Don't ask your host, this isn't their area of expertise).

Having said that, you may choose to decide that your store and blog isn't quite as valuable as you think it is, and on this basis, cut your losses, treat this entire thing as a bad experience (which you will hopefully learn from), and start afresh using the latest version of the software that you are using, because no matter what, even if recovery is possible you will *still* need to upgrade it all in order to prevent further hacks.

I seriously and honestly beleive that this thread now be closed, because as much as we'd like, there isn't anything more that anyone can *say* to help you.

Your options are seek professional help (with your site), or start afresh.

Cheers
Rod

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thecounsil

So you believe I was hacked. Okay I can deal with that.

Is there anyway to use the backup files I have to restore the store front.. and by backup I mean everything that is not related to the SQL that you can only access through the host, or that I think is what you can only access through their website.

Now to get my blog back, which is more important to me right now than the store but both need to be up and running.

Thanks,
carol

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There is no reason to assume you have been hacked - Just because you didnt get your email and password email could simply be an email issue - You said you received the Paypal payment email - if you had been 'hacked' as suggested on here you'd expect they would try and send payments to their own Paypal account, but obviously they havent, so its a pretty lame 'hack'.

So basically, you forgot your login/password, so went manually into phpmyadmin, but also forgot the database user/name password too, so made a new one.

So as Im reckoning, you have deleted/removed the original database user/password that controls the database, ie the same database login details in the Zencart includes/configure.php files.

Because youve replaced that user with a new one, the Zencart files can no longer connect with the database.

You probably find your blog also stopped working as they may have used the same database username/password.

So go into your includes/configure.php file, and change the database user and password in that file to the same as the new user/password you made in phpmyadmin.

Okay.. options..

restart from scratch...
try to use backups...

or

find configure.php file(s) and make sure they have the correct information..

okay.. where are the configure file(s) I need to find?

thanks!
carol

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Originally Posted by dgent

There is no reason to assume you have been hacked

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This is/was NOT just an assumption. I came to this conclusion based on all the evidence presented. The key points being

1. The issues started whilst the OP was running ZenCart V1.3.8, known to be *actively* exploited
2. The normal process of resetting the password didn't fix the 'forgotten password' issue, (and seriously, how often does a store admin 'forget' a password that they had apparently been using for several years?)
3. The issues go deeper than just ZenCart. There are problems with the Wordpress Blog that started at the same time (?)

If only one, possibly even two of these issues were reported I'd be inclined to think differently. But all three things put together, seems a bit too suspicious to me.

I am NOT one of those people that scream 'hack' at every little problem. In fact I only tend to suggest this as a possiblity when pretty much all other alternatives have been eliminated.

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Originally Posted by dgent

if you had been 'hacked' as suggested on here you'd expect they would try and send payments to their own Paypal account, but obviously they havent, so its a pretty lame 'hack'

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How do you know the hacker didn't 'try' but didn't succeed? And yes, there are a LOT of lame hackers around. Fact is, most zencart hacks that I've seen *have* been lame, to the extent that the kiddies run the prewritten scripts, which gives them access to the SQL database, and from thier there don't have a clue what to do next.
With no ability to make their 'hack' productive (by redirecting paypal payments) they are often content to just mess with the admin password.
Other evidence of such hacks can usually be found in way of php files being found in the /images/ folder (not that these 'hackers' have any idea how they managed to put them there, and often, with less of a clue how to remove them).

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Originally Posted by dgent

So as Im reckoning, you have deleted/removed the original database user/password that controls the database, ie the same database login details in the Zencart includes/configure.php files.
Because youve replaced that user with a new one, the Zencart files can no longer connect with the database.
You probably find your blog also stopped working as they may have used the same database username/password.

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Now, having 'defended' my logical conclusion (not an assumption), I must also agree that yours is also quite a possible, even good explanation of the *current* scenario, so until/unless a hack is proven or disproven, I think a key factor is was the original password *really* forgotten, or had it been changed, making the OP think that they must have forgotten it?

And finally, here comes my 'trump card'..... Regardlesss of whether this situation was a result of a hack or a forgotten password, the OP has now done so many things 'wrong' (changing passwords here and there, attempting a zencart upgrade (assumedly new files were uploaded) who knows what else, that they have, for all intents and purposes hacked their own site in ways that neither a script kiddy, or a 'real' hacker ever would (or could).

As such, in MY opinion, the only sensible way to recover is to treat it as though it were a hack, and a very nasty one at that.

If it helps the OP to recover I'll be happy to eat humble pie if your latest suggestion works, but are you sure that this isn't going to cause even more problems? (OTOH, there not a lot more to lose by trying I suppose). If I were the 'professional' called in to look at the site I'd certainly be testing/checking these details *before* actually making any changes to them (as I would hope others would too).

On that note, I'll once again end this post the same way as my last one...
I seriously and honestly beleive that this thread now be closed, because as much as we'd like, there isn't anything more that anyone can *say* to help you.
Your options are seek professional help (with your site), or start afresh.

Cheers
Rod

If you slow down with the writing and actually read, you'll see there was nothing wrong with her site until she reset her phpadmin password, both Zencart and the blog were working.

'The normal process of resetting the password didn't fix the 'forgotten password' issue,'

That process is the same process that sends you an order confirmation email. So what we're looking at initially is simply an email not received issue, to start with.

And you'll notice the lack of surprise in her comment 'I forgot my password'. Her comments make out she never logs into her admin, and her 'I forgot my password to my cpanel too'.

There are the facts, everything else is assumption.

I think the main fact is you're confusing the crap out of her :P

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Originally Posted by dgent

If you slow down with the writing and actually read, you'll see there was nothing wrong with her site until she reset her phpadmin password, both Zencart and the blog were working.

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Not sure why I'm bothering.

From the 1st post.
"Well I got a sale on it the other day and payment came through fine (PayPal) but never got email regarding it. So I went to login on admin and forgot password. Clicked on resend button and nothing came through email. Searched Zen Cart website tried to follow the phpmyadmin directions and messed something up.
Now the public site is not working and the admin login screen is not work and my blog is not working either."

At THIS point this isn't any indication or suggestion that the *database* user/password was changed. The zencart directions to reset the password refers to the Zencart admin user only. Have you seen these directions? It would be near impossible to mess up whilst following them and end up changing the database user details instead. On this basis, and assuming (yes, I also make asumptions, as well as logical deductions) there was already something more amiss with the site than first reported, because no matter how the zencart admin details were messed up it wouldn't/could possibly have had an effect on the blog. IOW, there are still more peices missing to this puzzle.

If one of these peices is that the OP did mess up the DB details then that would have been because there was a lot more done than just following the password reset instructions... since then there has been the attempted upgrade, and soon to be even more changes, this time with the configure files <sigh>

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Originally Posted by dgent

I think the main fact is you're confusing the crap out of her :P

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And your additional input isn't doing a great deal to alleviate this. What I'm *actually* trying to do is prevent the OP from doing anything more that could dig her into an even deeper hole. You have now managed to really mess up that plan, so on that note, I wish both you and Carol adios and good luck. You're going to need it.

• :frusty:
  
  Cheers
  Rod (1.30am - off to bed. I can't wait to see what transpires next)
  
  

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Originally Posted by RodG

Not sure why I'm bothering.

From the 1st post.
"Well I got a sale on it the other day and payment came through fine (PayPal) but never got email regarding it. So I went to login on admin and forgot password. Clicked on resend button and nothing came through email. Searched Zen Cart website tried to follow the phpmyadmin directions and messed something up.
Now the public site is not working and the admin login screen is not work and my blog is not working either."

At THIS point this isn't any indication or suggestion that the *database* user/password was changed. The zencart directions to reset the password refers to the Zencart admin user only. Have you seen these directions? It would be near impossible to mess up whilst following them and end up changing the database user details instead. On this basis, and assuming (yes, I also make asumptions, as well as logical deductions) there was already something more amiss with the site than first reported, because no matter how the zencart admin details were messed up it wouldn't/could possibly have had an effect on the blog. IOW, there are still more peices missing to this puzzle.

If one of these peices is that the OP did mess up the DB details then that would have been because there was a lot more done than just following the password reset instructions... since then there has been the attempted upgrade, and soon to be even more changes, this time with the configure files <sigh>



And your additional input isn't doing a great deal to alleviate this. What I'm *actually* trying to do is prevent the OP from doing anything more that could dig her into an even deeper hole. You have now managed to really mess up that plan, so on that note, I wish both you and Carol adios and good luck. You're going to need it.

• :frusty:
  
  Cheers
  Rod (1.30am - off to bed. I can't wait to see what transpires next)
  
  

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Her PM to me after my post saying 'yes, thats exactly what I did' is the answer Rod...

'What I'm *actually* trying to do is prevent the OP from doing anything more that could dig her into an even deeper hole'

Apart from suggest to her she should seek professional help and 'any further input on this thread is *wasting* everyones time'

Yeah, real helpful.

Thank you all for your help!!!

dgent, you are a LIFESAVER!!! Wish I could bring you some.. :)

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Site is up and running again, so is the blog. I'm gonna leave it alone for today. Run some more back-ups on my end and through SQL. PW protect a few areas.. and then and only then run some updates.. because I know it's long over due for that.. but if one only gets a couple sales a year and always gets the right amount of emails.. AND not to mention twin 5 yr olds.. you don't think of such things..

Anywho, I can't thank you enough dgent!!!

:)
carol