Quote Originally Posted by boudewijn View Post
Did you make changes to your htaccess file, your php.ini, or did your provider change any settings there?
Quote Originally Posted by boudewijn View Post
Both safe mode and basedir restrictions put limitations on what PHP scripts can do. I don't oversee what impact safe mode set to on has on Zen-Cart, but both IM and the backup addon cannot function normally with the basedir restriction set to on. This prevents a script from accessing parts of the filesystem, and both addons need access to create files.
I begin to suspect that your ISP has changed these settings, causing the problems you have now.

If you run server info from the admin interface of Zen-Cart, and lookup open_basedir, you can see what setting is in effect right now. The same applies to safe_mode.
I just did and the results are:
open_basedir /home/MYUSER/:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp no value
PHP Safe Mode: Off

No value for open_basedir means set to one?

I will talk to my ISP to make the changes and post than a reply with the effects. Thanks!