Problem With Checkout Loop

[yannibmbr]

Hello all,
I've searched the forums and haven't found exactly the issue that I'm having so now I'm posting a question, in spite of my best efforts. =)

The Issue
On the website http://shop.dearmrfantazy.com when you attempt to login you are taken to a screen, which again, asks you to login. It's an endless loop, seemingly. Then, if you click on the one product that is available and add it to your cart, that works fine. However, when you click on 'proceed to checkout' you get a message stating 'Ooops, your session has expired.' You are then prompted to login again and the loop continues.

To Replicate Go to the above referenced link and attempt to purchase that item.

What I Have Tried
I have ensured that my session write directory is set to 777.
I have ensured that the 'session.referer_check =' Is disabled
I have checked to see that i'm not using SSL. That value is set to false in my config.php file...
I'm at a bit of a loss as to what the issue is.

Additional Information
My Config.php file
##############################____
<?php
/**
*
* @package Configuration Settings
* @copyright Copyright 2003-2006 Zen Cart Development Team
* @copyright Portions Copyright 2003 osCommerce
* @license http://www.zen-cart.com/license/2_0.txt GNU Public License V2.0
*/


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

// Use secure webserver for checkout procedure?
define('ENABLE_SSL', 'false');

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

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', '/home/mrfantaz/shop.dearmrfantazy.com/');

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', 'dmf_');
define('DB_SERVER', 'mysql.dearmrfantazy.com'); // eg, localhost - should not be empty
define('DB_SERVER_USERNAME', '*********');
define('DB_SERVER_PASSWORD', '*********');
define('DB_DATABASE', 'dmf');
define('USE_PCONNECT', 'false'); // use persistent connections?
define('STORE_SESSIONS', 'db'); // leave empty '' for default handler or set to 'db'

// 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', 'file');
define('DIR_FS_SQL_CACHE', '/home/mrfantaz/shop.dearmrfantazy.com/cache');

?>
##################################################__
Hopefully someone can guide me in the right direction. If this answer is in another post, I apologize for not being as diligent a forum searcher as I ought to be. Again, any assistance rendered on my behalf is much appreciated.

[DrByte]

When you installed, were there any orange or red alerts about configuration issues?

esp related to:
- php session auto_start
- php trans_sid


What version of PHP are you running?
What version of Zen Cart?
What addons/contributions do you have installed?

[yannibmbr]

Thank you for the reply.
I am running PHP5.
The version of ZenCart is Zen Cart 1.3.0.1
Database Patch Level: 1.3.0.1
I have not installed any additional add on modules, save for the Paypal IPN feature to accept paypal payments...

I do recall that there were a couple 'orange' colored notes about the configuration... However, i do not recall exactly what config settings were referenced. There were no red alerts...

Additional PHP Session Info

session
Session Support enabled
Registered save handlers files user sqlite
Registered serializer handlers php php_binary

Directive Local Value Master Value
session.auto_start Off Off
session.bug_compat_42 Off Off
session.bug_compat_warn On On
session.cache_expire 180 180
session.cache_limiter nocache nocache
session.cookie_domain shop.dearmrfantazy.com no value
session.cookie_lifetime 0 0
session.cookie_path / /
session.cookie_secure Off Off
session.entropy_file no value no value
session.entropy_length 0 0
session.gc_divisor 1000 1000
session.gc_maxlifetime 3600 1440
session.gc_probability 1 1
session.hash_bits_per_character 5 5
session.hash_function 0 0
session.name zenAdminID PHPSESSID
session.referer_check no value no value
session.save_handler user files
session.save_path /home/mrfantaz/shop.dearmrfantazy.com/cache /tmp
session.serialize_handler php php
session.use_cookies On On
session.use_only_cookies Off Off
session.use_trans_sid 0 0

[DrByte]

those settings appear to be fine.

I'd check:
- another PC
- another browser
- whether cookie-blockers and firewall software on your PC may be causing it

[yannibmbr]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I tried with IE6, Firefox and Opera. On two different computers... I produced the same results with all three browsers...
I disabled the pop up blocker on each one. I also made sure there were no restrictions set for the cookies on each browser. Still, the same results were produced.

Are you able to replicate this issue by going to the shopping cart link?

It's a bit of a pickle I'm in with no sanwich to place it in... =)

[DrByte]

Can you upgrade to v1.3.0.2 ? There were some session-system fixes there that might help with this, esp for PHP5.

Granted, you didn't indicate which edition of PHP5 you have...

[yannibmbr]

I will try the upgrade and let you know how that goes. And for further reference, I am running php 5.1.2. Thank you for your help, thus far. I do appreciate it very much.

[yannibmbr]

So upgrading to the newer version did, in fact, address and resolve the issue I was having. Now the sessions seem to work just fine. Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Byte.