500 Internal Server Error on Entire Site

[Caroofikus]

Hi all, I am getting a 500 error whenever I try to access any page on my site. The problem started Monday and wasn't there at all on Sunday. No changes have been made to the site between those times. The exact text of the error is

"Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request. Apache/1.3.42 Server at caroofikus.com Port 80

I contacted my hosting company, LunarPages, to get the cause of the error and was informed that the log file states the following:
[Mon Dec 6 13:48:50 2010] [alert] [client (IP)] (filepath)/public_html/.htaccess: Invalid command '

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at (filepath)/public_html/admin/zones.php:1) in (filepath)/public_html/admin/zones.php(11) : regexp code(1) : eval()'d code on line 721

When I attempt to check these files, I find two things. First, there is no .htaccess in the folder stated. Second, line 721 does not exist in the zones.php file I have as it is only 12 lines long. I'm not certain what the ":1" or "(11)" mean after the file name, but no files exist with those name (only "zones.php").

Also, when I originally installed my Zen Cart, I changed the name of my admin folder. It appears to be intact on the server, but like the rest of the site it is not accessible.

I am currently using Zen Cart v1.3.9, unsure of which one, but certainly not the latest. I have installed the Google Feeder, Image Handler 2, and Product Info Display (Justified). I have not experienced any problems with these addons.

Any help/suggestions you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking that maybe I'm just missing the .htaccess main folder, but I couldn't fathom where it's gone.

Thank you all in advance!

~~Caroofikus

[kobra]

I'm not certain what the ":1" or "(11)

That is the line number and as line 1 it is most likely a corrupt upload

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=63

[smilyspirit]

Add me to skype jake.nunka


I can walk you through a solution.

[Caroofikus]

kobra,

Thank you for the fast reply. I had read the tutorial but couldn't make heads or tails of what my problem may be based upon the information. And, as it turns out, my .htaccess wasn't gone. It was a hidden file (something in the new cPanel I suppose).

I was able to fix the problem by deleting the following code at the top of the .htaccess file:

<!----><br />
<b>Warning</b>:  Cannot modify header information - 
headers already sent by (output started at 
(filepath)/public_html/admin/zones.php:1) in 
<b>(filepath)/public_html/admin/zones.php(11) :
 regexp code(1) : eval()'d code</b> on line 
<b>721</b><br />

Any idea what may have caused it to appear, and, more importantly, how I may prevent that in the future?

Thank you again.

~~Caroofikus

[kobra]

Any idea what may have caused it to appear, and, more importantly, how I may prevent that in the future?

No clue as that is not a valid entry for htaccess

[jnunka]

kobra,

Thank you for the fast reply. I had read the tutorial but couldn't make heads or tails of what my problem may be based upon the information. And, as it turns out, my .htaccess wasn't gone. It was a hidden file (something in the new cPanel I suppose).

I was able to fix the problem by deleting the following code at the top of the .htaccess file:

<!----><br />
<b>Warning</b>:  Cannot modify header information - 
headers already sent by (output started at 
(filepath)/public_html/admin/zones.php:1) in 
<b>(filepath)/public_html/admin/zones.php(11) :
 regexp code(1) : eval()'d code</b> on line 
<b>721</b><br />

Any idea what may have caused it to appear, and, more importantly, how I may prevent that in the future?

Thank you again.

~~Caroofikus

I have seen the htaccess automatically comment out certain commands that aren't valid and I have seen them logg errors that cause 500 internal server errors. Your server has write permissions to the htaccess. If there is a bug in the zones.php it could be logging that error in the htaccess file causing your site to be inoperable. The thing to do is to look at the zones.php and find the buggy section of the code that causes this Or replace it with an uncorrupted file as Kobra stated

[Website Rob]

Anytime unauthorized changes have been made to an .htaccess file you should treat it has a hack attempt on your site. A well known .htaccess hack is to change the file so that anyone coming to your site from a Search Engine link is redirected to another site. By default, the .htaccess file permissions are 644. You can them to 444 and help to prevent unauthorized changes. Just remember to change permissions when 'you' want to add changes.

Best to start checking your site for hacker files.