Cannot login to admin after changing charset

[PUREchocolatetruffle]

I haven't forgotten my password but have nevertheless lost access to my admin after I tried to change the Charset in Zen Cart 1.3.9f to UTF-8 (I did it manually as I hadn't seen your smart trick DrByte).
Both username and password is already there when I get to the login page but they don't work anylonger. Nothing happend when I try to login.
I've checked that config.php in admin has defined the alternative name for admin so it can't be that.
Which files do you suggest me to look into ?
Thanks.

Kim

[PUREchocolatetruffle]

In the cache for today I got this message:

[05-Oct-2011 12:41:15] PHP Warning: session_start() [<a href='function.session-start'>function.session-start</a>]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /hermes/bosweb/web087/b875/ipg.purechocolatetruffle/fix_cache_key.php:43) in /hermes/bosweb/web087/b875/ipg.purechocolatetruffle/includes/functions/sessions.php on line 114
[05-Oct-2011 12:41:15] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /hermes/bosweb/web087/b875/ipg.purechocolatetruffle/fix_cache_key.php:43) in /hermes/bosweb/web087/b875/ipg.purechocolatetruffle/includes/init_includes/init_templates.php on line 78

Does this explain that I cannot login at my admin site ?

(yes, you can hear I'm not the brightest person in this forum. Sorry)

Kim

[DrByte]

Why are you running fix_cache_key.php ?
What other changes are going on? Changing servers/hosts? Exporting/importing databases?
Does adding the default Admin user help as described here: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=2

[PUREchocolatetruffle]

I haven't chosen to run fix_cache_key.php (not to my knowledge).
And the default Admin user did'nt help me further. Same result as with my normal username and password: I'm not allowed in but just end up with the same login page again.

I haven't changed any servers/hosts or Exported/imported any database.

I downgraded to ver Zencart ver 1.3.8 and upgraded again to to v1.3.9f to get rid of all the utf8 I had manually entered when I tried to change the Charset in Zen Cart 1.3.9 to UTF-8. Something went wrong in that proces. Since I have tried to undo what I did. But with no luck.

No access to admin. My checkout doesn't work and now I also get the error message "Your database appears to need patching to a higher level. See Admin->Tools->Server Information to review patch levels."

I've spent hours looking around in the forum for answers but haven't found any advice I hadn't tried.

Do you think an upgrade to 1.3.9h will get me up and running again ? I've read that will include the option to upgrade the database as well.

Kim

[DrByte]

I doubt upgrading to 1.3.9h from your "1.3.9f-to-1.3.8-to-1.3.9f again" will make any difference to this admin login problem, but you should still upgrade to 1.3.9h.

As far as "tried to undo what I did", I would strongly recommend that you simply restore your site from the backup you made before making the changes that broke things.

Your "database appears to need patching" reveals that you've got a set of PHP files that are looking for database components that don't exist in whatever version of the database you've got loaded at present. That's symptomatic of having (for example) v1.3.9 PHP files and a v1.3.8 database, or vice-versa. So, if your PHP files are v1.3.9 files but your database is v1.3.8, then you need to run the zc_install database-upgrade step just like if you were upgrading from 1.3.8 to 1.3.9 ...... and THAT tells me you didn't take a good backup before you started making changes.

[PUREchocolatetruffle]

I doubt upgrading to 1.3.9h from your "1.3.9f-to-1.3.8-to-1.3.9f again" will make any difference to this admin login problem, but you should still upgrade to 1.3.9h.

As far as "tried to undo what I did", I would strongly recommend that you simply restore your site from the backup you made before making the changes that broke things.

Your "database appears to need patching" reveals that you've got a set of PHP files that are looking for database components that don't exist in whatever version of the database you've got loaded at present. That's symptomatic of having (for example) v1.3.9 PHP files and a v1.3.8 database, or vice-versa. So, if your PHP files are v1.3.9 files but your database is v1.3.8, then you need to run the zc_install database-upgrade step just like if you were upgrading from 1.3.8 to 1.3.9 ...... and THAT tells me you didn't take a good backup before you started making changes.

Don't make me worse than I am, please (although I know that I and only I'm to blame for the mess).
I did take a backup of both files and database before upgrading.
Now I have created a new database and restored it's structure and files from those backups (Zencart 1.3.8a).
Surprisenly, it hasn't helped even the backups are from when my online shop was up and running. I still don't have access to my admin site and checkout, login /creating account and contact don't work. However the dreaded "Your database appears to need patching... " has disappeared and my cache is clean.
Now I have paid someone to look into what's going on.
I'll rapport back if they have better luck than me.

Kim

[PUREchocolatetruffle]

Hi again. I'm up and running again after - for the second time - having created a new database and restored it's structure and files from my earlier backups (Zencart 1.3.8a). And now everything is working as it should. I'll stay on ver 1.3.8a for a while before I make another attempt to upgrade.
Thank you very much for your help and advice.