404 error on checkout_payment page

Hello all,

I received a 404 error when going to payment page. Here are the details:

This is my first store, installed version 1.3.8a on my godaddy shared hosting account about 3 weeks ago. My site is 85% ready to launch (but live on the server). I have not added any addons yet except a template. I have been testing the site quite a bit and have gotten to the payment page. I am using paypal standard IPN. I have run several test orders with success. I disable the offline credit card module and just have Paypal and Check as the two payment options. I clicked through the checkout and when going to the payment page (main_page=checkout_payment) the 404 page cannot be found error.

I don't know if this is related but just previous to this, my laptop froze up and I had to close firefox, and my editing software that contained some zencart files. But I would not think this should effect my server files.

I have searched through the FAQs and the forum but cannot find this specific issue.

The site was working flawlessly doing this same checkout probably 10 times in a row, and then boom. The page was gone the next time.

Anyone's help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is what I have tried so far, to troubleshoot this 404 error since my original posting.

I have changed templates, error still shows
I gone back and re-enabled the offline credit card, error still shows
I have uninstalled and reinstalled the paypal standard ipn module, still shows 404 error.
I have gone back into paypal and changed back to having the paypal payment header as primary. Still shows error.
I have reviewed the file checkout_payment.php which I have never edited. I do not see any obvious issues.

These are all of the things that I can think about that were touched around the time the the 404 error occurred.

Still need help from someone in the know.

Thanks,

Have you uploaded a fresh copy of checkout_payment.php ? Could be it was corrupted.

A 404 is a "not found" message, which is sent from Apache, the software that serves the content to your browser. That's commonly triggered before Zen Cart is even involved.
More specific details about why Apache is throwing that error would typically be found in the server's apache errorlog ... most hosting companies give you that information in your control panel. You might have to ask them for the details if you can't find them in there yourself.

Thank you Dr Byte and Stevesh for your comments.

I contacted Go Daddy and they said the file is not there, which is strange. Because I have downloaded it to look at and it had opened up just fine.

So I re-uploaded the original file straight from the original program downloaded from the Zen Cart site. checkout_payment.php

I uploaded it to this location: zencart/mydirectory/includes/languages/english is this right? Because I am still getting the error.

Do I need to upload a whole file or module?

Thanks for your help.

The problem is NOT your checkout_payment.php language file.

You need to check the apache errorlog for the cause of the error message.

Thank you Dr. Byte for clarifying the issue. I finally got access to the error files. I am sorry to say that they don't give me much information to follow.

With your depth of knowledge, maybe you can shed some light. there are two lines of error code generated with each request for the page that is getting the 404 error. I have deleted the complete server path and replaced my website for now. These error messages don't appear to even get to my directory with zencart in them which is called "Wholesale"

[Mon Oct 5 18:25:02 2009] [error] [client 67.172.252.147] File does not exist: /myhostingpath/mywebsite/favicon.ico

[Mon Oct 5 18:25:02 2009] [error] [client 67.172.252.147] File does not exist: /myhostingpath/mywebsite/missing.html

Any thoughts?

Your help is muchly appreciated.

References to favicon.ico are simply a result of the browser attempting to grab an icon, if it exists, for bookmarking/display purposes. It can be ignored.

The reference to "missing.html" is a result of how the hosting company has configured the server to handle 404-not-found errors ... namely it looks for a "missing.html" file in an attempt to display a message that the file requested can't be found. So, that's only confirming what you're seeing when trying to access the page.

Thanks for that input...

I guess the error log files are really not helpful in this case.

I have attempted to study the code on the shipping page where I click on continue and then go to the 404 error but can not see anything that might cause this.

Are there any other suggestions that I could try.

Thanks,

The real question is Where do I go to check the code for issues? As mentioned before, I looked at the checkout_shipping page which is the last working page before the error. But I do not know where the continue button is sending or pulling the command from/to.

I am willing to do the work to figure it out, just not sure were to start.

Thanks,

Is it isolated to having certain payment modules enabled?
And what happens if you manually type in the URL to checkout-payment without even starting checkout normally?

I tried typing the path of the page and received this screen:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /wholesale/includes/languages/english/checkout_payment.php on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I also tried disabling PayPal standard IPN and then I installed Paypal express checkout. I configured it to allow customer to go back and choose shipping method after going to paypal. The pay pal portion worked, but when going back to select the shipping mode you have to click on the same continue button that takes you to the 404 error.

Still searching...

redduck:

I tried typing the path of the page and received this screen:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /wholesale/includes/languages/english/checkout_payment.php on this server.
Exactly as I would expect. The system's security is supposed to act that way. So that's good.

I have now disabled every payment module and the 404 error still persists.

I guess the next step is to reinstall zen cart and start over again unless anybody has any great ideas.

Thanks,

This is where I start when something's been changed and stopped things from working normally and I can't remember what was changed: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Troubleshoot_-_Diagnosing_Obscure_Issues

Continuing the saga...

As you can see by the dates, I have all but given up on solving this issue. I have spent dozens upon dozens of hours comparing code and searching for the solution. I have given up many times only to return weeks later after having to take another order via e-mail.

I believe I have found the source of the problem! But cannot seem to find which file to edit to fix it. Any one's help would be greatly appreciated.

The "continue Checkout" button on the checkout_shipping.php page http://jinabarneydesignz.com/wholesale/index.php?main_page=checkout_shipping is completely missing the <a href=""> link to tell the website were to go when the button is clicked. Thus explains the 404 error.

But this code does not come from the checkout_shipping.php page and I can't seem to locate where it is coming from. Nor am I sure which page I am to have the button redirect to once I edit it.

Again, I would sure appreciate some help with this. I will admit, I am a learning novice. I can hold my own usually with html, but this PHP is a whole new ball game.

Thanks,

Randy

redduck:

The "continue Checkout" button on the checkout_shipping.php page http://jinabarneydesignz.com/wholesale/index.php?main_page=checkout_shipping is completely missing the <a href=""> link to tell the website were to go when the button is clicked. Thus explains the 404 error.
Well, not exactly. If the <a href> is blank or missing, then there's nothing to click, and thus clicking does nothing. Thus, does not trigger a 404 error.

I'm inclined to suggest that you install another cart in another folder (instead of /wholesale/ like you have now), and of course a separate database. Then progressively make that cart like the one you have now, by adding your customizations and addons and admin settings, until you suddenly have the problem recreated. You need to isolate whatever you've got unique to your site that's causing the problem.

Thank you Dr Byte, not exactly what I wanted to hear, but sound advice. Looks like no sleep tonight!

Thanks again,

Randy

You might want to turn off the account approval requirement, too, so we can see the behavior for ourselves.