Admin half loading after site transfer to new server

Hi all,

First time poster, and not sure if this is in the correct section, please feel free to move if it isn't.

I am currently helping someone move their Zen Cart install (1.3.9h) to a new server. The old server uses hsphere and the new one cPanel.

I have Googled and searched the forums for the past 5 hours and thought it was time to post.

Steps taken:

1. Download all necessary files from the OLD server using ftp. Also tried a zip and download from the hsphere. (I have tried both versions of the files to ensure there were no missing files during upload, same result both ways.)

2. Backed up the mysql db on the old server (they're using phpmyadmin which is many versions old).

3. Made a new Zen Cart install on the NEW server. Overwrote all the files using the ones from old server EXCEPT the configure.php files.

4. Copied over the database.

Also did the fix_cache_key.php step in the transfer guide.

It took several hours to show the frontend, due to the pesky magic seo urls. Disabled this and the frontend shows fine.

I am also able to access the admin area and log in. However, upon logging in I can only see the Zen Cart logo, the check for updates button, the text saying I'm on 1.3.9h, and the main navigation (Config, Catalog, Modules, Customers etc)

The drop downs work properly, however clicking any link just results in the same page with a huge blank space below. It seems something is stopping the entire page loading.

I'm totally stumped. I've turned on strict error reporting, to no avail. I've also checked the logs in the cache folder, none of them are admin related and the ones that are there only complain about the missing magic seo plugin.

Has anyone encountered this before? I'd really appreciate some help.

I would provide a link, however, I cannot change the DNS since the store is live on the old server, and so I'm accessing it via a change to my local HOSTS file.

Many thanks in advance.

C

Did the site's admin section work correctly before you copied the old files over?

If it's drawing only a partial section of the page, then it's encountering an error at the point where it stops drawing.
And if that spot is always in the same place, regardless of which page, then it's likely in something that's being called in that same spot of each page.

It's possible that there are addons involved with this person's site that have dependencies not offered by this server. Or, like the pesky addon you mentioned, have code dependencies that only work in a specific environment.

Here's where I start when customized code doesn't work the way uncustomized code does: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Troubleshoot_-_Diagnosing_Obscure_Issues

DrByte,

Thanks for the swift and helpful response.

Each page in admin stops drawing after the "extras" menu in the nav:

And to answer your questiion, yes the admin does work fine on the OLD server.

I'm leaning towards to issues being with an addon, this site relied on a number of them.

Will post findings to help anyone else in the future. If you have any further ideas or thoughts, I welcome them with open arms :)

C

1. I renamed your admin folder in your post above, for privacy.

2. About the admin working, I meant did it work properly on the NEW server before you uploaded the files from the OLD server to it?

Hi DrByte,

Thanks. I can't see how to edit the post, would it be possible to remove the URL also?

And yes the fresh Zen Cart install on the New Server worked perfectly. I have several instances of zen cart running on this server with no issues.

Thanks,

C

edited.

Seems like some comparison work will be required.

Thank you so much for all the help :)

I am contemplating doing another fresh install, replacing the DB with the one from the OLD Server, and just copying the template files over from the OLD server. Do you foresee many issues with this? Then I can manually install addons until it (maybe) breaks.

Otherwise, I'm going to get stuck in with some diffs ... fun times.

Other than the obvious (more files in the transferred site) than the fresh install, the main difference is that line endings are unix in one set and windows in another.

Would this have any impact on Zen Cart?

Keep in mind that the admin will most likely contain code for addons that are connected to the storefront side.

You could start with that approach, and then selectively copy individual admin files over, until it suddenly breaks.
IMO a quick compare with Winmerge will expose the differences faster than copying in individual files. But, both approaches have merit.

As far as line-endings go, Zen Cart itself doesn't enforce one style vs another. But, if the server doesn't like the line-endings, then it might treat the file contents as "all on one line", and thus any PHP comments starting with // would apply to the rest of the "line", and could thus affect the entire file.

So, the general principle I use is ... be consistent. I like clean files with consistent line-endings, so I would make sure that the files are fixed before going too far along with other troubleshooting. It just might fix the problems you're having.

Consider using an FTP app that doesn't translate the file line-endings incorrectly between sources and destinations. If the files on the old server are already "damaged", you may need to use a utility to do mass conversions.

Presuming you have a Dedicated IP address with the new Hoster because a Dedicated SSL Cert will be used at some point, you can shortcut your troubleshooting by editing the two config files. Replace the Domain name with the IP address and use the IP address to access the new site. When ready to switch you need only to reverse the config file edits.

While Website Rob's suggestion does offer some degree of convenience, sometimes using just an IP address will result in session/cookie problems. If you run into problems logging in or staying logged in when doing that, go back to a proper named URL instead of IP address.