UPGRADE HELP PLEASE v1.3.9h to 1.5.1

I have looked at the installation and upgrade tutorials 50 times so please do not point me to those links. They are helpful, but either are not working for my case, or I am not doing something correctly, but in either event after so many tries - if it is my fault, I am not capable of understanding the directions the way they are written.

I tried to upgrade many times but each time it says it was successful, I look back at the database and it is still 1.3.9h

Initially, I added my 1.3.9 configure files and tried to upgrade. I point the DB to the new DB - the same exact information as the original, but instead of znc1 the database is znc2. Did not work.

What I have now is a perfectly clean installation 1.5.1 in a temp folder. I overwrote my temp database with the installation, then attempted to just import my old database over the new one. This does not work.

Any ideas to make this easy?

What I have now is a perfectly clean installation 1.5.1 in a temp folder. I overwrote my temp database with the installation, then attempted to just import my old database over the new one. This does not work.
Not sure what you mean by what is in bold???

Start over and upload fresh files to your temp dir
Use phpmyadmin and select the temp database and drop all tables
Run zc_install - and provide info required
Check that you have a frontend and an admin accessible

Use phpmyadmin & select the temp DB and drop all tables
Then import your current DB backup into the temp database

Re-run zc_install and select "upgrade DB only"

When complete you should have a upgraded shop

Thanks you for the fast response. The upgrade was not working, so I figured I would overwrite the database to get all the configure files to work, which it did. But then I have no data : )

With the fresh copy uploaded - unless I have the old configure.php files, there is not even an upgrade option, so I assume I need to do this? That is part of my problem though as when I redirect the configure files to the new DB, I get an error message.

I am dropping all tables twice?

If someone could walk me through this, it would really help.

1. I have a brand new installation of 1.5.1 installed in folder "temp"
2. I have a "temp" database that I dropped all files as directed.
3. I tried to run zc_install, but there is no UPGRADE option.
4. I added my old configure files to /admin/includes/configure and /includes/configure
5. There is now an UPGRADE OPTION

Then I try to follow the next step

6. I chose "Upgrade DB from 1.3.9 to 1.5.0" and "Upgrade DB from 1.5.0 to 1.5.1"

No matter what I use for an Admin name or a Password, nothing works since I do not have Zencart set up yet, and now my database is gone. I tried leaving both blank, but that does not work. I get this message: "Admin Password required to proceed with upgrade"

I do not understand how to enter a password for a site that has not been set up yet. The original one for the old site does not work either. Now I am back at square one with nothing...

At that point, I imported my "old" (original) database...

Cannot upgrade because I cannot access it at all with any password combination. I used this to reset and it does not work...

DELETE FROM admin WHERE admin_name = 'Admin'; 
INSERT INTO admin (admin_name, admin_email, admin_pass, admin_level) 
VALUES ('Admin', 'admin@localhost', '351683ea4e19efe34874b501fdbf9792:9b', 1);

For whatever reason, I tried the 1.5.x reset. It did not work the first time because the "admin_profile" did not exist so I deleted that, and the corresponding "1" on the next line and it reset the password for me.

DELETE FROM admin WHERE admin_name = 'Admin'; 
INSERT INTO admin (admin_name, admin_email, admin_pass, admin_profile) 
VALUES ('Admin', 'admin@localhost', '351683ea4e19efe34874b501fdbf9792:9b', 1);

Then everything went through with 4 error messages that I have heard is "normal":

SKIPPED: Cannot drop index page_accessed on table admin_activity_log because it does not exist.
SKIPPED: Cannot drop index access_date on table admin_activity_log because it does not exist.
SKIPPED: Cannot add index idx_page_accessed_zen to table admin_activity_log because it already exists.
SKIPPED: Cannot add index idx_access_date_zen to table admin_activity_log because it already exists.

I seem to be in and can see that the store says 1.5.1 so maybe I am done with the hard part?

I take that last statement back, I am not done with the hard part. I cannot access the store now. Admin area, no problem. Actual store, not at all... Plus the store admin does not look any different at all... I wonder if it is really upgraded now.

Yep, a nice blank white screen for the customers to look at.

And I get an Alternative Navigation menu on the admin side. All my products show up though, so there is a database connection anyways.

Rick5150:

Yep, a nice blank white screen for the customers to look at.
http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?124-why-am-i-seeing-a-blank-page

Thank you. I actually uploaded everything again one main folder at a time using Filezilla. nothing changed. Also tried reinstalling from the zc_install two more times.

Perhaps you can post the contents of the myDebug-xxxxxxxx.log files that have been generated?

There are only three files in the log folder. an htaccess file and an index.html and index.php file. I am deleting everything and starting over.

Zen cart v1 is easily the worst application I ever had to upgrade in 23 years of using various programs. When it is running well, it is a terrific application, but I cringe every time an upgrade is available because it means days of screwing around with it. I never have any issues with any of the other applications I use and their upgrades - especially in the last few years as most programs have the upgrade process so streamlined. Maybe v2.0 will improve this.

Well you could just replace the old files with the new ones, and avoid all this staging process.

But if you do that and your store is broken because you didn't test anything, then you're left with downtime.

All of this staging process is JUST so you can make sure nothing breaks before going live. There's a lot more to ecommerce than there is to a simple blog that takes input text and displays it back to you.

In the end, an upgrade is really just that: replacing the files and running the short database-upgrade step. Everything else is just safeties for you.
That's what this blog post is about: http://www.zen-cart.com/entry.php?3-How-do-I-rebuild-my-site-on-the-new-version-instead-of-upgrading ... and walks you through the various angles of the process.

Your "admin password" problem looks like it was confusion or uncertainty about 'what' password to use. It's looking for your store's admin password, the one you use to login to your admin. And because you'd restored data from your live store into your testing area for upgrading, it's that live store's password you needed ... because restoring wiped out the temporary one you'd made when you did the new install of the new version in the testing area. This is entirely expected.

Your other problems have been around not understanding how to use your hosting company's control panel tools to set up databases and users, and restoring databases and so on. Those really aren't things related to Zen Cart itself.

As to updating configure.php files, there isn't any need to touch those after installation, since installation normally generates those for you. Granted, you said your installation left those files blank. That's a result of your webserver not allowing PHP to update those files. Usually that's because there's a permissions problem preventing those files from being written to. Zen Cart goes to many lengths to insulate you from such a situation, but it can't magically guess every problem that could be caused by every webserver's possible configuration settings.

We're sorry that you've encountered frustrations with all these things related to running a website, and some that relate to quirks which Zen Cart has encountered with your server. Yes, v2 will be much simpler to upgrade, and will put the onus of all problems back on your own customizations and plugins, and not on the installation process or the act of replacing core files. You will still (as with anything) need to still apply upgrades to anything you added/changed outside the core files. If you know some way of guessing at and fixing all those things accurately, please get in touch with our development team to share that information.

I have reinstalled this and I have the store working - sort of. The store comes up now, but the template is the premium7a that comes with ZenCart, but it is displaying as pink, salmon and yellow against a white background instead of green against white. Now WTF??!?

This time I have a log entry... looks like two of the exact same thing...

[18-Jan-2013 16:00:33] PHP Warning:  htmlspecialchars() [<a href='function.htmlspecialchars'>function.htmlspecialchars</a>]: Invalid multibyte sequence in argument in /home3/site/public_html/store/admin/includes/functions/general.php on line 39
[18-Jan-2013 16:00:33] PHP Warning:  htmlspecialchars() [<a href='function.htmlspecialchars'>function.htmlspecialchars</a>]: Invalid multibyte sequence in argument in /home3/site/public_html/store/admin/includes/functions/general.php on line 39

Both of my configure files state 1.3.9 but the admin control panel states 1.5.1

Your "admin password" problem looks like it was confusion or uncertainty about 'what' password to use.
It is not that confusing, I only have two and neither worked. The only two files I used from the live site were the configure files.

Your other problems have been around not understanding how to use your hosting company's control panel tools to set up databases and users, and restoring databases and so on. Those really aren't things related to Zen Cart itself.

I was not blaming Zen Cart for that - just asking for advice from people who have been through what I have and have experienced similar issues. The advice was amazing and I now feel more comfortable playing with databases and I know how to back them up and restore them now. That is great information for a novice like me and really came in handy.

As to updating configure.php files, there isn't any need to touch those after installation, since installation normally generates those for you. Granted, you said your installation left those files blank. That's a result of your webserver not allowing PHP to update those files. Usually that's because there's a permissions problem preventing those files from being written to. Zen Cart goes to many lengths to insulate you from such a situation, but it can't magically guess every problem that could be caused by every webserver's possible configuration settings.

Understood. I was able to set those to 777 though so I had hoped that was not the issue, but who knows? I don't and that is why I come here for help and guidance.

We're sorry that you've encountered frustrations with all these things related to running a website, and some that relate to quirks which Zen Cart has encountered with your server. Yes, v2 will be much simpler to upgrade, and will put the onus of all problems back on your own customizations and plugins, and not on the installation process or the act of replacing core files. You will still (as with anything) need to still apply upgrades to anything you added/changed outside the core files.

I have no problems running a website, a web forum, a blog or anything else - it is the store upgrade and particularly Zen Cart that has me frustrated. If I did not like Zen Cart, I would not be trying so hard to work through it. I try not to use too many customizations and plugins unless necessary because they all potentially bring their own compatibility issues.

If you know some way of guessing at and fixing all those things accurately, please get in touch with our development team to share that information.
Ah, sarcasm. Nice. I only want to get my store working the way it should be and this forum has tons of knowledge and helpful people. Until that comment, all of the posts (included yours) offered help, assistance and guidance. I really appreciate it even if you don't think so.

Rick5150:

The store comes up now, but the template is the premium7a that comes with ZenCartActually, there's no "premium7a" built-in to Zen Cart.
Rick5150:

but it is displaying as pink, salmon and yellow against a white background instead of green against white.That sounds like you're seeing the actual "template_default" template instead of your custom template ... that's what happens when your custom template's files cannot be found.
Rick5150:

Both of my configure files state 1.3.9 but the admin control panel states 1.5.1The configure.php files show the version of Zen Cart used to create them.
That doesn't necessarily mean which version you're currently using.

Rick5150:

This time I have a log entry... looks like two of the exact same thing...

[18-Jan-2013 16:00:33] PHP Warning: htmlspecialchars() [<a href='function.htmlspecialchars'>function.htmlspecialchars</a>]: Invalid multibyte sequence in argument in /home3/site/public_html/store/admin/includes/functions/general.php on line 39
[18-Jan-2013 16:00:33] PHP Warning: htmlspecialchars() [<a href='function.htmlspecialchars'>function.htmlspecialchars</a>]: Invalid multibyte sequence in argument in /home3/site/public_html/store/admin/includes/functions/general.php on line 39

One of the core changes in v1.5.0 was switching from a default of iso-8859-1 (aka Latin1) to UTF8.
While it uses utf8 by default for new installs, it doesn't automatically convert all your data. That's up to you.  And in most cases you don't need to.  But you do need to tell Zen Cart not to use utf8 if your site's data is actually using latin1 ... which is what you're using if you've upgraded from v1.3.x

Simply set Zen Cart back to the old mode: 
<http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?313-should-i-convert-my-store-from-iso-8859-1-to-utf8>

Rick5150:

Ah, sarcasm. Nice. I only want to get my store working the way it should be and this forum has tons of knowledge and helpful people. Until that comment, all of the posts (included yours) offered help, assistance and guidance. I really appreciate it even if you don't think so.
Sorry, my boss has ticked me off today and the frustration is obviously coming out in my writing. My apologies, I should probably stop posting today! LOL

But you do need to tell Zen Cart not to use utf8 if your site's data is actually using latin1 ... which is what you're using if you've upgraded from v1.3.x
As you can see, it is all Latin to me : )

Actually, there's no "premium7a" built-in to Zen Cart.

I think I need more coffee. I meant the Classic Contemporary Green. I do not have any templates on the new site. But it was pink instead of green. *That *part I got right.

I have it working properly now color-wise, and I think everything may fall into line soon. I was hoping that the config files would have updated as they did last few times.

Sorry, my boss has ticked me off today and the frustration is obviously coming out in my writing. My apologies, I should probably stop posting today! LOL
No problem. I am having one of those days myself.

For whatever reason, I tried the 1.5.x reset. It did not work the first time because the "admin_profile" did not exist so I deleted that, and the corresponding "1" on the next line and it reset the password for me.

DELETE FROM admin WHERE admin_name = 'Admin';
INSERT INTO admin (admin_name, admin_email, admin_pass, admin_profile)
VALUES ('Admin', 'admin@localhost', '351683ea4e19efe34874b501fdbf9792:9b', 1);

Then everything went through with 4 error messages that I have heard is "normal":

In a colossally stupid fashion, when I did this - it effectively changed the database to 1.5.x - at least the admin part where I need to change the password. At one point, I requested a new password for my current live site (1.3.9) and now when I go to change it to one I can remember, I get this message.

1054 Unknown column 'admin_level' in 'field list'

Looks like I am stuck with a crummy password at this point or do I have to drop the database and import the backup? Can I drop the admin table and import the backup only for that table? I am done with questions for the night...

imported the backup of the database and all is well.

I made the changes to the files mentioned and the odd characters are still there. My entire database is latin1_general_ci though. Does that matter?