Error 500 on confirm order - also search engine issues

https://www.elementsofdesign.ca

Sometime between August and now my site developed two problems that may or may not be related.

First thing we noticed is that the site wasn't showing up in web searches though it always had before. Google won't even see the site when I type the full address in a search. Using site:elementsofdesign.ca brings up exactly two links. My host is passing it off as an SEO problem but I've gone through the steps of submitting the site to Google and I've checked a bunch of other search engines. Also as mentioned, we showed up in lots of different searches before.

We noticed this about two weeks ago. Then last week we were informed by a customer that the order system didn't work. In testing we discovered that you can create a new account and order items but at the stage when it says "confirm order", it goes to an 500 Internal Server error. My host says the specific error in the log reads:

Premature end of script headers: ipn_main_handler.php, referer: http://elementsofdesign.ca/index.php?main_page=checkout_confirmation

I tried fooling around with email settings which were set to PHP and had always worked. I set them to SMTP with what I hoped were the right settings but it made no difference.

We haven't made any changes to the site since around May other than adding new product. I'm not particularly knowledgeable with Zen Cart so I was hoping someone might have some ideas :)

Thanks,

Tony

Try installing paypal express instead of standard ipn

I am using Paypal Express. I'm pretty sure the problem occurs before the payment step.

This will have to be corrected with your hosts help

http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?105-why-am-i-getting-500-internal-server-error

That was my feeling too but my host didn't seem to think so and I'm not really sharp enough on this stuff to prove it to them.

Does it seem likely that the search engine problem and the Error 500 on Confirm Order are related?

Does it seem likely that the search engine problem and the Error 500 on Confirm Order are related?
What search engine issue?

"First thing we noticed is that the site wasn't showing up in web searches though it always had before. Google won't even see the site when I type the full address in a search. Using site:elementsofdesign.ca brings up exactly two links. My host is passing it off as an SEO problem but I've gone through the steps of submitting the site to Google and I've checked a bunch of other search engines. Also as mentioned, we showed up in lots of different searches before."

In first post :)

It looks like you have bigger problems, because when I visit your site I, it only loads the first part. looking at the source code a lot of html is missing.
Look in your cache/log folders for any debug files, and tell us what is in it.

That's very odd then because the site loads fine for me. I have tried it from a number of locations and they've all been fine.

OK, when I stick my url in at this website it reports the status as 500 Internal Server Error.

http://www.websitepulse.com/help/tools.php

Would this be good proof that my host is at fault or could it be a coding error?

Just to add some more info we realized that if we try and edit old orders we get an 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 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

OK, I attempted to use the Hosting company tools to update Zen to 1.51 just to see what would happen. It went as far as the GNU license agreement which I needed to accept and then crapped out on the next page with a 500 Internal Server Error.

Trying to restore the site again from backup.

I'm fairly certain that the problem has something to do with Paypal Express. If we set a product to free the order goes through with no errors. We can also edit the order if the total is zero.

I found an article that talks about a change Paypal made on Oct 7:

"Starting October 7, 2013, we will require all incoming requests to have a “Host” header which complies with HTTP 1.1 Specifications. This header was not required under HTTP 1.0. IPN and PDT scripts using HTTP 1.0 may start failing with “HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request” errors afterOctober 7, 2013, which will result in IPN messages not being validated successfully, or PDT scripts not being able to retrieve transaction information."

I'm not entirely sure what to do with that information though :(

Black Dougall:

I found an article that talks about a change Paypal made on Oct 7:

"Starting October 7, 2013, we will require all incoming requests to have a “Host” header which complies with HTTP 1.1 Specifications. This header was not required under HTTP 1.0. IPN and PDT scripts using HTTP 1.0 may start failing with “HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request” errors afterOctober 7, 2013, which will result in IPN messages not being validated successfully, or PDT scripts not being able to retrieve transaction information."

I'm not entirely sure what to do with that information though :(

I'm pretty confident that Zencart already does this. I use PayPal Express and haven't had any problems even with this change.

Your problem is eleswhere... probably the result of another AT&T filter block. (There are many posts discussing this)

Cheers
Rod

Black Dougall:

OK, I attempted to use the Hosting company tools to update Zen to 1.51 just to see what would happen.

Never ever do this. It will cause problems. We can almost guarantee it.

Cheers
Rod

[QUOTE=Black Dougall;1221892]

[QUOTE=Black Dougall;1221906

OK, I switched the website back to an April backup when I know things were working. I no longer have search engine errors and the testing sites all report things being good. That seems to be an issue related to a file change that must have occurred after April.

Unfortunately I still have the checkout problem. I spent a few minutes in the Paypal Express checkout forum and see that there are tools I can use to test connectivity so I will do what I can there and report back.

OK, I'll restate the problem now that I've done some troubleshooting and fixed one of the issues.

When I try to place an order, I get the following error at the Confirm Order step:

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

In talking to my host they told me that the exact error they see in the log file for the server is this:

Premature end of script headers: ipn_main_handler.php, referer: http://elementsofdesign.ca/index.php...t_confirmation

I've run the curltester.php and it seems like everything looks good there:

http://www.elementsofdesign.ca/curltester.php

I have my Paypal Express module set to send a log and email and the logs I've received don't indicate an error. The last log I get when I make an order is this:

paypalwpp
Array
(
[AMT] => 9.61
[ITEMAMT] => 8.50
[TAXAMT] => 1.11
[L_NUMBER0] => LY16006
[L_NAME0] => Hagerty Jewel Clean - 207ml Jar
[L_AMT0] => 8.50
[L_QTY0] => 1
[LOCALECODE] => CA
[CURRENCY] => CAD
[PAYMENTACTION] => Sale
[ALLOWNOTE] => 1
[SOLUTIONTYPE] => Sole
[LANDINGPAGE] => Billing
[ADDROVERRIDE] => 1
[SHIPTONAME] => Tony Latour
[SHIPTOSTREET] => 40 Franklin Street
[SHIPTOSTREET2] => PO Box 861
[SHIPTOCITY] => Seaforth
[SHIPTOZIP] => N0K 1W0
[SHIPTOSTATE] => ON
[SHIPTOCOUNTRYCODE] => CA
[EMAIL] => [email protected]
[SHIPTOPHONENUM] => 519-527-2880
[RETURNURL] => http://elementsofdesign.ca/ipn_main_handler.php?type=ec
[CANCELURL] =>
http://elementsofdesign.ca/index.php?main_page=checkout_shipping&ec_cancel=1
)

I'll keep working at this but I'm not sure what to try next.

Doh! I just re-read DrByte's instructions and realized I needed to add the ?paypal=1 on the end of curltester. When I do that I get this error:

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

Which is also what I got when I tried to do a transaction. So is this my host's problem or is there anything I can try?