Admin folder not visible

I had been running a very out of date version of zencart (1.3.8). I know that I should have updated it ages ago, but..

Although very out of date, it worked, that is up until my hosting company upgraded their php engine. As soon as it fell over I asked them to downgrade it. Whilst the site still worked, it is no longer possible to log into the back end.

When I go to the admin folder nothing is visible, no log in prompt, nothing. The files are still visible via FTP, I can view the php files via the cpanel file explorer, nothing is jumping out at me as being amiss.

I have installed v1.5.0 in another folder on the server, transferred over the database and then run the database upgrade. Customer orders etc are all as they should be but I would like to be able to access the old admin pages so that I get things like the settings for the payment gateway and so on

Any suggestions? Is it possible that this is a .htaccess corruption rather than anything to do with the php?

Thanks

imaginarynumber:

I had been running a very out of date version of zencart (1.3.8). I know that I should have updated it ages ago, but..

Although very out of date, it worked, that is up until my hosting company upgraded their php engine. As soon as it fell over I asked them to downgrade it. Whilst the site still worked, it is no longer possible to log into the back end.

In theory, the downgrade should have gotten the site to work again.

imaginarynumber:

When I go to the admin folder nothing is visible, no log in prompt, nothing. The files are still visible via FTP, I can view the php files via the cpanel file explorer, nothing is jumping out at me as being amiss.

Have you checked the zencart log files for any clues? If not, that'll be the 1st place to start.

imaginarynumber:

I have installed v1.5.0 in another folder on the server, transferred over the database and then run the database upgrade. Customer orders etc are all as they should be but I would like to be able to access the old admin pages so that I get things like the settings for the payment gateway and so on

Any suggestions? Is it possible that this is a .htaccess corruption rather than anything to do with the php?

Thanks

The contents of the .htacess files can cause all sorts of problems, but since ZenCart doesn't need and .htaccess file in its top level folders (for any given store), if they do exist, you can simply delete/rename them to see if the problems resolve themselves.

Also take careful note of the configure.php files. There are two of these for each store/installation that will have slightly different settings for each of your two stores.

Is it only the original site that you can no longer access the admin sections, or are you having the same problem with the newly installed site?

Hopefully the log files will provide a clue.

Cheers
RodG

RodG:

In theory, the downgrade should have gotten the site to work again.

Have you checked the zencart log files for any clues? If not, that'll be the 1st place to start.

The contents of the .htacess files can cause all sorts of problems, but since ZenCart doesn't need and .htaccess file in its top level folders (for any given store), if they do exist, you can simply delete/rename them to see if the problems resolve themselves.

Also take careful note of the configure.php files. There are two of these for each store/installation that will have slightly different settings for each of your two stores.

Is it only the original site that you can no longer access the admin sections, or are you having the same problem with the newly installed site?

Hopefully the log files will provide a clue.

Cheers
RodG

Thanks for the prompt reply Rod.

The new "mirror" site is fine.

The only log files for the old site, that I can find are in the extras folder

[10-Apr-2014 21:41:48] PHP Fatal error: require() [<a href='function.require'>function.require</a>]: Failed opening required 'includes/application_top.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/php52/lib:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/****/public_html/shop/extras/ipn_test_return.php on line 14

[10-Apr-2014 21:41:48] PHP Warning: require(includes/application_top.php) [<a href='function.require'>function.require</a>]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/*****/public_html/shop/extras/ipn_test_return.php on line 14

As you can see the dates are from same time ago though.
Where can I find the other log files?

Regarding the php downgrade- I guess that it is possible that they did down grade but not as far as the old/original version?

If you have done what you said, copied over your database and done a database upgrade, then the settings that you are/were looking for are still in the database... Just have to find them, which is typically in the configuration table, but then have to narrow down to the setting(s) that you wanted to copy. You can get to these tables through myphpAdmin on your cPanel. Once there you can copy down the applicable settings that are likely to be reset when you say add a payment module into the cart.

Your settings as previously mentioned should have automatically come across

anyway
When you went to your old admin folder what did you enter?

just

example.com/admin/

or

have you tried aiming for a file

example.com/admin/index.php

I had some weird issue ages ago, where it wasn't finding the index.php file automatically in my admin section after a php update,

nigelt74:

Your settings as previously mentioned should have automatically come across

anyway
When you went to your old admin folder what did you enter?

just

example.com/admin/

or

have you tried aiming for a file

example.com/admin/index.php

I had some weird issue ages ago, where it wasn't finding the index.php file automatically in my admin section after a php update,

I have tried both paths. I even get blank pages when trying, for example, example.co.uk/shop/admin/login.php

nigelt74:

Your settings as previously mentioned should have automatically come across

anyway
When you went to your old admin folder what did you enter?

just

example.com/admin/

or

have you tried aiming for a file

example.com/admin/index.php

I had some weird issue ages ago, where it wasn't finding the index.php file automatically in my admin section after a php update,

I have tried both paths, I have even tried example.com/admin.login.php

mc12345678:

If you have done what you said, copied over your database and done a database upgrade, then the settings that you are/were looking for are still in the database... Just have to find them, which is typically in the configuration table, but then have to narrow down to the setting(s) that you wanted to copy. You can get to these tables through myphpAdmin on your cPanel. Once there you can copy down the applicable settings that are likely to be reset when you say add a payment module into the cart.

I guess that I will have to try that way. Tnx