Help sudden loss of order's comments and odd behavior

Hello everyone

When I edited an order on which I had left a comment : the comment's field was empty ?!
The order status changed correctly but the comments are lost (still the customer gets it) ???
So I placed an order to myself then edited it and sent a comment : it worked again, the comment field contained the message ??!!
Did it again several times and everything went well.
Tried again and the problem was back !!??
Again and back to normal !!??
I logged into my PHPAdmin (PHP Version 5.4.33) and checked zen_email_archive.
Oddly, the email_text field which used to show the mailed comments itself doesn't anymore, it just shows the order number... etc...
When I edit the line (still in phpadmin) : the message is present in the bottom box !
I don't understand this change and the fact that it kinda goes on and off.
On top of it : I have lost, when consulting my orders in my zen admin, a great load of left comments !!!

I have checked and repaired tables...
Just don't get it and afraid it is going to happen again !

Thanks in advance for any ideas, Freedude.

One more thing : when I go into zen_orders_status_history in phpadmin, all the comments are there but not in my admin as mentioned in my previous post !!!

What plugins do you have installed?

When did this start and whathas changed between when it last worked and when it stopped working? What PHP version is installed?

Hi and thanks again to you !!!

• PHP Version 5.4.33
  The plugins I have installed are :
• Columns rows (to display several products rows)
• French shipping postal module

These have been installed forever...
Besides that, nothing new !!!
It started a few days ago (regarding the slow admin post on which your answered : I recreated the cache folder as you kindly advised).
It is also affecting very old orders comments as well.
I restored, by curiosity, mysql with a few months old backup just to see and the problem was there still.
I went back a few years and edited some orders and they were affected as well.
What is really weird is that they are present in PHPADMIN and gone from my zen admin ?!!

Thanks a lot, once again, for your interest.

As you can see : it goes on and off

freedude:

• PHP Version 5.4.33

One possible cause is if your host has recently upgraded to this version of PHP (from V5.3.x). Although if this were the case I'd be expecting other issues as well.

However, If this is likely/possible many hosts have a method/option (via cPanel) that will allow you to use the older version. If so, you could try that and see if it resolves the problem.

Just a thought.

Cheers
RodG

RodG:

One possible cause is if your host has recently upgraded to this version of PHP (from V5.3.x). Although if this were the case I'd be expecting other issues as well.

However, If this is likely/possible many hosts have a method/option (via cPanel) that will allow you to use the older version. If so, you could try that and see if it resolves the problem.

Just a thought.

Cheers
RodG

I would concur, one of the tests of if this is an issue is to attempt to revise the product description of a product. Suggest since you seem adept atworking with mysql is to first copy the description if not the entire row of data. After editing the product check the store side to see if the description still exists. I think the same occurs for a new product so could try to add anew product. If the description nolonger appears, it is definitely a php problem.

If a php problem, try rodg's suggestion and also prepare to upgrade your cart very soon.

Hi guys

Thanks again.

That's precisely what it is !!!
I've noticed that my host upgraded PHP and found, afterwise, that my version of ZC wasn't compatible.
I asked my host If I could downgrade PHP and since it is a shared environment : impossible.

One question though : can I directly upgrade 1.3.9h to 1.5.3 without going through each versions ?
Since my site has two languages, I have the feeling that I am about to get a huge headache !!!
Thanks for everything and have a great day, Freedude.

For those wondering about PHP and their ZC versions here is the link
https://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?48-what-are-the-server-requirements-to-run-zen-cart

freedude:

Hi guys

Thanks again.

That's precisely what it is !!!
I've noticed that my host upgraded PHP and found, afterwise, that my version of ZC wasn't compatible.
I asked my host If I could downgrade PHP and since it is a shared environment : impossible.

One question though : can I directly upgrade 1.3.9h to 1.5.3 without going through each versions ?
Since my site has two languages, I have the feeling that I am about to get a huge headache !!!
Thanks for everything and have a great day, Freedude.

For those wondering about PHP and their ZC versions here is the link
https://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?48-what-are-the-server-requirements-to-run-zen-cart
You can **absolutely **directly upgrade from 1.3.9h to 1.5.3, but given the number of changes introduced in the time since 1.3.9h was released I'd suggest "re-building" your site instead of upgrading. That will give you the opportunity to make sure that you've got the most up-to-date versions of any plugins that you've currently got installed, choose a responsive template and ensure that any PHP 5.4+ incompatibilities lurking in your installation aren't carried forward.

lat9:

You can **absolutely **directly upgrade from 1.3.9h to 1.5.3, but given the number of changes introduced in the time since 1.3.9h was released I'd suggest "re-building" your site instead of upgrading. That will give you the opportunity to make sure that you've got the most up-to-date versions of any plugins that you've currently got installed, choose a responsive template and ensure that any PHP 5.4+ incompatibilities lurking in your installation aren't carried forward.

And understand that the "re-building" aspect is related to the files. The zc_install portion of updating the database will address all of the zc core database fields of the zc core tables. Individual plugins should address any changes to the database needed to function under the 1.5.3 database scheme as necessary.

With multiple languages if any are non latin1, you may wish to do a little massaging of the data and define_pages (to use UTF8 for the DB and language specific pages).