Site Down, Storefront Pages Blank But Admin Fine

I recently ran into a problem with all my store front pages producing a blank white screen, no page source data, etc..

This seems to have occurred out of the blue, as I have not made any code changes or edits since last time site was fully operational about 5 days ago when last sale went through.. and I only noticed the issue yesterday, NOV-03-2015, when unable to access any store front pages, no errors, only blank white screen.. called host and they indicated no issues on their end..

The Admin Panel end is working without issue, and I tried implementing the Debug Error Logging Utility, but can't seem to produce any error files in cache folder, only see past AIM debug logs..

I'm currently running an older version ZenCart 1.3.8a; PHP Version 5.2.17; MySQL 5.0.96-log; site has been running since 2008

store address:
https://www.thekitebuddy.com/store

Any help in pointing me in the right direction to get my site back up and running would be much appreciated.. many thanks

Hi
So what changed 5 days ago?

See if this helps :
https://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?124-i-am-getting-a-blank-page-%28or-blank-part-of-a-page%29

Lruskauff

lruskauff:

Hi
So what changed 5 days ago?

See if this helps :
https://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?124-i-am-getting-a-blank-page-%28or-blank-part-of-a-page%29

Lruskauff

Thanks for the link.. I had come across that page, but no changes were made to site and dont seem to have any error logs..

I didn't change anything on site or admin since was last working --which is making this one a mystery for me, not sure where to look..

I'd start at the beginning. First ask your host if any changes were made (like new php, etc). Then, start comparing files to your backup (do you have one?). Oh, sorry, just saw that you called your host so cross that one out.

Check your configure.php files (the one in the includes/) Make sure that hasn't changed. Switch back to the default template to see if that shows anything. If it does, then that narrows the error file down to your template files.

L

lruskauff:

I'd start at the beginning. First ask your host if any changes were made (like new php, etc). Then, start comparing files to your backup (do you have one?). Oh, sorry, just saw that you called your host so cross that one out.

Check your configure.php files (the one in the includes/) Make sure that hasn't changed. Switch back to the default template to see if that shows anything. If it does, then that narrows the error file down to your template files.

L

Thanks again, I checked the configure.php files and all same, did a quick check of file update dates to check if any files were updated since issue date and didnt see any..

Guess I have to check through files and compare to an older back up as suggested --was hoping for a possible obvious easy issue since I didn't change anything.. thanks again..

Well, the most obvious thing would be that the PHP version changed upward as a part of the host maintaining their software up to standard. The next would be a possible hack on the site because of the known insecurities of the ZC version reported in use (1.3.8a)...

Copy this code into your file editor save it as "phpinfo.php" and ftp it to the root of your site
then load it
www dot thekitebuddy dot com/phpinfo.php

<?php
//Show all information about PHP
phpinfo();
?>

Check for the php version

that information should be available on the admin (which the OP said was still up...)

admin -> tools -> server/version info...

Many thanks for the help.. I ran the php info code and was the same as on admin: PHP Version 5.2.17 (ZenCart 1.3.8a)

I had run into a PHP version issue about a year ago, installed the php patches and has been up and running since.. but possibly something has changed recently..

I wasn't able to find any issues with files, and DB seems fine (admin working), so with the suggestions regarding php version, I'm hoping an upgrade to latest ZenCart Version may fix..

one of the first files to load is: includes/application/top

within that file you can add the following line:

die(FILE . ':' . LINE);

then reload your home page and you can see whether you are making it to within that file. there should be a statement with the file and line number from that file.

if you are not getting to there, the problem may be within your .htaccess file.

good luck!

carlwhat:

one of the first files to load is: includes/application/top

within that file you can add the following line:

die(FILE . ':' . LINE);

then reload your home page and you can see whether you are making it to within that file. there should be a statement with the file and line number from that file.

if you are not getting to there, the problem may be within your .htaccess file.

good luck!

Thanks, I inserted the code at various lines and was able to get a line number response down to line 87
"include(DIR_WS_INCLUDES . 'extra_configures/' . $zv_file);"

then blank screen if inputted below line 87

wndbne,
awesome.

so now we have established that zen-cart is loading; and there is a problem with a script within the includes/extra_configures directory.

the easy thing would be to see if you have access to your hosts apache error log. the error log should point you to the exact problem script. you can ask your host for that information.

barring that you can continue to add the die statement to the scripts contained within the aforementioned directory until you can further isolate the line that is failing.

good luck!

To possibly more conclusively identify which file(s) are a problem, you could try a portion of what was suggested in post #2 of this thread:

Advanced Developer Option. (THIS APPROACH IS NOT NEEDED FOR MOST SITUATIONS!!!!)

While the built-in myDebug-xxxxxx.log method above is far more reliable and secure (since messages are never shown in your customers' browser), another way to help identify where an error is happening is to show the errors on your browser. The drawback to this is that your customers can also see the errors, and search engines might catch them too ... which could be embarrassing, AND WILL CAUSE YOUR SITE TO FAIL PCI SECURITY SCANS.
To attempt to show PHP debug errors on-screen, create and upload a new file, like this:
Filename: ** /includes/local/configure.php**

fantastic, my site is back up --Thanks so much for all the help :)

I looked closer in the 'extra_configures' folder and found an odd file named "email_use_8bit_prexxx" ..appears to be a copy of "email_use_8bit" but had odd code inside.. not sure where it came from but missed it in my prior scan of files.. also had an older date on file so didn't trigger to look as a recent hack attempt as figured was a prior patch or add-on..

I deleted the file and all is back up and running --Many thanks again for all the help.. going to work on upgrading to latest Zen Cart version to eliminate the security vulnerabilities of my older version..