Please help us with comic store for St Michaels Hospice!!

Hi everyone,

          we are currently trying to sell 30,000 comics which have been donated to us, to raise money for st michaels hospice in the UK. we downloaded zencart and bought a domain for it-

phantomzonecomics.com

and we've been trying to get bits of it working before we put anything on it or tie it to paypal. But in checking through the basics, clicking "login" on the main storefront crashes - we are with dreamhost and ive heard (after buying the domain!!) that they arent that good with zencart, can anyone help?? the sooner we set this up the sooner we can start our fundraising, thanks to all of you inadvance

                      thank you!


                               Caroline, Phantomzonecomics

Clicking 'login' directs the user to the https (SSL) for your domain name. Do you have SSL setup? You would need an SSL certificate and a defined location (directory) on your host server for the files.

There are 2 basic ways a host may have you setup. One is using the same/shared directory to manage http and https. In this case, all your files are stored in the same locations. The other method is to have separate http and https locations for your files. This is more likely the case. Here you have to make sure that you have an up to date copy of all your http Zen Cart files in your https directory.

My guess is that you need to copy your ZC files and directories to the https folder. Also check that the paths in your admin/includes/configure.php and includes/configure.php files are correct.

Hi,

        thanks very much for your reply, we have a SSL server on our hosting package but not a certificate, but in installing zencart, we ticked use SSL as I'd got the impression this would still be the right thing to do, now, if we are just using paypal for all transactions, will this matter if I opt not to use ssl? and is that the reason for the failure - it cant find our https?


            many thanks,


                        Phantomzone team

Also..

    now... as I wake up this morning - we are in the uk, sorry for the time zone confusion! instead of a website that at least opened, we now have this -

Sorry!
There seems to be a problem connecting to our database. Please give us a few minutes to remedy the problem. Thank you.

what is going on?!!?!

                     if anyone could shed any light that'd be great


                              Thank you

Also here in UK, attempted to visit site, message below received

Sorry!
There seems to be a problem connecting to our database. Please give us a few minutes to remedy the problem. Thank you.
This means your webhost's MYSQL server is down
:(

Hmm. Now its popped back up again.. But the login still fails - do I need to disable using SSL or something, any clues on this anyone?

click login on

https://www.phantomzonecomics.com

or read my original post, thanks :)

do I need to disable using SSL
If you don't have valid SSL Certificate, then Yes
i.e.
in /includes/configure.php
should be set as

// Use secure webserver for checkout procedure?
  define('ENABLE_SSL', 'false');

and in admin/includes/configure.php
should be

// Use secure webserver for catalog module and/or admin areas?
  define('ENABLE_SSL_CATALOG', 'false');
  define('ENABLE_SSL_ADMIN', 'false');

HTH
:smile:

Hi again,

               changed the first configure file you mentioned, then opened the other one, and found it already had SSL set to false for those 2 lines -

// Use secure webserver for catalog module and/or admin areas?
define('ENABLE_SSL_CATALOG', 'false');
define('ENABLE_SSL_ADMIN', 'false');

                   and it still doesnt work! any other thoughts, should i try setting to true??


                 many thanks :)

I thought id be bold and set it to "true" for the

// Use secure webserver for catalog module and/or admin areas?
define('ENABLE_SSL_CATALOG', 'false');
define('ENABLE_SSL_ADMIN', 'false');

and now it works... or at least "appears". Will I need to go back to the first config file and set that to true also??

            Cheers

Trying to access site again to test for you, not possible because webhost's MYSQL server down again,
but as mentioned before, if you don't have valid SSL cert, then
coding should be set to FALSE in both configure files.
If it works for you fine, but may incur problems later
when configuring payment merchant i.e. paypal etc

Oh really? but if it plain doesnt work (the login bit) if theyre set to false, how can i keep it set to that...???

Also.. if my SQL server keeps hopping up and down, should I really leave my host? Thing is I like dreamhost, initially they were helpful and now im quizzing them on this they havent responded, even though they support zencart as a one click install...

im lost!!

we ticked use SSL as I'd got the impression this would still be the right thing to do
Suspect, that on initial install, this has been cause of your problem/s from start.
even though they support zencart as a one click install...
Not a good idea, because good chance that does not install latest version
of zencart, containing all latest security/bug fixes.
if my SQL server keeps hopping up and down, should I really leave my host
If you cannot access your site, because MYSQL server not reliable, then
neither will prospective purchasers.
Entirely your own decision, but for me, none of above points would be
acceptable/satisfactory for myself.
HTH
:smile:

Yes, the install from dreamhost did not work properly upon install, so I removed everything, started from scratch and installed the latest version (as of 2 days ago) and the patch for it, so i should be fully up to date.

So you're saying that the SQL falling over is the cause of all this and ideally the SSL should be all set to false, because if the SQL was fine it would be working anyway (technically speaking) ??

If you have a correctly installed SSL certificate for your domain, then setting config.php files I quoted earlier, to TRUE, would be correct.
No SSL certificate, then settings would be FALSE.
Only way forward, as I see it, if you wish to remain at dreamhost, would be to start from scratch again, delete all existing folder/files and database, download latest zencart files from sourceforge, add all latest patches, as listed here on zencart forums, and test, making sure SSL option is NOT selected on install.
If this method fails, then would advocate trying a different webhost, preferably
one recommended by zencart.

Ive double checked everything is as you and dreamhost recommend. I've then checked on IE and camino on mac, and the site works, suggesting its just firefox that has issues here, any thoughts?

Have just checked via Firefox, and can now access member login, and admin,
so appears to be fine.. just as matter of interest, are SSL settings in your configure files now set as FALSE or TRUE? And do you now have an active SSL certificate in place?

I do not (as far as i can gather) have an SSL certificate, I have an SSL server, but no certificate - we just bought a basic package from dreamhost, only their top end package includes a certificate.

All SSL details are now set to false as advised. It seems fine in firefox on mac, camino on mac, and IE on pc, but my PC firefox keeps failing...(it times out and doesnt load anything) ive never had any trouble with it before.

Situation now looking good but to make sure, even though
I can access fine using Firefox..

PC firefox keeps failing
Suggest you reinstall your PC Firefox prog, and then recheck for any
access problems..everything really must be perfect before you proceed
further and set up payment methods etc.
HTH
:smile:

Of course, i'm doing all this very cautiously, and wont be adding products or payment til im satisfied things are working as they should be. im using firefox 1.5.0.7 on pc, but will reinstall just in case!

         thanks again for all your help on this :)

Firefox reinstalled and now loading my site, hooray!

So thank you, I just have a couple more questions..

How do you change the page header (as in what appears on top of the browser window - currently reads Zen Cart! The Art of E-Commerce - and i havent been able to find where its changeable.

And finally, do you need a merchant account to hook up paypal or will a standard account with them work? and is there a good tutorial you can recommend on how to hook up to paypal?

            Many thanks (yet again) :)