HELP - cache does not exist

I searched for cache does not exist and found nothing which helps me immediately, so forgive the question.

My site was working fine. Not sure which version it was. I tend to be slow at updating.

I've come to my shop and get
1146 Table 'mysite_zc1.zen_db_cache' doesn't exist
in:
[db_cache table]

If I try to log in to admin I get the same thing.

Maybe not related, but my site admin was actually renamed blah, and although blah still exists, admin does now too. So I don't know if my host has forced an upgrade on me, not told me and broken it, or what.

Logging n to blah gives the same no cache.

I've tried the cache fix utility, though this only seems to apply to older 1.2 versions ?!

HELP !

Alternaitvely, if I start again with a fresh 1.37, can I just re-import my database and style sheets ? I'm sure that answer exists, but I relaly have a headache now!

You'll appreicate the frustration I'm sure.

MANY THANKS.

If your host has attempted to unilaterally upgrade your site, then run like hell. That can only end in tears and they shouldn't be doing it.

However, the sudden appearance of a new admin section and a Zen Cart trying to find the cache table using the unrecognized (but default) zen_ prefix, does sound like somebody has been playing with the site.

Although you can upgrade by installing 1.3.7, reimporting and then upgrading your database and copying across stylesheets and other template files that you have changed, you would also need to amend those stylesheets and other template files to reflect changes that have been made in the versions of Zen Cart that come later than that which you were running when you created them - so it's not trivial.

I wouldn't even start such an upgrade until I was clear about the changes had occurred in the first place and was confident that they wouldn't happen again.

Thanks kuroi
Obviously I am greatly concerned about that too.

Can I just reset this cache setting?

But in my phpmyadmin config there is no setting for cache directory that I can see, as outlined by lynda in another post.

How can I best set this back to a working state and keep my existing products (and ideally orders/client records).

Should I just upgrade 1.37 over it ?

Is that safe if I was on a 1.2 something?
Problem is I can' remember exactly which version it was.

If I'm going to have to export the database and re-import it, any quick pointers how to do this efficiently wothout having to rename table prefixes and re-importing rubbish admin and cache settings back in?

I'm begining to think the smart money is in two databases, one for admin and 1 purely for client data.... which is 100% portable and idiot proof portable!

It's difficult to advise here without knowing more about your original setup and what it is now.

Here's what seems likely ... you still have a database as you haven't been plopped into the zc_install routine so step 1 is lock it down by doing a back up using phpMy Admin.

Then look at it (also via phpMyAdmin) to see whether it uses table prefixes and if so what they are.

Then look in your includes/configure.php admin/includes/configure.php and blah/includes/configure.php to see what the database prefix is defined as in there (it will be in the block towards the bottom).

Then go into the includes/templates/template_default/css/stylesheet.css and take a look at the date in the version $ID line at the top. This will tell me which version of the Zen Cart code is now on your system.

Post all that back here and separately PM me the name of your host (that last piece of data is by private message because I wouldn't want to cast aspersions about a host by having them named publicly, but knowing which it is may provide some clues as to what has happened).

One other task ...

Using phpMyAdmin again, look at the project_version table in your database, which will tell you what Zen Cart version your database is.

The default stylesheet on my local backup says

// +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
// $Id: stylesheet.css 1223 2005-04-22 03:46:20Z ajeh $

The default stylesheet on the broken web shop says
(waiting an hour to download it all now.....)

One oddity, is on my local backup I have no index.php in the cache folder.
On the broken web version I have an index.php in the cache folder.
Is that normal and from what version ?

cache index.php
// $Id: index.php 1322 2005-05-06 23:22:28Z drbyte $
//

// send to domain root
session_write_close();
header('Location: ' . 'http://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']);
exit();
?>

Project version - Cool Tip ;-)

Project version says 2.5 for main and db
Project history says 2.4

I can't remember if I did do an upgrade or not.

So doesn't look like a forced (or attempted?) 3.6 upgrade then ..... ?

None of the upgrade tools do anything to the db_cache table.
If your db_cache table is missing, you can recreate it by finding the "CREATE TABLE db_cache ..." section of the mysql_zencart.sql file in the zc_install folder.

Thanks DrByte !!

I had a db_cache entry in the database. Just not the entry in the php file, lynda mentioned.

I've found the includes config had changed for the SSL path entry.

Also counters had changed from the backup.

I'm now getting;

1146 Table 'microban_zc1.meta_tags_categories_description' doesn't exist
in:
[select * from meta_tags_categories_description mcd where mcd.categories_id = '0' and mcd.language_id = '1']

and indeed this isn't in the current database (v2.5)

Seems it's a half way upgrade ? - not sure how, who or to what.

Assuming this is a 2.5 version, is it safe for me to do a 3.6 upgrade and do the table upgrades ? bearing in mind I can't log-in as admin, or visit the front page yet ?

WDYT ??

I could do a complete backup to live restore, but AYK it takes ages and there's not guarantee it will work anyway even then.

WDYT is my safest course of action?

I have backed up the mysql file (including config table, which is the bit that worries me) and the broken shop in a spare folder.

Sorry I can't think clearly at the moment. I just wasn't expecting this right now......

Thanks for your help guys !

The hypothesis that I am working with is that your database and code are out of sync. But before giving advice, it would be helpful to be able to confirm this, hence the request for the date on the stylesheet and for info about the database prefixes. This would still be helpful if you have it.

Longer term, the safest course of action will be to upgrade to the latest version (1.3.7) of Zen Cart - after all that's the one with the most security fixes in. But that's a pretty big undertaking as you would be crossing from 1.2.x to 1.3.x and there were some significant structural changes in Zen Cart with this transition. So some idea of what changes you had made to your Zen Cart and how extensive they were (stylesheet, template files, module file, language files, extra functions, etc.) would help in giving advice.

And as always ... a live link to the broken site can be invaluable.

Thanks kuroi. I was still waiting for my ftp program to stop doing stuff so I could check.

The actual install and scripts had no prefix.
mysite_zc1

The admin script is now asking for
mysite_zc1.zen_

My backup stylesheet says
// $Id: stylesheet.css 1223 2005-04-22 03:46:20Z ajeh $

The live web version says

• @version $Id: stylesheet.css 4813 2006-10-23 02:13:53Z drbyte $

I have created my own stylesheet, but it is in its own folder. I've made no scriptng changes, third party mods, or any other addons or extras.

I added the meta_tags_categories_description using phpmyadmin and my storefront now loads but says;

Your database appears to need patching to a higher level. See Admin->Tools->Server Information to review patch levels.

Unfortunately my oriignal blahdmin folder says ILLEGAL ACCESS
and the factory default ADMIN folder says

1146 Table 'mysite_zc1.zen_project_version' doesn't exist
in:
[select * from zen_project_version WHERE project_version_key = 'Zen-Cart Database' ]
If you were entering information, press the BACK button in your browser and re-check the information you had entered to be sure you left no blank fields.

Adding the ZEN prefix which isn't/never was used.

I'm inclined to restore my admin (actually blahadmin to admin folder, as this seems to have changed the most. WDYT ??

What I'm going to ask next of course ;-) is
if I go from 2.5 to 3.6, will it upgrade the databases for me, or do I need to install each step manually ?
If I assume this is somehow a bad upgrade from 2.4 to 2.5, that should be safe yes ?

What is the default admin login, or how do I reset the admin password, cos you know that's bound to go the way of the pear ;-)

Many thanks for your help!

Let's dissect this ...

I don't think you have a botched upgrade from 2.4 to 2.5. Your database version is 2.5 and the history shows that it was previously 2.4 suggesting one upgrade, probably some time ago. No problem there unless you know differently.

The data from your stylesheet confirms that your code is for version 1.3.6, and from your config files that they have come from the default version release package where the database prefix is zen_. This won't sound like ground-breaking stuff, as we're really just confirming what had been expected all along.

I am curious though as to why you introduced the idea of a forced upgrade to 1.3.6 (as opposed to 1.3.7), since that does look precisely as though that's what has been attempted here. Have you discussed this with your webhost?

Where to go from here. It is relatively easy to upgrade the database to 1.3.6, and in your position that's what I'd do. However, although your data will be fine, you would have to put more effort into rebuilding you template. This couyld range from straightforward if you were basically using classic with minor cosmetic changes and no add-ins, through to huge, enormous and mind-blowing if you had significantly changed from the default.

OK well it's all or nothing now, so I'm uprading to 3.6 and hope my design survives.

The illegal access on admin and blahadmin seems to be typical of mixed version files, so something's happened!

I mentioned the forced upgrade because;

1. Last time I used my shop it worked and I haven't upgraded since.

2. My host did instruct me to upgrade another well known cart, because of a security alert. I informed that mine was a heavily moded cart and had been patched to avoid this security issue. They seemed to accept that and it still lives.

3. I seem to have a mish mash of versions installed ucrrently, and I don't know how that happened.

I'm still none the wiser and 3 hours later still without a shop.

Hopefuly soon it might work again and I obviously need to stay more up to date and "constantly monitor" what the * is going on.

I was obviously nieve thinking that you can publiah on the web (ie a shop) and not have to monitor it constantly :-(
Backing up constantly is obviously another factor.

I can see now why several stores consist of "RING US". The web saves no time at all......

OMG !

Well that's my shop down for two weeks then!

Massive changes to the stylesheet, so much so that the site layout (boxes) dies if trying to use the old style sheet.

I hate "progress" (sic) and apparently a big Zen bah humbug to modular coding !!

Would it have been SO hard to separate the new elements in to a second style sheet ?! (rhetorical - of course it wasn't).

midiwhale:

Would it have been SO hard to separate the new elements in to a second style sheet ?! (rhetorical - of course it wasn't).Actually that's exactly what the Zen Cart team did do for the first few releases of 1.3.x, specifically to ease the upgrade path for existing store users.

But this made life much more difficult for new users (and confusing for existing users too), so given the extent of the practical problems it was causing, they moved forward with 1.3.5 and re-integrated the styles into a single sheet for the classic template.

It might help you to download the release pack for 1.3.0.2 and look at the split between stylesheet original and stylesheet_new, but I doubt it. I must have upgraded a couple of stores from 1.2.x to 1.3.x and I've yet to see one where it wasn't easiest to simply rebuild the template from scratch using the much more powerful and flexible XHTML / CSS architure to which Zen Cart has evolved.

OK my fault for using it (2.5), instead of playing upgrade then ;-)

But I'm paying for it now....

Thanks for all your help kuroi.
You've been terrific!

Oops. Typo in my reply above ... should have said that I've upgraded a couple of dozen stores across this jump. So it can be done, and actually it's really not that difficult once you get the hang of it.

One BIG tip. You referred earlier to a heavily modded store. If this is it, do check the downloads area for the latest versions of mods before installing. Lots of people get into trouble by trying to apply mods written for 1.2 onto a 1.3 site and there are some structural improvements that render that problematic. Most of the mods worth having either still work, or have been upgraded to work.

Good luck and remember that this thread is still open if you need more help.