Joomla blank after changing server, admin panel good

Question

I did a cPanel move of a Joomla 1.5 website and a PHPBB3 forum from one server to another, and when the DNS changes kicked in all I see is a blank page. The administrator panel works without any problems whatsoever. cPanel works. Website and forum (which is separate from the website) are both blank.

I have then manually downloaded and then uploaded all files (didn't move the databases manually), and some files wouldn't upload because of 555 file permissions. I changed the permissions to 777 temporarily to overwrite the file with the manually uploaded one. So all files are now the same as they were on the old server.

Even when I turn the Site Debugging on, the screen is blank.

There is no hidden index.html or default.html file which could be causing the problem.

The entire account was moved with cPanel so it's the same on the old server and the new server. The hosting provider reports no problems. The DNS changes kicked in two days ago.

PHP is working, as this link works: http://oklade.net/findpath.php

In configuration.php, there is nothing specifically pointing to the old site.

var $dbtype = 'WeboMySql';
var $host = 'localhost';

Solution 1

All roads in these cases generally lead to configuration.php Check spelling and punctuation for mistakes. Also, enable one of the default Joomla Templates to be sure that whatever template you're using isn't also using old values.

Solution 2

1. Before starting to debug the server, turn debug-mode on (in the admin CP)
2. First thing I would try is to delete the cache by running:
   rm –rf /var/www/html/<your website directory>/var/cache/*
3. The next thing I would try is to switch to another template - make sure that the template is not the issue.
4. Also, make sure to check the apache access log - just in case. also, you can check .htaccess for stuff like 301 redirect rules or any other problematic configuration (same applies for httpd.conf and configuration.php)

Good luck!

Solution 3

Problem is solved.

The configuration.php file was to blame, as everyone suggested, but there was no possible way to change it manually and get it right, I had to make the system determine its own configuration.

I installed a fresh version of Joomla in a separate folder, and a fresh version of PHPBB3 in a separate folder.

Then I took the configuration.php and config.php files for those two things and put them in the existing folders of the website which didn't work.

Changed the minor details such as database prefixes (as I couldn't have entered the existing ones while installing), and that's it. Now it works.

So this might be a good workaround for anyone facing the same problem. Install a dummy version of Joomla and use the generated configuration.php file for the old, non-functioning website.

Comments

[Dan Horvat]

There is nothing in configuration.php which rings a bell. What should I put in configuration.php to access my absolute path /home/okladene/public_html ?

[GDP]

Can't tell you how to do that, but if nothing is wrong with configuration.php, then dollars-to-donuts it's the template setup (the admin is showing up as expected which does NOT use the template), so that's probably the culprit. Either try a default template to isolate it, or find the template settings and change them there (or just re-install the template).

[Dan Horvat]

Thing is, the same blank page shows on PHPBB3 forum which is separate from the website and is using its own template. I changed Joomla to a default template and the screen is still blank, I cleared the cache.

[GDP]

Sounds like a server configuration issue then...I'd suggest looking at PHP versions and what differences there are in PhpInfo. Not sure it's a "joomla" issue so much as perhaps what joomla happens to be expecting that has changed.

[GDP]

Glad to help...hope you will "accept" my answer as the solution then :-)

[pal4life]

What was it in configuration.php?