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500 internal server error - index.php - need help | Forum

Richard Carr
Richard Carr Mar 10 '12
Hello People, I hope some of you have some advice for me...

A couple of days ago i was getting a Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '<' in /home/studen77/public_html/index.php on line 83 - I got onto just host who said there was a bad bit of code in the index.php file so they edited it for me and it worked for a while...2 days ago my site suddenly went into a 500 internal server error so i got back onto just host who said the following - how can this just happen and really need help to fix it...

This is the conversation


Hello Hopefully you can help me...My website www.studentszine.com has suddenly gone to a 500 internal server error and i cant access anything...any ideas?

Gus: [2:53:41 PM] I see, let me check

Richard: [2:59:23 PM] ok thank you gus

Gus: [3:01:38 PM] Ok, the problem seems to be in your .htaccess file. I have renamed your .htaccess file to .htaccess.bak so that the server generated an empty one, there is no longer a 500 error but a 404 error for a missing install page

Richard: [3:05:00 PM] I think that is because you need the content in the .htaccess file for the oxwall software to work.

[3:08:32 PM] the only thing that was changed recently was my cpanel password - could that have made the 500 error by any chance?

Gus: [3:10:58 PM] Hmm, no that wouldn't cause it, I don't see any server errors in your logs either, this is likely a scripting error in your files. Unfortunately, that's about all I can say, by policy we are unable to provide support for scripting errors, I can tell you what the errors are but not what is causing them. You will likely want to consult a forum and/or a web developer to determine the problem in your scripts.

Richard: [3:12:55 PM] Ye ok, could you tell me everything you can/know about the errors? I can then get in touch with oxwall for further help

[3:14:35 PM] oh and could you change the .htaccess file name back

Gus: [3:17:00 PM] Yes, I've changed that back now, from the information I have, there doesn't appear to be any server error associated with this 500 error, you can confirm this by accessing your server error log in the cPanel. This means it is likely an error in the scripts themselves, where I would start is the index.php file, though that file likely calls in a number of necessary modules for the oxwall setup (which I'm not terribly familiar with)

Richard: [3:20:09 PM] ah ok - a couple of days ago i had an error in the index.php file and from tlking to someone on here they told me it was altered the day before (Which wasn't me) anyway justhost was going to restore the file for me however jeremy fixed the bad code...the site worked since then until bout 30mins ago..dont know if this makes any difference

Gus: [3:25:17 PM] I really can't tell you, I do apologize. I would definitely start with the index.php file in this case, there is likely a problem with that file still.

Richard: [3:29:44 PM] ok gus, thanks a million - i will tlk with oxwall to see if they can find a solution :)



Richard Carr
Richard Carr Mar 10 '12
Does anyone know what this means? it was in my error log, could this be causing the 500 internal server error

 [07-Mar-2012 23:44:59] PHP Warning: POST Content-Length of 20026337 bytes exceeds the limit of 8388608 bytes in Unknown on line 0 [08-Mar-2012 00:04:41] PHP Warning: POST Content-Length of 8433090 bytes exceeds the limit of 8388608 bytes in Unknown on line 0
Richard Carr
Richard Carr Mar 12 '12
I have solved it :)

Remember if changing cpanel password to also change password in the config.php  - define('OW_DB_PASSWORD' .....

It was because i changed my cpanel password that was causing the problem - After looking in the config.php  - define('OW_DB_PASSWORD' .....
I realised my old cpanel password was there - after putting my new password there the site worked...I didnt realise i had to manually change it in the config file too..
Michael I.
Michael I. Mar 14 '12
Topic was moved from General Questions.
Richard Carr
Richard Carr Mar 16 '12
Hi Bob,

That is what i expected to happen, so when trying to fix my site it took me ages to realise it could be the password change that was effecting it..Where should i see the list of modules that have been updated with the new password?


Michael I.
Michael I. Mar 20 '12
It's really weird as usually new password for the Cpanel doesn't change database password. The only place where the database password is stored is ow_includes/config.php
Richard Carr
Richard Carr Mar 20 '12
ye i had another person look through everything for me who is a bit more familiar with this stuff than me, and he said he spotted that but thought the same thing as you so didnt try change it....i only tried because i hadnt a clue what i was doing :) could it have been that my old db password and cpanel password were the same? or is there any possible reason why this could have happened?