Houston...

[Guest Dabeagle]

Okay, if you know anything about phpBB3....

This is what I had for a message board. It hadn't been updated in a few years (software wise) and last night I tried to upgrade it to the latest version. I wanted to do this because the log in feature had been funky for some time now and the spam I get every time I turned on the ability for new people to sign up was so overwhelming, I'd just turn it off again.

SO anyway, took a long time to ftp everything and when I got there, it wants me to install it as if it were new. Now, this may be - I might have wiped out everything since the board was installed which would really upset me. Where I am stuck now is that it asks for my DNS server name, which I found, but with my name and password it keeps rejecting me.

Does any of this make sense to anyone? If the board is wiped, I won't make a new one, but I'm hopeful I can save this one.

Oh, and as of one o'clock today, GO CHARGERS!

[Camy]

First, don't panic. Provided you've backed up the board's database you shouldn't have a problem.

Generally, ISP hosting comes with a control panel (Plesk, or virtual admin, or cPanel, or ... there are a lot of them). With the control panel you can upgrade the board, deal with email addresses, and add additional stuff to the site - like a blog or whatever.

Your ISP should have some sort of online help available and will be able to provide the necessary logons and passwords - which won't be the same as the one for FTP.

Failing that, Colin Kelly and James Savik are wise, and might be able to offer advice.

It's nice to hear you've got a horse.

[Lugnutz]

You have a horse or a kid that eats like one?

I get that server window when I go there too. Hopefully there can be something done there aside from walking away from it.

[Chris James]

Of course I have absolutely no idea what Dabeagle is talking about, computer illiterate as I am. But isn't it interesting that his first word is Houston... and those of us of a certain age and generation immediately know the rest of that line is "we have a problem."

How NASA has changed our lives in so many ways. I remember telling my great grandmother that we had men on the moon and her disbelief. She was born in the late 1800's and flying machines had not been invented by then. What a wonderful world we live in.

[Guest Dabeagle]

My server is donated by a reader who happens to enjoy running a server in his spare time. I have sent him an inquiry but I fear this is really a case of the uninformed stumbling blindly into a well - there was no back up, unless he has some server back up. The original webmaster had a method for backing up the whole site, but I don't know how to accomplish that either. I'm sure the server owner has backups of everything - he's insanely intelligent - great single guy who is raising two teens that aren't his by blood. My only hope is he has that. Otherwise all the thoughts, story notes, jokes, life moments that I shared with my readers and they with me are just...gone.

[Lugnutz]

Wouldn't be the first time everything I had on a site was lost like a fart in a hurricane.

[Guest Dabeagle]

We all have gifts. Luggie's is to turn any conversation into something to do with gas or bodily fluids.

[Cole Parker]

Glad you pointed that out. I knew there was something he was good at -- I just hadn't been able to point a finger at it yet.

C

[Camy]

I'd be careful just what you point your finger at, Cole.

[Cole Parker]

Ole Jeff is no worry. I've been led to believe he puts his teeth in a jar by his bed at night, and most days forgets to put them back in again. I think my finger's safe.

C

[Lugnutz]

You wish you were this cool. I would rather be in Daves position...

[Merkin]

Could this be the ultimate thread hijack?

[Lugnutz]

Could this be the ultimate thread hijack?

Nah. there've been better. I schmitt you not.

Now, who can lend Beagle a hand with his site?

[Camy]

Now, who can lend Beagle a hand with his site?

The guy who runs it and gives him the space is the only one with the required information.

[Guest Dabeagle]

No one really runs it but me - and we see where that got me. I'm waiting to hear back from the fellow that runs the server, if he has any ideas or a back-up. Otherwise....poof.

[Hoskins]

Dabeagle - it sounds like, from the very little information you've provided (and probably this is because it's all you have), Camy is probably correct - the data is there, but when the install ran it created a new instance because it didn't use the settings from the old board. This should be reversible, or at least recoverable.

The hint here is that it asked for a host name. After that, it probably created a new database table WITHIN the existing database. So the old data is probably there but you need some assistance with:

- access to the root directory of the new and old PHPBB3 directories

- access to a PHP Admin dashboard (a popular one is phpmyadmin)

- possibly a copy of the old database tables, which can be extracted from the database using phpmyadmin.

If you can't get in contact with your support person, contact a local web hosting/design company or a local college that might have a qualified student you can borrow, explain the issue in detail, and ask them what they'd require - it's probably an hour to determine the problem and maybe 2 hours to fix it - and see if they can take a look. They will need some kind of credentials to look the server over, so get that information together beforehand.

Good luck, I've seen this happen before and hopefully it's not as bad as it looks from your perspective.

[The Pecman]

This guy Hoskins is one sharp cookie.