Hi patndoris,

Welcome to the forums,
Your problem came up a few times before and every time the user (you) tried an upgrade and it didn't work. What happens is this: a table was created the last time you tried to upgrade and now the script tries to create the same table again and gives an error.
Have a look at this post: [url=http://forums.b2evolution.net/viewtopic.php?t=14404]Upgrade problems 1.10.3 to 2.40[/url] and see if there is enough information for you to solve the problem. If not please report back to this topic and we'll be glad to help you further.

Good luck

HTML & CSS I can speak, but SQL & databases are greek to me - I'm sorry. However, I've mucked around enough to find the actual table & the offending column.

I understand a previous attempt at installation caused the issue, but can I infer (since the column appears to contain no data) it would be safe to drop the column from the table & try the upgrade again? Or am I severly oversimplifying the problem?

Sorry for my ignorance - but I do like to learn!!
-Doris-

Do you have a database backup from before the most recent attempt to upgrade? It would probably be best to restore that database and check it for the offending table, but since it's an empty table it's probably okay to delete it and hope for the best.

Oh and make a backup BEFORE you delete the table. Always best to be able to undo whatever you did if it doesn't give happy results eh?

Well, I tried deleting the table for Categories (tho only the column for URL was empty not the whole table), and then Antispam & Users & Settings & Items_Types (I think) and Filetypes as each one kicked up an error. I finally got it to install, but none of my posts or comments or categories were there any longer. All my settings and such were still there but that was about it.

Was so frustrated I reverted to 1.10 and deleted all the tables and re-installed from the backup (which was already flawed unfortunately) but at least I'm up and functional again after 4 more hours of trying.

I don't understand what I need to do to fix the existing database to be able to upgrade...but I guess for the time being I'm just going to have to live with the existing version as my frustration level is thru the roof.

If you have any simplistic dummied down suggestions I might be able to understand I'm open to them, but I don't understand the whole DB conversion process or databases at all so I feel like a fish out of water here....

TY for the help though I appreciate the fast responses you gave. I just don't know enough about all this to find any solutions in them sadly.

Doris

patndoris wrote:

... I don't understand what I need to do to fix the existing database to be able to upgrade ...

Normally you don't, and I haven't had any troubles upgrading installations.

The only time there will probably be a problem is with a partial upgrade in the past that never got done. There have been cases of troubles that were difficult to find a root cause for, but the vast majority of installations will upgrade without issue.

I've always got too much going on, but if you want to PM me your URL for your cpanel and some login credentials I'll take a look and see if I can see something that helps make sense of it.

Well...I may take you up on that when I settle down a little. Thank you very much for the offer.

I think I'm going to take a break from it for a few days and come back to it with a clear head and maybe a little more info from trying to understand more about databases.

I'll let you know my progress (if I make any!) And once again - thank you so much for your offer and for your assistance.

-Doris-

Cool. Hey here's an idea for when you want to play again: build a second installation of the version of b2evolution that you are using, then compare the database structure between your real one and your new testing one. That'll give you an idea if there is something squirrelly about your real one eh?