Hi dfitz! Don't change your folder permissions - that isn't what's happening, or more accurately that won't solve anything. But let's see if we can't figure out what might eh?

First, in your /conf/_basic_config.php do you have a / at the end and is there a www in the beginning? You need the slash at the end, but you don't NEED the www in the beginning. IF you have www in your config file then you need it when you visit the web or your cookies will get all messed up.

Next, when you log in as admin you should go to your "Blog settings -> pick a blog -> URLs" subtab and select all the radio buttons that use params for URLs instead of any of the options that make 'clean' or folder-like URLs. This way we can eliminate if the problem is due to your server not being able to make clean URLs.

On the "log in as someone else" issue, that is probably possibly due to on one of your "Global Settings" subtabs you didn't check the box for visible link for people in that group. Not sure how to get there though so lemme go look. brb... Okay it is actually on the Users tab, click the name of the group the other account you have is in, then make sure "Access to admin area" is either 'hidden' or 'visible link'.

Hey are you on a windows server? Just asking to sound like I know something about servers even though I don't. All I know is if the server is cute I tip better ;)

Final thought: ... ah heck let's see if we can't fix stuff before sledge-hammering a solution that might not be needed.

Ok, I'm really stupid. U kiijed at /conf/_basic_config.php but don't understand where the www an / go. I assume you didn't mean put www at the beginning of the php code an the / at the end of the code.

I did change the username, password,database name and base url. But that only seemed to make things worse.

I now get this error:
This is b2evolution version 2.4.6.

You cannot use the application before you finish configuration and installation.

MySQL error:

You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '-settings' at line 2(Errno=1064)
Please use the installer to finish your configuration/installation now.

What next?

Oh crap my bad. The idea was to verify that your $baseurl value has the correct info in it. So that particular line should be something like this:

$baseurl = 'http://www.whatever.com/blargh/';

Hopefully you have a backup of the file before editing your database connection bits! Those must have been correct if it worked at all, and obviously what you changed them to isn't working because it wants to install again.

So let me see ... 4 lines in that file for your database connection. Very critical. One line for your "baseurl" value. Equally critical, must end in a slash, and the part that sometimes causes problems for people who change if they are using www or not. One line for an email address that believe it or not matters for some stuff (but I forget what). One line somewhere in there for $config_is_done that should be a 1.

The biggie is to get it talking to your database again, so yeah I hope you have the original info for that file. On my hosts the username and database name match and are kinda easy to guess, but the password is a bunch of characters all mixed up so if I ever lose them I just toss the whole thing and start over.

Thanks for you help, but...

I scrapped everything and started over. Was able to log in and log out successfully. Then changed title in Blog settings and checked email validate and changed timeout to 1200 seconds in global settings. Then after saving, got internal server errror when attempting log out.

Can you log in? Does the blog work, meaning can you see it and successfully click on permalinks and maybe leave a comment on one of the default posts? Trying to exercise the public side as both a visitor (logged out) and the admin (logged in) might reveal where the problem lies.

Ok. I can log out if I go to Dashboard and then click on Global. Any other attempt to log out results in the internal system error. This is the same as either a user or as admin. I can leave comments with no problem, but if user tries to post, he is told that he isn't allowed to post. He has a validated email.

Dave

The "non admin" user trying to post is PROBABLY due to not having permissions in the blog you want to post in. Blog settings -> pick a blog -> advanced (I think), then scroll down and check the box for "advanced stuff". The note with the checkbox will make it obvious that this will turn on advanced permissions. After you do that you will see 2 new sub-tabs. User and Group permissions. On those you can make either a user or a group be a 'member' of the blog, and set up how much or little you want that user or group to be able to do.

Not being able to log out from anywhere makes no sense, but to be honest I do not log out very often. So what though: it should simply work. When you re-installed did you use the same files as the first time? I ask because what if one or more of your files is broken in a weird sort of way? The easy solution (if this is the case) is to get a brand new copy of your version, unzip it on your computer, delete the /inc/ folder from your server, and upload the /inc/ folder you just unzipped. /inc/ has most of the files in it and does pretty much all the work.

Still this doesn't make sense. I mean, logging out works correctly ONLY if you log out from the exact right place?

I'll be passing out soon. Do report what you try and learn and so forth, and let's hope one of the really smart people come along to figure this out.

You've been a big help! When I started over I started from my unzipped files.

You were correct on what was blocking the user from posting. That is now working. The logout... Well who knows.

Since this is going to be a public blog for our church I need to solve the log out problem, because most people won't stay logged in.

Again you have been a blessing.

By the way, the server is not cute and now windows. Sorry to disappoint. Have a good night.

dave

I have narrowed theinternal error somewhat. It only occurs when there is a redirect involved. typically the redirects are going to mysite.com..../a_stub.php?blog=1.

Any suggestions?

Suggestions specific to this issue, or just suggestions in general? For example I usually suggest hallucinogenic mushrooms prior to any court appearance :)

So is your redirect actually doing ... or does that mean you left something out? And let's see if we can't figure out a bit more. Like, I'm thinking of your blog settings for your URLs and how that might be building a funny (meaning non-functional) redirect. So I'll repeat myself a wee bit and suggest on your blog settings URL subtab that you make sure everything that looks like ?this=that&foo=bar is selected. Typically the first radio button option for each group of thingies. Also take a look at the very top section on that subtab and change a few things. It'll give you a real-time feedback of what the change will look like, so you can possibly narrow down what might be making a funny redirect.

Hey if your redirect has a_stub.php in it then you must have told it you are using a_stub.php on one of the blog settings - right? So perhaps undoing that change might make things happy?

Or link your blog here. Much easier to poke around than to ask for something when I don't really know what I'm looking for.

Blog is located at services4you.com/chbc-blog/blogs/a_stub.php

I did change it to ref. the stub. It was failling before and after that change.

Changing all the URL buttons to the top button did not help.

Let me know if you find anything.

By the way, at this point, mushrooms (poison or otherwise) are beginning to look like a good solution.

None of the links on your blog work! Try clicking on anything under the "Contents" bit in the far right sidebar - http://services4you.com/chbc-blog/blogs/2009/05/08/welcome-to-b2evolution or any category name - http://services4you.com/chbc-blog/blogs/welcome/ or the "send feedback" link - http://services4you.com/chbc-blog/blogs/2009/05/08/welcome-to-b2evolution#feedbacks or a "read more" link - http://services4you.com/chbc-blog/blogs/2009/05/08/extended-post#more25 . Nothing works. Heck your permalink icons don't even have clickability ... which I don't think I've ever seen before. Seems odd that it didn't make a link even if the link doesn't work. hmm...

Anyway links that fail like that is a symptom of a server that can not handle 'clean' urls, which means going to the params version is normally the answer. Unrelated to the logging out issue, but first nothing works at all so that has to be addressed. For example http://services4you.com/chbc-blog/blogs/blog2.php?p=20 will get you to a post, but the URL is instantly converted to look like folders. The 'clean' method eh?

Next I'm not seeing a_stub.php in any of the links (that don't work), so something isn't adding up. Get rid of the a_stub thing, select all the params options, and see what is working and what is not. Ignore the logging out issue for now, and/or the redirect issue. Those issues can be handled after the basic idea of 'links go somewhere' gets resolved.

Oh and by the by there is a file called "sample.htaccess" that contains some bits that try to tell your server to make 'clean' URLs work. If you do not already have your own .htaccess file you can rename sample.htaccess as plain old .htaccess and see if that helps. If you already have that awesome and amazing file then you will have to figure out the bit that tries to make 'clean' URLs work and copy it from sample to the real deal. Sorry, but I don't actually know which bit it is because I've never had to do that. My servers just sorta know how to make clean URLs is the thing.

More to the point: near as I can tell, poisonous mushrooms aren't a good way to resolve a web that isn't working.