Dashboard template missing

Well, I have tried everything I can think of, but I still have a dashboard that is plain white background and a list of dashboard links down the left-hand side of the screen, with content of an opened link appearing at the bottom of the page. This is a network blog set-up

Checking my other blogs which are set in their own single blog installs, even after I have upgraded to v3.0.4, the dashboard for them shows up as correct structure. It’s almost as if WP.org is controlling the layout on the site I am having trouble with…
So, perhaps this one is in the “too hard” basket.
Would I be better off moving on to v3.1?

No. I’d suggest you reset the folder/file permissions that you changed.

The settings that were changed were associated with the file that the “Constructor” template install required, being a change of permission for that file to 666 – the file and template have been removed.
Looking at the remainder of files, most seem to be –

root files:644

wp-admin: CSS: 766; Images, Includes, JS, Maint: all 755; Files 644

wp-content:777; plugins, themes, upgrade folders: 755, Blogs.dir 775 index.php 744

wp-includes: all folders 755, files 644

Not sure where I should be making changes here – it looks similar to where it all began

Jumboliah! Compared file permissions – the wp-admin CSS looked wrong – changed it to match the rest (755) and VOILA!
Hugs and kisses all round – many thanks esmi for putting me on the right track.

Yay! Glad you managed to locate the problem. ??

Well, the champagne is on hold – got the basic dashboard back with formatting correct, but when I open a link to, say, widgets, the structure disappears to almost how the problem was – a bit more information/icons on the screen but not formated correctly.
Another permissions problem?

I’d guess so. You’ll need to have a look through the wp-admin folder and its sub-folders.

Hi, Filezilla fell over and refused to come out of it’s corner – sulking I guess. Went to the website admin and discovered wp-content was set to 777! – changed to 755 as for other folders and bingo!
Many thanks!!! Come visit sometime! I need feedback from folks who know!

Try uploading an image to the Media Library – just to check that your uploads haven’t been affected by the permissions change.

Glad we tried that – image size under 1 mb, but problem: error code –

“handthatfeeds.jpg” has failed to upload due to an error
Unable to create directory /home/ftpusername/ftpusername-www/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/2011/01. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
Note that ftpusername-www is also the root folder for the site other than mail and logs. Do I need to change permissions for blogs.dir to -say, 766 or 777
I then tried to do and automatic update on the SEO-all-in-one, and got a message – Could not create directory. /ftpusername-www
[the root of the site – https://www.websitename.co.nz]
Permission for root folder was 777, tried changing to 765 and 755 – no change to upload problem. Ponder what setting I should have for root.

Permissions in wp-admin images folder : folder-755, files:644
Permissions in wp-content folder – folder 755, files therein 644
wp=-content/blogs.dir: 755

wp-content- all folders incl :755, files 644

Sorry about all the details, but this is similar to the problem I had to doing an auto-upgrade from 3.0.1 tp 3.0.4 – manual was only way.

So help me – the seo-all-in-one has updated at last. No such luck with the picture upload – ???

Saga nears it’s end – fiddled around with settings – root set at 755, wp-content.blogs.dir set at 777. Loads pix fine – will not load at a lesser permission level.
Will have a go at getting plugins and themes – I suspect a similar trick required….

Thank you for your patience and interest, Esmi

Glad I could help. I hope you get it all sorted.