chattan

Hi Jackie

I’ve spent a bit of time asking my host to try a few things to narrow the problem down. They declined to do questions 1 & 2 above, and responded to 3 by saying “The configuration of the server is similar to the previous configuration, with the addition of caching software to improve site performance.”

They then reckoned my database was the problem and advised I took a backup, installed a clean database and fresh WP release, then repopulated the database. Exactly how I would do this wasn’t explained (e.g. if my backup was corrupt, then importing it wouldn’t help much). I asked if they could re-install the DB version of May 9 (May 8 was our last successful login and post), but that drew no response.

Then the action moved to wp-config.php. One of the guys reckoned that

define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’96M’);

was causing the issue (maybe he’d read this in a thread somewhere), but that line doesn’t appear in my version of wp-config.php. I tried inserting the define statement with a value of ‘256M’ but still got the 504 message.

Today, one of them installed another version of WP in my root directory and copied my DB passwords into its version of wp-config.php (omitting multisite and other definitions). They now say they can do an admin login using my DB with this single-site set-up. That would seem to exonerate the DB and leave the finger pointing at either my wp-config.php and/or multisite settings.
They once more recommend a fresh WP install and a wp-config.php clean-up.

Do you think all this is feasible? What would I need to try in wp-config.php to give it a go? Can I send my current wp-config.php to you without making it public?

Hi Jackie

I checked my host control panel and discovered my ticket had been closed, presumably due to my lack of posts while on holiday. I’ve re-opened it and asked them 3 questions:

1. Can they copy my site to a server with an earlier build and try login.
2. Can they provide extracts of logs when 504 occurs.
3. Can they detail differences in builds, e.g. script memory & run times.

More when (if) I get it…

Hi Jackie

I can’t remember what I selected back in 2010, but I’m sure it must have been subfolder. My users address their sites thus: soutarwriters.co.uk/user1 and soutarwriters.co.uk/user2

Also, wp-config.php contains: define( ‘SUBDOMAIN_INSTALL’, false );

Hi Jackie

soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-admin/network just results in a 504 message after the usual delay.

My .htaccess file was posted here early on in our conversation – 3rd or 4th post on page 1.

Sorry about the lengthy error console posts – I thought my first attempt was too long to be accepted, so posted again in fragments. Two of everything now. Nothing in that lot give you any clues?

Reply from my host re earlier Mod Security question:

To answer your questions, we don’t have mod_security installed but we do have mod_rewrite installed. This is turned off by default but can be turned on via RewriteEngine directive in an .htaccess file.

Selected Firefox browser console output (duplicate msgs removed):

ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined about:blank:313:6
Using //@ to indicate sourceMappingURL pragmas is deprecated. Use //# instead jquery.js:1:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] whatsnew
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
TypeError: document.getElementById(…) is null overlay.js:7333:4
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
The character encoding of the HTML document was not declared. The document will render with garbled text in some browser configurations if the document contains characters from outside the US-ASCII range. The character encoding of the page must be declared in the document or in the transfer protocol. wp-admin
ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined about:blank:313:6
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
“Given URL is not permitted by the Application configuration: One or more of the given URLs is not permitted by the App’s settings. It must match the Website URL or Canvas URL, or the domain must be a subdomain of one of the App’s domains.” ping:1:50
fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net : server does not support RFC 5746, see CVE-2009-3555 <unknown>
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined about:blank:313:6
The character encoding of the HTML document was not declared. The document will render with garbled text in some browser configurations if the document contains characters from outside the US-ASCII range. The character encoding of the page must be declared in the document or in the transfer protocol. wp-admin
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined

Firefox 38.0.5 web console output:

GET
https://www.soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-login.php [HTTP/1.1 302 Found 3164ms]
GET
https://www.soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-admin/ [0ms]
The character encoding of the HTML document was not declared. The document will render with garbled text in some browser configurations if the document contains characters from outside the US-ASCII range. The character encoding of the page must be declared in the document or in the transfer protocol. wp-admin
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0

Hi all

Now back from holiday and started Firefox (38.0.5) this morning as instructed. The customary 504 message came up a few minutes after I tried to login. The web console output was:

POST https://www.soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-login.php [HTTP/1.1 302 Found 4849ms]
GET https://www.soutarwriters.co.uk/wp-admin/ [0ms]
The character encoding of the HTML document was not declared. The document will render with garbled text in some browser configurations if the document contains characters from outside the US-ASCII range. The character encoding of the page must be declared in the document or in the transfer protocol. wp-admin
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection.

The full browser console output was:

ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined about:blank:313:6
Using //@ to indicate sourceMappingURL pragmas is deprecated. Use //# instead jquery.js:1:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] whatsnew
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] firefox_whatsnew_38_video-bundle.e443ed338890.css
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] site-bundle.4d72c30b1a11.js
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] firefox-resp-bundle.a080f6f60e2f.js
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] firefox_whatsnew_38_video-bundle.45ba0147b54e.js
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] fx-header-sprite.87fb4d007ec7.png
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] video-poster.3a4751fbd00f.jpg
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] favicon-196.223e1bcaf067.png
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] favicon.dc6635050bf5.ico
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] people-background.718e61c39a89.png
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] tabzilla-static.953a65a1f4a4.png
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] video-poster-thumb.85ee363ce9c3.jpg
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] OpenSans-Light-webfont.963eb3290774.woff
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] footer-mozilla-white.6de861f93df6.png
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] Firefox_Welcome_englishUK.webm
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] OpenSans-Regular-webfont.55b8ce1f9a32.woff
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] favicon.dc6635050bf5.ico
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
TypeError: document.getElementById(…) is null overlay.js:7333:4
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
The character encoding of the HTML document was not declared. The document will render with garbled text in some browser configurations if the document contains characters from outside the US-ASCII range. The character encoding of the page must be declared in the document or in the transfer protocol. wp-admin
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined about:blank:313:6
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] update.xml
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] ping
“Given URL is not permitted by the Application configuration: One or more of the given URLs is not permitted by the App’s settings. It must match the Website URL or Canvas URL, or the domain must be a subdomain of one of the App’s domains.” ping:1:50
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] like.php
fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net : server does not support RFC 5746, see CVE-2009-3555 <unknown>
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] YLs2gGY4Xkc.js
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] LVx-xkvaJ0b.png
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] 1ldYU13brY_.js
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined about:blank:313:6
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] update.xml
This site makes use of a SHA-1 Certificate; it’s recommended you use certificates with signature algorithms that use hash functions stronger than SHA-1.[Learn More] primetime_gmp_win_x86_rc_20575.zip
The character encoding of the HTML document was not declared. The document will render with garbled text in some browser configurations if the document contains characters from outside the US-ASCII range. The character encoding of the page must be declared in the document or in the transfer protocol. wp-admin
window.controllers is deprecated. Do not use it for UA detection. nsHeaderInfo.js:412:0
NS_ERROR_FAILURE: Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) [nsITaskbarTabPreview.invalidate] WindowsPreviewPerTab.jsm:406:0
ReferenceError: gBrowser is not defined

I hope that gives you a lead. I also received a reply from my host to your earlier mod rewrite question:

To answer your questions, we don’t have mod_security installed but we do have mod_rewrite installed. This is turned off by default but can be turned on via a RewriteEngine directive in an .htaccess file.

Hi Jackie

I can fire up Firefox and have a crack at this. I’m away a few days now, so it’ll have to wait until next week. No response yet from my host (as far as I can ascertain).

All the Debug notices seem to have disappeared (apart from a sidebar error in the Clean Black theme on a couple of pages), so cleaning out the unsupported software has had some benefit. I’ll have some tinkering to do on various pages to fit existing widgets into new themes, but that should be fairly easy after all this!

I’ve now posted your supplementary questions to my Host forum – more as I get it.

Hi all

The prescient Dot 07 can take a bow! I completely rebuilt the site today, but still got the pesky 504 error message at the end of it.

My strategy was to get rid of plugins and themes which weren’t supported up to 4.2.2 and to download fresh images of those which were supported before I restarted the 4.2.2 install. Everything uploaded just fine, and I’ve at least done some useful housekeeping (though I now need to repair some individual writer pages where there’s no theme any more, or a substitute plugin such as mp3-jplayer needs to be configured).

I’ll re-post a cry for help on my host’s message board and hope that they, or someone here, can shed fresh light on all this.

Thanks Jackie

I’ll have a go at this tomorrow night and let you know.

Hi all

Thanks for your advice. Some updates:

I’ve deleted phpinfo.php from the site.

I’ve deleted wpaudio-mp3-player from wp-content/plugins.

I’ll leave the rest of wp-content (including permissions) for now and wait a while for other suggestions.

I’m still getting the ‘Notice: add_option….line 3510’ message, plus the 504 when I try login, despite clearing browser cache.

Hi Jackie

Thanks for sticking with it! I’ve switched Debug back on again.

I don’t know too much about WP internals, but here’s a diary of site updates to think about:

21 Apr. wordpress-seo plugin updated.
24 Apr. twentyten theme updated.
28 Apr. sixteen theme updated.
28 Apr. my last post to the site (stovie & story night).
01 May. tinymce-advanced plugin updated.
01 May. user-role-editor plugin installed.
04 May. si-contact-form plugin updated.
07 May. WP 4.2.2 installed for the first time.
08 May. Morgan’s post to the site (week 2, etc). He has contributor status, as defined by user-role-editor plugin.
14 May. new server build installed by host.
15 May. 504 messages start to appear.

I do my release installs manually, by first uploading .maintenance, then deleting wp-admin and wp-includes folders from the server, then uploading new folder versions, then uploading 16 new WP files which overwrite previous versions. FileZilla filecounts check out ok. The only other materials in the root are .htaccess, favicon.ico, and phpinfo.php. I’m happy to rebuild plugins and themes folders in wp-content if that looks a good try.

The other possibility is some kind of database compromise, maybe as a result of the server build. The host takes backups and should have an image which pre-dates 14 May.

Good luck with your networking!

I tried an experiment a short time ago. The site has a page called ‘writers’, accessible from the main menu. I went there and tried to log into my personal page (using an id ‘iain’ which has administrator rights). I got the standard 504 after a couple of minutes, along with a few warning messages from yesterday’s Debug: true setting. I reset wp-config.php to get rid of these, then returned to the writers page. Now I could see the black WP menu bar with Howdy, iain in the top RH corner, so I had apparently logged in. I tried ‘dashboard’, ‘edit page’ and ‘site admin’ to do more, but got 504 noises in all cases. Hope that might trigger a thought…