swanderson

OK, thanks for the input. I guess I’ll just hold on for further developments.

I got word back from one of the other bloggers. He said he knew nothing about it, indicating he hadn’t blocked or deleted my trackback.

BTW, my thanks to all who offered ideas and otherwise tried to help.

I eventually gave up on trying to salvage anything from the previous install of 1.2 except the DB. I eliminated everything from the directory again and then surfed my Web space using the cPanelX file manager, with no files being hidden. I located and renamed a Fantastico log file.

The next install using Fantastico went off like clockwork. I got WP 1.5 to hook to the DB using the upgrade function and almost all was well.

I very carefully began moving into the new blog, using a theme from among Alex King’s terrific contest entries. How and why I don’t know (maybe the javascript module for Blogrolling?), but the index.php came up short a </div>, which someone at another site was kind enough to point out to me. The effect was to drop the sidebar(s) of different themes down below the bottom line of the last displayed post on the page. Since I got that to rights, WP 1.5 has been really good.

y advice to others who run into what seem like the ghosts or remnants of previous installs is to be thorough in deleting everything before doing a fresh install into a directory previously used for WP.

One problem remains, with trackbacks, and I will post a separate query about that.

I am working with a new install (except for the database) of WP 1.5. All 1.2 files were deleted off the server; the install was done with Fantastico. It went well.

I am using the theme Sharepoint Like from Alex King’s contest page as my main theme. I have done some customizing, but only on the index and style files in the Sharepoint theme. I have added the Searchform in the sidebar. I have also installed the Breadcrumbs plugin and the Nicer Archives add-in.

If I switch themes, the sidebar is messed up in the main blog page view in every theme but Sharepoint. In Default theme, it’s pushed down below the end of the bottom-of-post, “prev pages” item. In Classic view, the sidebar starts at the top but is incomplete and the items are out of order. In Journalized Sand, a 3-col theme, the sidebars drift toward the middle of the last post, overlapping it.

In Journalized Sand, the comments page left sidebar positions properly, the right one is out of position. (A couple of days ago, the comments page view of Journalized Sand displayed properly, although the main blog page was messed up as described above. ) The other theme comments pages, except Sharepoint, display wrong.

Also, in the Default theme, I checked for the widecolumn entry, as one poster mentioned above, and tried inserting <?php get_sidebar(); ?> as Dave Reed suggested above. This made no difference in the way it displayed.

Here’s what I don’t understand. If WordPress is reading the index and style files <i>from the active theme only</i>; and if I’ve only modified the index and style files in <i>one theme,</i> Sharepoint Like a€?? how can the Default, Classic and Journalized Sand themes’ page views be messed up in their displays?

Note that I had developed the same dropped-down right sidebar problem in my previous 1.2.2 installation. I was able to fix it in <i>either</i> the main blog page <i>or</i> the comments page view, <i>but not both</i>, by working with div tags. That’s a big reason why I finally threw in the towel and decided to go with a fresh install of 1.5 and adopt a new theme.

By the way, if it would be of help in sorting out whatever’s wrong here
my blog can be seen at

https://wpblog.ohpinion.com/

Thanks

Yes, I ran the upgrade and got the message indicating that if I can see it, all is well. In fact, with a sort of messed up variation of Kubrick, the posts are there and so are the comments, so the DB is connected and appears to be functioning.

The problem is that my theme isn’t available as a choice on the admin page so that I can select it. And I get the above noted error messages above the admin page.

Since I’ve replaced eveything but the database and wp-config.php with 1.5 files, no, I don’t think there’s any way I could be running a WordPress 1.2.

BTW, before having this go at it, I did a fresh install of WP 1.5 in a different directory, with its own new database, then did the required modifications. The whole thing went well indeed, and there was 1.5, with my theme.

I really don’t want to have to change the URL of my blog. I did that when I started with WP in December. I’ve already had to ask a bunch of people to update links (some are difficult to contact and a few treat it as a nuisance).

Update to my previous entry. It appears this is only a problem with IE6, as FireFox comments still work properly.

I installed the live preview plugin on WP 1.2.2 and now comments are only accepted when the WP cookie is deleted or removed from the cookies folder.

I am also using the Trencaspammers graphic-recognition utility to block comment spam. Since installing the comments preview plugin, a commenter can enter their name, e-mail address and comment, but the Trencaspammers entry form for the code number won’t let anything be keyed in if there’s a WP cookie on board. At least, that’s the best I can figure this out.

I deactivated the plugin and that didn’t help. I then removed it, along with the code line that goes in wp-comments.php, and that didn’t help.

Can anyone tell me what changes the plugin may have made in other files that should now be undone to get things back the way they were before the plugin was installed?

Here’s the sequence, as far as the blog in question.

1. After backup, I deleted all files from the subdomain in which the blog exists except wp-config.php, as per directions.

2. I ftp’d the 1.5 files to my Web space.

It went badly. I deleted everything but wp-config.php, tried again. Again, it went badly.

3. I deleted everything from the subdomain.

4. I restored the backed up files.

What’s there now is WP 1.2.2. I’ve got other things working fine, but the admin page insists file permissions haven’t been changed so they can be edited.

BTW, I have since successfully installed 1.5 in a different subdomain using Fantastico, then followed the directions for moving from 1.2 to 1.5. It all looks good with my considerably modified style and seems to work, although it’s not hooked into the pre-existing database.

Having done this, I now have a much better feel for it and will soon tackle the project again to get the live blog up in 1.5. I suspect my previous problems stemmed from my misunderstanding about php files being transferred as binaries, and also with trusting the ftp program’s automatic feature to make the right choices in transferring. In working with files in the fresh install of 1.5, uploads of modified files were done manually, with everything but graphics files going as ASCII text. Then, everything worked.

This might be something others have tripped over as well.

I still can’t edit directly from the admin page because WP won’t recognize that I have changed permission for index.php and several other files. Doing it through cPanel is as handy as going through a basement window to get into the house, as opposed to using the front or back door.

Any additional thoughts, tips, insight would be appreciated. I expect there’s a WP file with a switch thrown the wrong way or something.

Again, the cPanel display shows the files as permission 774. WP admin page doesn’t get it.

Hi, podz. Yes, we’re looking at the same pages. The message on the bar underneath the template page editing area specifically says the file cannot be edited until the permission level is changed. Click on it and it does nothing.

Ugh! Regarding the previous entry, a correction:

If all you have backed up is your database, ask your Web host if there’s any chance your Web space can be restored from their end. I would be surprised if they cannot do this for you.

What the directions called for was backing up not just your database but all the files and directory structure of your Weblog. You could do that using an ftp program or, if your Web host’s setup is like mine, by going to cPanel and using the backup utility provided. That backs up your whole Web space.

The fact that I did that saved my blog after an attempted upgrade from 1.2 to 1.5 didn’t work out.

If all you have backed up is your database, ask your Web host if there’s any chance your Web space can be backed up from their end. I would be surprised if they cannot do this for you.

If that doesn’t work out and if your blog wasn’t heavily modified, you should be able to do a fresh install to the same location (after clearing out anything there from the upgrade attempt). Then hook into the database and you’re back in business.

Then, periodically, go to your cPanel and use the backup tool.

Good luck.