MyBB Community Forums

So I inherited an old neglected board from someone else, which I imported onto my server a while back without issue. However, it needs upgrading in prep for moving it to a Linux server as I'm migrating from hosting under Windows, and to eliminate lots of Deprecated errors from PHP, which seems like a good idea before moving the site to a new host with newer apache, newer MySQL, and newer PHP...

After following the "Clear as mud" instructions during which process everything appeared to go well, I subsequently can't access the board, getting the following error instead:


MyBB has experienced an internal SQL error and cannot continue.
SQL Error:1146 - Table 'mybb.mybb_mybb_themes' doesn't exist
Query:SELECT name, tid, themebits, csscached FROM mybb_mybb_themes WHERE def='1' LIMIT 1
Please contact the MyBB Group for technical support.

Though oddly the admin CP did load.

After trying this and that with no progress, I resorted to restoring the forum files, which got me a whole new crop of SQL errors, and no access, so I tried to import the backed up database, using PHP My Admin which refused to claiming no database is selected...

I've had to resort to restoring a disk image of the ENTIRE server (fortunately taken just a few hours prior to the attempted upgrade) just to get the board back online. Which sadly did lose me hours of work elsewhere on another vHost, sadly not backed up at that point Blush

I should know better than attempting anything without everything backed up (even unrelated stuff). Shame there's no smiley for :frustrated:

Any Ideas how to proceed from here and actually get current from MyBB 1.2.12?

Additional Information: Wrote:Server OS: Windows 7 Pro (fully updated)
Webserver: Apache 2.4.9
MySQL: v5.6.17
PHP: v5.5.12

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, I have little experience with MyBB, somewhat more with the competition (SMF) but I'm in no way any sort of web developer or guru. I'm also now back at square 1, and a little reluctant to simply try over again with no pointers as to how to prevent wrecking everything a second time!

Please request more info if needed.

looks like old plugins files are affecting.
if you have files in the plugins folder then can you rename the folder as pluginsold & check ..

Can do that, however the only plugin present is the sample plugin "Hello world!" (hello.php), and that's not active.

You really think the sample provided plugin author "MyBB Group" is at the root of it?

The only other file in there is Index.html which looks original too, as it simply refreshes redirecting to the parent directory. The source appears original:

<html>
<head>
<title>Redirecting...</title>
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="0;url=../" />
</head>
<body>
<a href="../">MyBBoard</a>
</body>
</html>

I doubt the previous site admin dropped that in, he was a stickler for detail and would absolutely have changed "MyBBoard" to reflect the forum name.

I'd test simply renaming the plugins folder, but given recovering from a failed upgrade took hours last time, I'm a tad reluctant for the sake of files that at least appear to be "stock", as I suspect the upgrade is designed to handle the provided files.

Extra question, while not mentioned in the upgrade instructions, and after some reflection, would it be perhaps wise for me to force everyone onto the default theme before commencing such a big version jump?

^ so plugins files are not related.
now my assumption is that some of old version files were not replaced by the new version files ..

yes, it might be better to force all users to MyBB's stock theme before upgrade.
or after upgrading you can install a new theme and force all users to use it.

Well I suppose I could try again, I can't see how replacing all old version files with new would have failed though, I did so by unzip then select all followed by copy and paste, telling windows to overwrite (replace files) when it asked. Not like I was using anything "flaky" like FTP for the task.

I did note in passing that the old install did have some files which were not overwritten though, as denoted by some unselected in the destination after the paste. But that's expected, the directory structure being revised and multiple Directories and subdirectories added.

Next attempt I'll use XCOPY with the switches /E /R /Y to copy the files in, I trust command-line more than paste.

Will also set all users to default theme before I even start the process.

Will report back on the result, but it's unlikely to be today.

after succeeding the upgrade process, if forum admin panel login works fine then
I'd suggest to run file verification tool available at tools & maintenance section
to ensure that you have got all required files intact at the files server.

It looks like an issue with the table_prefix configuration. New versions of the database handler now automatically add the table_prefix, while for older versions we had to manually add the table_prefix in any query. You definitely have an older PHP file.

Sorry for the massively delayed response - life interfered, interesting point about the table_prefix, might explain the issue, unfortunately it doesn't explain what to do about it...

Presumably, if you switched processes with the database handler, upgrades around that time would have taken that into account? Would there be mileage in doing a 2 step upgrade, current ancient > some intermediate version > current?

Doubt it helped the first time round that I have about 17 modified templates, worth reverting them you think? or is that unrelated?

(2018-08-15, 02:35 AM)Bearded_Blunder Wrote: [ -> ]Sorry for the massively delayed response - life interfered, interesting point about the table_prefix, might explain the issue, unfortunately it doesn't explain what to do about it...

Presumably, if you switched processes with the database handler, upgrades around that time would have taken that into account? Would there be mileage in doing a 2 step upgrade, current ancient > some intermediate version > current?

Doubt it helped the first time round that I have about 17 modified templates, worth reverting them you think? or is that unrelated?

Wow... MyBB 1.2.xx!!

That's a massive upgrade.

But, to answer your question... at the very least... if you can find the old MyBB versions... starting with 1.4.xx... do the conversions in smaller increments.

Then... 1.6xx, 1.8.xx... work your way up to 1.8.17. No guarantee that this method would work... in theory... this method should.

However, that could be a time-consuming adventure and you've already have had an adventure or two from what I have read so far.

Now, that brings me to this question... if the website (the domain name and all of the other registered stuff that goes with it) is in your name, but it has not been active for years...

Why not start with a brand new slate? I kind of doubt that any of the old users will still be around, if at all.

In regards to the theme, most likely, if there are themes for the 1.2.xx series, those may not work with the 1.8.xx series due to many changes that have happened over the years.

Same goes for the plugins. Many old plugins no longer work due to incompatibilities and other issues, whether it be due to the series upgrade of MyBB or, a newer version of PHP and MySQL.

So... save yourself the time and the hassle of attempting to retrieve data that may not even be feasible to use today, start fresh.

Just my 2 cents... Cool

Oh... oh... please use PHP 7.xx.xx because MyBB 1.9.xx will require at least PHP 7.0.xx

Bearded_Blunder

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Bearded_Blunder

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Bearded_Blunder

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laie_techie

Bearded_Blunder

Serpius