Can’t make changes to moved WordPress website

  • Resolved figure2

    (@figure2)


    7 years, 9 months ago

    Greetings, I moved a website I developed on my development server on siteground to my client’s production server on godaddy. I didn’t have any say in their choice of servers.

    The trouble I am having is that I can’t make updates to pages or widgets. When I change a widget, everything reverts to the pre-saved version when I click the “Save” button.

    Pages are worse. If I make an edit to the text or an image, all content on the page disappears after I click “Update.”

    Here is the development server version. Everything works fine: https://spcact.markhannondesign.com

    Here is the website moved to the client’s server. I moved the site according to the WordPress codex instructions: https://spcact.org

    There are a couple of files on the client’s server:
    “.ftpquota”, contents are “23259 539441226”.

    The “.htaccess” file’s contents are:

    # BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

    There is also an empty folder with the name “.htpasswds”.

    I have turned off all plugins and cleared my cache to no avail.

    I am able to install plugins and configure their settings as well as updating my settings for Gravity Forms. This only seems to affect pages & widgets. There is no blog so I haven’t tested posts.

    I can create a new page with simple text but if I paste the content from another page, it deletes the whole page.

    This seems to be a communication problem with the database. Any idea how to troubleshoot?

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    OK, you probably did this, but it won’t hurt to check twice. Did you change all the DB settings in wp-config.php to match the setup for GoDaddy? If you look at the database in phpmyadmin, do you see the right set of tables?

    When you update a page, do you see the changes in wp_posts?

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Thanks Steve. I’m not sure how to customize the DB specifically for Godaddy. This has never come up before.

    When I update a page, whatever was on that deletes itself completely. The existing content that carried over from my development server is gone and I am left with an empty page. Any new edits to the page, even just one word does not save to the DB and I am still left with an empty page.

    The database does not seem to want to accept any new content. This only affects pages & widgets. With the widgets, the content doesn’t delete itself but all ned changes don’t update and save.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Please contact GoDaddy tech support to make sure that the DB_USER you’ve specified has write access to the database.

    Did you create DB_USER on GoDaddy and then use that user when you set up wp-config.php?

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Yeah, I’m thinking that has to be my next step. When I created the DB user there was a single button to apply all privileges. Seems like something may have gone wrong.

    I’ll post back if it gets resolved.

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Spoke to Godaddy support. They are claiming this isn’t a database issue, it’s a WordPress, theme or content issue. Just to get this out of the way, below is a screenshot of the DB user settings showing all privileges checked:
    spcact.org DB user privilege settings

    I rather think this is a Godaddy issue. They are saying there is something in the website or the theme which is causing this. The theme is a child theme of GeneratePress. I tested their theory by switching to the Twenty Sixteen theme, just in case there was something in the GeneratePress parent theme which could be causing the problem. All page content still deleted itself after an update under Twenty Sixteen.

    Including the steps I have taken above, here are the troubleshooting steps I have taken:

    • Double-checked the DB user priveleges
    • Turned off all plugins
    • Cleared my browser cache
    • Tried rebuilding a page from scratch
    • Upgraded tp PHP 5.6
    • Switched to an unrelated theme
    • Checked both wp-config.php and functions.php for any extra returns at the bottom of the page.

    In every case the problem of the page content deleting itself after an update persists. The development copy of the website on a subdomain on my host at Siteground isn’t giving me any of these problems.

    I am looking for other troubleshooting options to try or suggestions for making an argument to Godaddy that they need to take a closer look at this.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Just a note >> .Upgraded tp PHP 5.6 << If you can, go to PHP 7 as it’s much faster than 5.x.

    Let’s try a couple of things:

    1. From phpmyadmin, select all the tables in the database. At the bottom, where it says “with selected”, choose “check and repair”. Maybe one or more tables is corrupt.

    2. If not, create a new DB user will all privs and change the DB user/password in wp-config.php to use the new user.

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Thanks Steve. I’ll give that a try. PHP 5.6 is the highest version Godaddy offers.

    I also wanted to clarify, when the page content disappears, I am in the visual editor. Clicking the update button after an edit causes the content to vanish on both the visual editor and on the viewed page.

    I’ll let you know how this goes.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Wait… does it *also* happen if you’re in the text (not visual) tab? If not, then this is not a db problem.

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Godaddy’s phpMyAdmin doesn’t have “Check & Repair” as a single step. So I am assuming I will need to “Check Table” and “Repair Table” as two separate steps.

    Check & repair database

    One other question: could the .htaccess file cause these problems? Should I consider deleting the 3 files at the top, “.ftpquota,” “.htaccess” and the folder “.htpasswds”?

    ht files

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Hi Steve, yes, I have tested it both ways; in the visual editor and the html editor. Same result either way.

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    .ftpquota,” “.htaccess” and the folder “.htpasswds”?

    They have nothing to do with this.

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Is it possible that any of the WP core files could have corrupted when copied to the Godaddy server?

    Should I consider re-installing WordPress and replace the wp-content folder and wp-config.php file?

    Does the “Re-Install Now” button under the line “If you need to re-install version 4.7.5, you can do so here” in the “Updates” section do the same thing as replacing all the WP files & folders manually?

    Moderator Steven Stern (sterndata)

    (@sterndata)

    Volunteer Forum Moderator

    Is it possible that any of the WP core files could have corrupted when copied to the Godaddy server?

    It could happen, so click the reinstall button.

    Thread Starter figure2

    (@figure2)

    Damn! That fixed it. Thanks for being a sounding board Steve.

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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