pa23250c

Howdy,

If your “old” host uses cPanel and your “new” one does too, this is a snap ??

Old Host

– export your database via phpMyAdmin (save as file = xxx.sql)
– compress all the contents of your current WP site and download the resultant ZIP

New Host

– using phpMyAdmin, create new database
– import into this the SQL file you exported above
– upload your site ZIP to it’s new “home” and extract it there
– optionally, edit the wp-config.php if your new host’s database configuration is not the same as the old one; if the new one and the old one both use “localhost” as the host name, and you created the new database and user with the same credentials as the old one, you’re done ?? … 5 minutes tops ??

Cheers!
Lyle

Howdy,

I just did a new, fresh WP 3.0.1 install on XAMPP, Windows 7 Home Premium and all is fine … front and back end.

Did you try doing another install just to see? I also installed a couple of themes I built with Artisteer and they are all working as expected.

BTW, I am a Uniform Server fan and only use XAMPP to try duplicating “issues” others are experiencing with it.

Cheers!
Lyle

@xtremegfx –

I’ve been waiting for someone to ask ?? These are observations from someone who has been using GD Linux shared hosting for almost 5 years. I have installed literally 100’s of Joomla! sites (the very same technology as behind WP), numerous WP sites and a sprinkling of Drupal sites. I can say in all honesty that I have never, ever … not once! … had any issue. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. The only time I have ever had to call support is for something that I myself had screwed up; and the few times I did call, the phone was answered in less than 5 rings, by a tech, that was in Scottsdale, Arizona!!! ??

I have almost 3,000 posts on the Joomla1! Forum and so many that I answer have to do with hosting that is not up to snuff in some way or the other; I have never had this problem with GD. Ever. Permissions are always properly set and the most stables versions of PHP, MySQL and Apache. Never an issue. Not one! Ever!

…BUT …

And this is my BIGGEST GRIPE about GD … Their Hosting Control Panel for shared Linux accounts SUCKS THE BIG ONE!!! You have to get into one of their “dedicated server product” to get cPanel or PLESK. This HCP is written in what looks to be ASP.NET and at first, I thought it was because of my somewhat outdated hardware. Nope. Same thing when using a brand new, up-to-spec laptop on a high speed connection. It is SO SLOW to get the File Manager to appear and be workable. Same for when your move between tasks (such as the database – which, by the way, had it’s own “manager” and you only get the standard phpMyAdmin AFTER the database has been set up …which is one other sticky point: can take a few minutes).

The other BIG issue with their HCP is that there is a 20MB limit on the size of a ZIP that can be created! What a PAIN! Makes backing up a site a PITA if there are a lot of media files, etc.

From a performance perspective, that all depends. The majority of the sites that I have installed with them have been relatively low-traffic sites; less than 100 unique visitors per day, so I can’t attest to how a heavily visited site would perform. Additionally, as with most shared hosting plans, there has been the odd occasion where some other site(s) on a particular server have been getting “nailed” and it does affect the others. But this had been temporary and sporadic. In one case, they moved a client’s account to another server, no charge and right away.

So I am sure there are others that would be just as good if not better, and I have been tempted to switch myself, on occasion. But, the one other thing about GD is that because they are a domain registrar, I can buy a domain and hosting plan and have the site “live” in less than an hour! ?? Plus it’s so nice to have the domain(s) where the hosting is … SO much less work!

Cheers!
Lyle

@je0ff –

Then you have something else haywire ?? Sounds as though you have some missing/corrupted files. How did you do the install? File by file with FTP, “one-click” install from the host? Upload the ZIP and extract on the server?

@katestrong –

Good to hear you got it going ?? A lot of folks don’t realize the database settings on GD. Also, GD is correct in that they don’t offer WP support, even though they have it as a TOTALLY OPTIONAL install ??

Howdy,

Looking at the error in your first post, I see where the problem is:

Host name on Go Daddy database is NEVER localhost ??

From the Hosting Control Panel select Database > MySQL to get to your database listing. Then, click the pencil icon in the Action column for the database in question. You will now be on the database details page for that database … see the Host Name ? ?? … copy that complete value and use that for the Host Name in your WP install/config. Of course, the user name and database name are ALWAYS the same on GD databases (and CASE SENSITIVE!!!) and the password is what YOU entered ??

Cheers!
Lyle

Must be a coincidence as changing the header image would not have any effect on that ??

What “else” did you do / change /modify /add on or about that time? This is generally done from the Domain Manager in the Go Daddy Hosting Control Panel.

Howdy,

I am a long time Go Daddy (GD) shared Linux account user and there may be more to it, depending upon what type of hosting plan is used and how the hosting account was initially setup.

If this is a Deluxe or Unlimited account, then multiple TLD’s can be used, each one to a unique folder in the root of the account. This is how my personal Unlimited account is. I have 6 TLD’s (top level domain), 1 being the Primary and points to the root (a Joomla! install) and the other 5 point to folders in the root (3 WP installs and 2 Joomla! installs. However, keep in mind, that the root of the hosting account is set to one domain only and cannot be changed readily. Therefore, what was “living” in the root of this account prior to the attempted WP move?

What I ALWAYS do when setting up a new account for a client is make a backup copy of the default files that are in that account. Then, if things go pear-shaped, the original configuration can be restored.

If the root of the account now holds a site whose domain is NOT the one involved with this WP move, then it’s really easy. Use Domain Manager to point the TLD of the WP site to the folder it’s already in ??

If the root of the account IS the TLD of the intended WP move, and it is a static, HTML site, then make a backup of all the files before following the instructions in the links posted elsewhere here.

Cheers!
Lyle

Hey Jim, I really do feel your pain ?? Now, I am not sure what the forum rules are here in this matter and I see no provisions for private messages or otherwise contacting members, but why not send me an email at [email protected] and I can explain how you can get out of your current predicament ??

Cheers!
Lyle

I forgot one item in the list …

I was thinking about another system and forgot that with WP, you have to create a new, empty database prior to beginning the WP installer. You do that from the MAMP control panel by going to phpMyAdmin and entering a name in the Create New Database field then click Create … that’s it! ?? Remember, no spaces! and remember the “case” … if you enter MyWordPress as the database name, then mywordpress is NOT the same! ??

Hey Jim –

Not to worry … I’m only 3 years behind you ?? Retired from the airlines (aircraft maintenance engineer) but I have been involved with personal computers for 30 years as of last month! … a Radio Shack TRS-80 PC-1 “Pocket Computer”; but it ran BASIC and I wrote my first program on it … and it worked! ??

Anyway, I do believe that you were slightly misled; perhaps not misled as much as misinformed. What I meant by “not your father’s NVU” is that WP, along with the other popular systems I mentioned, are what’s known as dynamic web sites, opposed to static web sites, the likes of which are created by NVU, iWeb, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc. The “old” way used by those programs, is to create individual documents, generally of the HTML variety, and stitch them together with some sort of menu structure to come up with a functional web site. These “new fangled ones” are completely different, structure-wise. There are no individual “pages” in the usual sense of the term; the documents you see in an installation, generally all of the PHP and CSS variety, are used to control the storing, retrieving and display of your content to and from that darn old database ??

Now it has been quite some time since I have used NVU, but from what I recall, when you started it, it also started it’s own little “mini web server” on your computer so that you could preview your work in a web browser without uploading it to a hosting server. Well, this is what MAMP and XAMPP do; they allow you to work on and preview your site on your own computer. The reason you need something such as one of these “stacks” (yes, I love a Marshal stack too, but I digress ?? ), is that you need to have PHP (the scripting language) and MySQL (the database server) installed and running on your computer so the the Apache web server (part of that stack) can “pretend” it is the web and you can use your browser to work on and view your site. Remember, WP is totally browser based; there is no “EXE” to run. It is accessed via a web browser.

So go check out MAMP and install it on your Mac. It’s free, it won’t hurt anything, and you NEED it or something like it, in order to work locally on your own computer with WP.

Here are the steps (in abridged form)
– download, install and start MAMP
– download the WP install package
– create a folder in Applications/MAMP/htdocs and name it mywordpress (for example; can be whatever you want, but no spaces!)
– extract (unZIP, unSTUFF, whatever) the WP package to this new folder; it will create a folder called wordpress with all the contents in it
– go to that wordpress folder, select ALL and MOVE it UP one level to the mywordpress folder
– make sure MAMP is running, then fire up your browser and enter:

localhost:8889/mywordpress and you will next see the first screen of the WP installer! ?? just follow along and you’ll be up and running in no time ?? Note: you may have to enter 8888 after the colon in the address above; I won’t go into details at this point; just try it if 8889 doesn’t work.

Cheers!
Lyle

Howdy Jim –

By the sound of things, you are not quite familiar with how WordPress (WP)(and other popular Content Management Systems/Frameworks, such as Joomla! and Drupal) operate ?? That’s cool, because I too came from a static web page background (NVU, Dreamweaver) and it took a while to wrap this old grey matter around this notion.

Here’s the scoop: WP is a database-driven web development framework; it is NOT and application/program that one “double-clicks” anything to “run”. WP requires both the core files that are contained in the download package and also a database, which does not come with the package. The install process sets up and initially populates the required tables in a database that you have created in advance. All your site content is stored in and retrieved from this database.

Now, if you are wanting to develop your site on your own computer first before putting it on a remote server, that is fine too; that is generally how I do it. But what you require for your own computer are the necessary items that will replicate the remote server environment. As you are on a Mac, I would recommend MAMP which you can freely download here:

https://www.mamp.info/en/index.html

Be SURE to read the Documentation on their site!

What this (and others, such as XAMPP) do, is install the 3 items required to run WP (or any of the others mentioned) locally on your computer:

Apache – the actual web server
MySQL – the database system that WP uses
PHP – the scripting language that WP is written with

Notice the acronym formed by these 3? Add the “M” for Mac and you have MAMP ?? This is what is know in the “biz” as an “AMP stack”.

If all of this is still “Sanskrit”, then I would suggest you find one of the many fine beginner tutorials online and go through them first. This is NOT your father’s NVU site! ??

All the best.

Cheers!
Lyle

Howdy Marian,

I know Go Daddy Linux hosting quite well, having successfully installed literally 100’s of Joomla! sites (same requirements as WP) and a number of WP ones, and the very FIRST thing I ask is:

What TYPE of hosting plan do you have? Linux or Windows? Sure hope it’s Linux otherwise my NEXT recommendation is ALWAYS to have them switch it over for you ?? They will do so at no charge (have had clients inadvertently do this when they purchased the hosting … sort of a “deer in the headlights” thing – they see “Windows” as an option, don’t know diddly about Linux, so go with that). In the WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal worlds, to paraphrase Coca-Cola, “things go better with Linux” ??

Then the next question is: did you use the GD one-click install or do it yourself (sounds like the latter, which is the better, IMHO).

When doing so, it depends on a number of factors as to how it’s done and what type of hosting plan you have. I could go on and on, but what I hear back will determine on how to proceed.

It really is quite easy (if you’ve done it enough times ?? )… I put up new WP 3.0 site the other day … 5 minutes, tops!

Cheers!
Lyle

?? Great to heat that you got it going! A VERY nice looking site you have there! ?? If you would like, I can give you a quick walk-thru of your Go Daddy hosting as I have installed literally 100’s of Joomla! sites ( and now a few WP ones! – they have the same requirements) on GD shared Linux accounts. Head over to the second site in my profile where info is on how I do that; no charge for a quick run through ??

Cheers!
Lyle

A good idea is to rename the existing images first in case you want to use them again; rename them something like this: header.jpg -> headerORG.jpg. Then FTP the new image(s) and make sure they are named exactly the same as the originals; otherwise, you will have to adjust in the code where the image file names are declared.

That depends upon which theme you are using. If you are using the default 20-10 theme (and it is activated), that can easily be done from Appearance > Header > Upload image.

If you are using another theme, then it is more than likely in the images folder of that theme. Just log in via FTP to your hosting account and it will be in /wp-content/themes/theme_name/images.

If you do not know how to do the latter, then I would suggest using a bit more of that “time” and get to learn FTP, WP in general, etc.