Author Topic: frequent "Internal Server Error"  (Read 20161 times)

Offline Macruran

  • desperate but not serious
  • Moderator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 3753
  • Gender: Male
  • Hiya!
    • my incomplete collection spreadsheet
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #30 on: July 06, 2018, 01:15:56 »
Told you it was L*go hacking us!  8-)
"We like things in little." - G. Stein  
 :roman:

Offline playmovictorian

  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 5557
  • Gender: Male
  • Happy Little Victorians
    • Playmovictorian
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #31 on: July 07, 2018, 18:58:08 »
Thank you so much for the update dear Sylvia and we will keep our finger crossed for that nasty bot to stay away from PF  :crossed: :)9
La, tout n'est qu'ordre et beaute, luxe, calme et volupte. L'Invitation au Voyage. Charles Baudelaire.1857.

Offline playmofire

  • Klicky Firemeister
  • Playmo Guru
  • ******
  • Posts: 10924
  • Gender: Male
    • Copt Hewick Volunteer Fire Brigade - probably the world's smallest fire brigade!
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #32 on: July 09, 2018, 07:59:15 »
On Saturday for much of the day I couldn't access PF at all so I guess that was when Sylvia was working on it.  Later I was able to get on and all seemed OK, no internal server error messages.  Later on, however, the message started appearing again and today, Monday, it's the worst it's ever been.  None of this is a complaint, just feedback.
“Today well-lived makes every yesterday a day of happiness to remember and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”

Offline Sylvia

  • Administrator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 2733
  • Gender: Female
    • Just For Kl!cks
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #33 on: July 09, 2018, 11:32:52 »
The ticket is still open with the Support Team.

I keep replying to them when they say it seems to be working fine at their end, telling them we are still getting errors. :(

I know it's very frustrating! I have tried all the things they suggested like blocking certain IPs which show high traffic, but often that just causes more problems such as locking out members instead of the unwanted visitors.

A few days ago I put some code in place (found here) which deters 1800 bad bots. That does seem to have made a difference, but not yet solved the problem...

Offline leefert

  • Moderator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 2202
  • Gender: Female
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #34 on: July 09, 2018, 13:23:42 »
Thank you for your continued diligence in trying to get the issue resolved
I'm glad that I'm not the only one :)

Offline Klickteryx

  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 1685
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #35 on: July 10, 2018, 02:10:31 »
Told you it was L*go hacking us!  8-)
They try to block everything so no surprise there.




btw I had to refresh the page twice to get this reply page up.

Offline Sylvia

  • Administrator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 2733
  • Gender: Female
    • Just For Kl!cks
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #36 on: July 13, 2018, 08:21:41 »
Not making much progress, unfortunately.  :(

Went back through the old error logs and found the exact point at which this first started happening on June 13. Gave Dreamhost the information and asked them if something changed on the server on that date. This was their reply:

Quote
The only issue was that our admin team
restart the Apache services as they had become unresponsive. The server
has been up and stable ever since however.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Basically they are saying everything is OK at their end, so they can’t do anything more to help.

I also requested help at the Simple Machines support forum (SMF) since that is where our forum software comes from. The team there have tried their best but have also been unable to nail down the cause.

What makes this harder is that it happens so randomly. The errors can happen when clicking on any link at any time. It’s so annoying...

Offline GrahamB

  • Moderator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 3441
  • Gender: Male
    • Playmofanatic
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #37 on: July 14, 2018, 12:47:47 »
Thanks for trying, Sylvia. Yes, it keeps happening -randomly- but I for one can live with it. Perhaps it will sort itself out? (As you may be able to tell, I am ignorant in this area!)
At that moment the ship suddenly stopped rocking and swaying, the engine pitch settled down to a gentle hum. 'Hey Ford.' said Zaphod, 'that sounds good. Have you worked out the controls on this boat?' 'No,' said Ford, 'I just stopped fiddling with them.' (With thanks to Douglas Adams)

Offline playmofire

  • Klicky Firemeister
  • Playmo Guru
  • ******
  • Posts: 10924
  • Gender: Male
    • Copt Hewick Volunteer Fire Brigade - probably the world's smallest fire brigade!
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #38 on: July 14, 2018, 14:35:41 »
Yes, thanks for your efforts, Sylvia.  It is random.  Yesterday, I thought you'd solved it, but today not.  As Graham says, it's something which can be lived with.
“Today well-lived makes every yesterday a day of happiness to remember and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”

Offline Sylvia

  • Administrator
  • Playmo Master
  • *****
  • Posts: 2733
  • Gender: Female
    • Just For Kl!cks
Re: frequent "Internal Server Error"
« Reply #39 on: July 15, 2018, 22:43:12 »
As Graham says, it's something which can be lived with.

Thanks for the understanding, but I don't think we shouldn't have to settle for a forum that only half works.

Still trying to get to the bottom of it. The problem is the 500 error is one of the vaguest of them all and doesn't provide any detailed information to debug it. It can be caused by many different things, but mostly it will be due to something wrong on the server rather than the forum programming.

I've been told at the smf forum to ask the hosts if they could move our site to a different server rig. This will be the next step.
If they are unwilling to do this, we might just have to find a completely new webhost.