Most members are not able to log in

Client Joined: Jul 03, 2008 Posts: 13

Well, I've tried to go through Bluehost, thinking the issue might be theirs; however, they say it's not a server issue and no suggestions for help.

For over a week now, only 3 or 4 members, including myself, have been able to log in. Initially, I couldn't either, but clearing my cache, cookies and temporary internet files seemed to do the trick. I sent a mass e-mail to all members, suggesting they do the same; however, that isn't working for them.

Also, once I am logged in, posting anything in the forums takes at least 20 seconds before an error message comes up saying "invalid form submitted", but once you click "submit" again, it will go through, after another 20 second delay.

It may mean nothing, but a new member was able to register without my authentication. I double checked and I still have it set so that all new registrants have to wait for me to authenticate. When I traced the IP address, it came back to someone in Iran. Based on the nature of our site, which is for wives of law enforcement officers, I found it peculiar. I deleted the member and banned the IP address. It may not be at all related, but that was when we all started having errors.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

registered · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:27 pm

For the forums, you may need to check the cookie settings in your Forums Configuration

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:19 am

Logging in and staying logged in depends on having cookies turned on. If your users have some super strict security settings in their browsers, such as not accepting cookies, that could be causing the problems.

How long ago did you set up the site and was this an upgrade or a new installation. You are using RN 2.3.01? Or 2.3.02? There are important security fixes in 2.3.02. You might want to update and also verify the integrity and completeness of your upload through FTP. It almost sounds like some files or directory structures may be incomplete.

IF you have NukeSentinel's IP tracking turned on you could look at what that IP address that registered without your approval did. There is a wealth of information stored in the IP tracking tables.

Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 10:42 pm

I'm using 2.3.01 and my site was started in April of last year.

I guess the question I have is why all of a sudden we're faced with this issue? And why are only a few members can still log in, yet most of my members cannot. Also, as I mentioned, when submitting a post, an error message comes up saying "the form submitted is invalid. Please try again. Plus, it takes forever to load a submitted post or PM.

Over the past month or two, we've been down more than up and running. I'm certain that we're losing members because we're dealing with issues that make the site go down.

At this point, I'm considering Bluehost and Raven. I'm paying a monthly fee for a forum that doesn't work. If anyone can help, I'd be very grateful.

Thank you for your time and input.

~D

fkelly wrote:

Logging in and staying logged in depends on having cookies turned on. If your users have some super strict security settings in their browsers, such as not accepting cookies, that could be causing the problems.

How long ago did you set up the site and was this an upgrade or a new installation. You are using RN 2.3.01? Or 2.3.02? There are important security fixes in 2.3.02. You might want to update and also verify the integrity and completeness of your upload through FTP. It almost sounds like some files or directory structures may be incomplete.

IF you have NukeSentinel's IP tracking turned on you could look at what that IP address that registered without your approval did. There is a wealth of information stored in the IP tracking tables.

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:11 am

I think you need to try the three things that have been mentioned above.

1) Upgrade to RN 2.30.02.
2) Check your Cookie settings in the forum configuration.
3) Check the IP tracking for the user that registered without our authentication to determine the steps taken to register.

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:02 pm

jakec wrote:

I think you need to try the three things that have been mentioned above.

1) Upgrade to RN 2.30.02.
2) Check your Cookie settings in the forum configuration.
3) Check the IP tracking for the user that registered without our authentication to determine the steps taken to register.

I've checked my Cookie settings, but not really sure if my settings are as they show. Below is a copy of that page:

Cookie settingsCookie domain: Cookie name: Cookie path: Cookie secure:
If your server is running via SSL set this to enabled else leave as disabled. Having this enabled and not running via SSL will result in server errors during redirects.

Are these settings correct? When I was trying to get some help from Bluehost, I had a message from their tech. support saying he had deleted the cookies on my site. Other than that, I haven't made any changes where cookies are concerned.

I will go in and do the update now, but if you could reply with whether or not my settings for the cookies is as it should be, and if not, what should be done.

Thank you so much for your time and attention.

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:36 pm

I've been checking all my settings in the Admin. Control Panel. For some reason, it shows the board is disabled. I've been clicking the "enable" button and then submitting; however, it won't keep the enable feature. Each time I enable it and come back in, it shows the board disabled again.

Do you think that is the issue? And why would it allow some members to log in and not others? And then there's the issue with the unbearable lonnnnnnng load times for new posts.

I'm ready to pull my hair out. Each day we can't log members in, we're losing them.

PLEASE HELP ME!!! Bang Head

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:24 am

I can tell you 2.20.01 works very well and doesn´t automatically disable the forums module. However, you need to update RN ,NS and IP2Country and delete the old unused files. There are many entries how to set the cookie in the forums administration.
Check this for example:
http://www.ravenphpscripts.com/postxf12160-0-75.html

Good luck !

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:06 pm

Susann wrote:

I can tell you 2.20.01 works very well and doesn´t automatically disable the forums module. However, you need to update RN ,NS and IP2Country and delete the old unused files. There are many entries how to set the cookie in the forums administration.
Check this for example:
http://www.ravenphpscripts.com/postxf12160-0-75.html

Good luck !

Thank you for the info., Susann. The link you sent me was page 4 of a 4 page forum. I went back and tried to make sense of all the pages and just got more confused. I am admitedly a very VERY new rookie with the computer lingo, so all this is just a foreign language to me and makes my migraine even worse. Is there a reader's digest version of all this for people like me? Honestly, None of this makes any sense to me and scares me to death. I woudn't even know where to start. I would be happy to pay someone to walk me through it if you know someone who would be willing to teach me.

Thank you for your time and patience.

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 5:54 am

Well, as long as your cookies settings in the ACP are not correct you will get the" Invalid Session Please resubmit the form" Cookie issue. Don´t know why this makes no sense to you because you have read all the pages about this issue already and there are many more entries about Cookie settings within the forums. I could walk you through but currently I´m busy with RavenNuke. Sorry. Also I have told you that 2.20.01 works flawless and thats the truth. However, you need to update to the newest versions.

Read this also:

http://www.ravenphpscripts.com/posts11296-highlight-ultimative+cookie.html

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:16 pm

Susann wrote:

Well, as long as your cookies settings in the ACP are not correct you will get the" Invalid Session Please resubmit the form" Cookie issue. Don´t know why this makes no sense to you because you have read all the pages about this issue already and there are many more entries about Cookie settings within the forums. I could walk you through but currently I´m busy with RavenNuke. Sorry. Also I have told you that 2.20.01 works flawless and thats the truth. However, you need to update to the newest versions.

Read this also:

http://www.ravenphpscripts.com/posts11296-highlight-ultimative+cookie.html

Thank you for posting the areas that should help me. I understand that you are very busy. Apparently everyone with Nuke is very busy. That has led me to the conclusion that Nuke is clearly NOT the right fit for me. As I've mentioned, I'm NOT well versed in the techno lingo and reading those posts just makes me more confused than I already am. I'm looking for a company that can show me, not tell me. My site has been down for a couple weeks now and I can't seem to get anyone who is willing to help. In the meantime, I'm certain that I've lost at least 60% of my members, so I will have to look elsewhere for a company more fitting

Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2009 2:29 pm

We aren't "a company" and yes, you are right, everyone associated with RN is very busy. That said, there is a for hire forum where you could post a request for paid assistance.

Site Admin/Owner Joined: Aug 27, 2002 Posts: 17088

Dena, I have been helping you since you started with Raven Web Services. In the past your problems came down to the fact that your DNS addresses were never changed. Remember this correspondence from 6/12?

Quote:

Registrar: FASTDOMAIN, INC.
> Status: ok
> Dates: Created *25-nov-2007* Updated 28-may-2009 Expires
> *25-nov-2009*
> DNS Servers: NS1571.HOSTGATOR.COM NS1572.HOSTGATOR.COM
>
> Until the servers change to ravenwebservices.com the transfers have NOT
> taken place.

Then when the DNS was finally resolved you reported

Quote:

> YAY!!! Thank you so much!! You have no idea what a relief it is to have
that off my worry list.

So, from 6/12 to the present, what has changed? The board and forums were working. And, your site at www.leowives.com is NOT a nuke site and never has been from looking at it. It's a standard HTML site with PHPBB forums added. What happened to your Nuke Site?

Also, In this thread you say your site has been down for over a week but in your email to me you say it's been down for several weeks. Please clarify.

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:32 pm

I have upgraded your site from PHPBB 3.0.2 to 3.0.5. Also, I saw where someone changed the cookie setting in the ACP from normal to Secure. You can't do that because you don't have an SSL connections and that was screwing up everyone's cookies. My guess is that was the root of your problems. When was that done?

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:15 pm

Raven wrote:

I have upgraded your site from PHPBB 3.0.2 to 3.0.5. Also, I saw where someone changed the cookie setting in the ACP from normal to Secure. You can't do that because you don't have an SSL connections and that was screwing up everyone's cookies. My guess is that was the root of your problems. When was that done?

I have never changed any settings in ACP.

I don't remember now if I mentioned this or not. I forget now who I told what, but just before this happened, I had a new member who was able to register without my authentication, which is how I have the settings, due to the mere nature of our members. I immediately traced the IP address and found it was somewhere in Iran so I deleted the member and banned the IP address. I have no idea what that was all about or if it had anything to do with all these issues, but I have made no changes in the ACP

Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:56 pm

Do you know when all that happened?