Troubleshooting
If you have installed the latest version of la.plume Micro CMS you are using exactly the same files as this website. Now Version 10.4, February 2015.
(1) Server configuration
Most 'errors' relate to the web hosting server configuration, not la.plume Micro CMS, and can be fixed only by the server administrator (or installing the CMS on a different server). Some examples:
Your server is running a very old version of PHP
When trying to access admin pages the following message is displayed:
"la.plume Micro CMS needs PHP version 5.2.0 or later. Your server is running PHP version 5.1.xx."
Self-explanatory.
Error. The page 'index' does not exist.
Or Error. A file named *******.txt could not be found.
Most likely cause: the server permissions (text files can not be written).
Your server typically requires the following permissions:
/ installation folder (directory) [ CHMOD 755 ]
/cms/ folder (directory) [ CHMOD 755 ]
/cms/files (all the files) [ CHMOD 644 ]
/cms/inc/ folder (directory) [ CHMOD 755 ]
/cms/comments/ folder (directory) [ CHMOD 755 ]
/css/ folder (directory) [ CHMOD 755 ]
/img/ folder (directory) [ CHMOD 755 ]
(0)755 is usually the directory default for web hosting services, and (0)644 for files - writable by you as owner. Directory and file permissions can often be set in the File Manager of the website control panel (cPanel, Plesk etc) or using an FTP client program. Otherwise you will need to contact your server administrator.
Directory listing error
The home page shows only a directory listing:
Most likely cause: server configuration.
If you see this after correctly installing the system, the issue is likely to be the Apache Web Server configuration. For instance your server may not have the AllowOverride directive enabled, causing the .htaccess file to be ignored. If you cannot enable the directive yourself in the Apache httpd.config file you will need to contact your web hosting provider / server administrator.
The problem can also be caused by insufficient folder permissions. Changing the public_html / htdocs folder permissions to (0)755 may resolve things.
"Page Not Found" or Forbidden
Most likely cause: an incorrect .htaccess file. It's possible your web hosting package server administrator does not allow .htaccess to be created or edited during setup, or the Apache mod_rewrite module is not enabled. This can be resolved only by the server administrator.
la.plume Micro CMS will work with no .htaccess file but not with one that exists but doesn't contain the correct rules.
Internal Server Error
Cause: an incorrect .htaccess file, possibly for the reasons outlined above. You can check the file generated by Admin / Setup by downloading it from your CMS installation root folder. Open it in Windows Notepad (or similar text editor) then compare it with this one to see if the rules are correctly written. If you can't see any errors it may be that conflict exists with another .htaccess file somewhere higher up your web space hierarchy, or the Apache mod_rewrite module is not enabled on your server.
(2) User actions
la.plume Micro CMS is designed to be as user-friendly as possible but input errors can still be made. For example:
Page unstyled, all in Times New Roman
Most likely cause: you have accidentally overwritten the stylesheet with page content when updating styles. To restore the stylesheet, 'Get default styles' then 'Update styles'.
Blank page
Most likely cause: PHP error caused by invalid user input. Having said that, the system has been tested over and over to filter invalid characters to prevent them causing PHP errors if they are entered by the user in admin setup for example, or when creating or editing pages. If the settings file /cms/inc/settings.php has become corrupted in some way, nothing will work and the only remedy may be to delete the file manually and create a new one. A sample file is shown here.
To create a settings file afresh, delete /cms/inc/settings.php via FTP then return to setup and submit setup again (nothing will have been 'lost').
If you find something you think needs to be fixed, please let me know.
Comments
No comments posted yet.