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By jjjdokes on
I just installed Drupal 6.3 locally on a Vista machine after using a freshly downloaded WAMP for Apache etc. Typing http://localhost/drupal6.3 in my browser opens Drupal's welcome page. However, none of the admin links work. For example, when I click on the menu link to Administer I don't get anywhere. I can see that the Administer link is supposed to take me to http://localhost/drupal6.3/?q=admin, but nothing happens for several minutes, and when I get there all I have is a blank white page. I can't access help, as it looks like that is under q=admin.
A couple of clues (maybe). At the top of the page was a warning message that said "Cron has not run. Please visit the status report for more information." The words "status report" are a hyperlink, but like many of the hyperlinks on the intro page it does not work, apparently because it is also under q=admin (http://localhost/drupal6.3/?q=admin/reports/status), and I can't access anything under admin. However, I found how to manually run cron, which I did, and it makes no difference other than removing the cron-has-not-run error message.
If I reboot the computer I notice I am still logged in to Drupal. The log out link works, but if I log out and log back in no change/same problem.
I am a Drupal newbe so if you have a suggestion please don't assume I know anything! Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
PS I think I read somewhere that people found that changing the theme corrected a problem like this. Is there a way to change the theme in Windows Explorer (by downloading a theme and copying it into a Drupal directory, and maybe modifying a file to point to the new theme)? I can't use Admin tools to change the theme since I can't get there.
Comments
Try going to
Try going to http://localhost/drupal6.3/?q=admin/build/modules and disable update status module.
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
Still cannot access admin in new Drupal 6.3 installation
Thanks for the suggestion gpk. Unfortunately, that is under q=admin, so I can't get there using my browser (just tried and all I get is nothing happens in my browser). Is there a way to modify a file directly by opening it in a text editor? If so, let me know the file name, where to find it in the Drupal folder, how to modify it and I will give it a try.
Anything else you can think to try? It looks like whatever I do will have to be done by directly modifying files in a text editor, since I can't get there from here in a browser.
Thanks again.
Have a look in the
Have a look in the {watchdog} table in the database and check if you can see any error messages. Also find and examine the Apached error log for clues.
BTW on which page did you get the "cron has not run" message (which URL)?
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
Looks like a password problem
The page on which I had the "cron has not run" warning was http://localhost/drupal6.3/ (the very first page I was taken to after completing the Drupal installation).
I can't get to database tables either. If I go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin/, I get the following error message:
I found a posting that says that the "using password: NO" means that a password has been set but has not been provided. I tried opening the MySQL console, which asks for my password, and when I provide the password the console seems to work (though being a newbe I have no idea how to use it). After doing that I tried going back to http://localhost/drupal6.3/ to see if I could now access any admin pages. No such luck.
So, I think the question is, how do I provide the MySQL password in a way that will make the database usable by Drupal? The only place I can see to enter a password is in Drupal's login, but that is the password (and user name) for my Drupal admin account, not for the database.
I remember there was a step during the Drupal installation that requested the user name and password for MySQL, and I'm pretty sure I filled it in correctly. Is there a file I can check in a text editor to see what I have the MySQL password set to? If not, is it time to just start over with the Drupal installation (I don't have anything built yet so nothing to lose but having to work through the other installation problems I had again, which would be nice to avoid)? If so, is there anything I should know about the uninstall process to be sure nothing is left to trip me up?
Thank you for your help with this. I have my fingers crossed that you will shake your head how this newbe missed the obvious, and graciously send a simple solution.
I would guess that the
I would guess that the phpmyadmin problem is something completely different. You will need to check the WAMP documentation for info on how to configure it to use the password that has been set for the MySQL user 'root'.
Drupal uses the MySQL user/database/password specified near the bottom of sites/default/settings.php (look for $db_url), that you specified during installation. If this wasn't working then you'd have got an error message. However phpmyadmin can't "share" or use the connection to the DB used by Drupal, or from the MySQL command prompt.
Still worth having a look in the Apache error log for messages. It could be a problem with insufficient memory allocated to PHP but the fact that your admin pages didn't immediately respond with the white page but thought about it first indicates it might be something else ... or not ..! The error log should clarify this since PHP errors get logged there.
Also do a search here (or on the net generally) for info on configuring WAMP for use with Drupal.
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
Workaround Found - Admin now works
I just found the problem (after removing Drupal and WAMP and reinstalling xampp and Drupal did not help).
Problem description and workaround are here http://drupal.org/node/220296 and http://drupal.org/node/217741
I would add one thing. I could not access Drupal's admin area to disable the update checking module, so I went into Drupal's folder using Windows Explorer and renamed the update module folder so it would not be accessed by Drupal, then went into Drupal's administration > modules and disabled the update-check module, then went back in Windows Explorer and restored the update module's name. Drupal's admin pages now come up quickly and so far seem to work fine.
The white/blank page I mentioned was apparently not a complete inability to access the admin pages, but was the result of the browser timing out waiting for a response from Apache when I tried to access an admin page (Apache was apparently waiting for completion of the update module's request to search the Internet for Drupal updates and updates to modules, which apparently is automatically requested whenever the admin area is accessed). No update search can happen however without access to the Internet, which is not available on my local machine, hence the problem.
Developers might want to address this issue in future releases (that is, what happens when admin pages are accessed on a locally installed copy of Drupal without Internet access?).
Anyway, the problem is not really solved, but is easily worked around once you find the answer.
Thanks again for your help.
Glad you got to the bottom of it :)
Ah, so it was that update status glitch after all. There are open issues against this (search the issue queue).
The other way of turning off the module is to edit the database directly (phpMyAdmin or whatever) - in the table {system} you change the status to 0 for the relevant entry.
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk
gpk
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www.alexoria.co.uk