Help! Forum fails to load and times out 90% of the time!

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:01 pm

Dear support,
My forum has been lagging the past few weeks. When we try to submit a post, it would hang and often time out. Showing this error:

This site can’t be reached

www.happierabroad.com took too long to respond.
Search Google for happier abroad forum search
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

Then I realized that it might be due to the corrupt table in the database called phpbb_posts. So I did some research on that and figure out how to repair it, because its index file was wrong. So I used this SQL command:

REPAIR TABLE phpbb_posts USE_FRM;

That did the trick. After that, when I checked the table, it said it was OK. So I thought the problem was solved. But it actually got WORSE!!!!!!! Now my forum fails to load 90 percent of the time! On any page! WTF is going on?

I contacted my webhost and they said their server was working fine on their end and that's all they could guarantee me. That's all they could do. They said any software problems was my responsibility.

So what do I do now? What's the problem? Whenever I run check tables in phpmyadmin, they all show OK. Yet the forum keeps failing to load now! What can I do?

Here's the URL:
http://www.happierabroad.com/forum/sear ... ive_topics

Click on the active topics page above and select a topic to enter. You will see that 90 percent of the time it gets this error:

This site can’t be reached

www.happierabroad.com took too long to respond.
Search Google for happier abroad forum search
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

What's going on?! What can I do?!

david63 · Post by **david63** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:21 pm

All loading OK for me - a five second load time seems acceptable with the adverts/images that you have.

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 3:17 pm

david63 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:21 pm All loading OK for me - a five second load time seems acceptable with the adverts/images that you have.

I see that now. But if i try to log in or submit a post, it hangs and freezes and then gives the time out error. Every time! No one is able to post now. Yet i cant find any errors! Wtf?!

janus_zonstraal · Post by **janus_zonstraal** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 3:40 pm

https://tools.pingdom.com/#!/0jDIS/http ... .com/forum

Look into that cast_sender.js

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 8:22 pm

Well it was working for a while. Now it's down again completely. Won't load at all. What's the problem?

http://www.happierabroad.com/forum/sear ... ive_topics

I've done tons of database checks and it shows all tables being ok.

There must be some hidden bug that no system can find.

david63 · Post by **david63** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 8:46 pm

WWu777 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2017 8:22 pm Now it's down again completely. Won't load at all. What's the problem?

No problem at all - that link loaded pretty fast for me.

Elias · Post by **Elias** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 10:56 pm

I also don’t see any problems when visiting your forum.

Post by **Mick** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:54 am

According to prosilver, prosilver_se and other styles the board in question is V3.0? That being the case you should be aware that support for 3.0 has ended, support is limited to assisting you to upgrade.

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:43 am

I am in the process of upgrading now. I just hope this problem doesn't continue in phpbb 3.2. No one knows the cause of it.

Btw yes its working now but still lagging. it seems this board is like a doctor in that when you go to the doctor your illness sometimes goes away in fear of the doctor. Kind of like a murphys law. Like when you take your broken TV set to the repair shop but it wont break there for the techs to see. Lol. Its a form of murphys law. Very real and noticeable pattern. We've all experienced something like it. I experience such things almost everyday. Defies logic. But truth is stranger than fiction.

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:55 am

Btw one of the support staff here named lumpy said that the db table phpbb_posts crashing is not a common problem reported here so it must not be a fault with phpbb platform.

However that turns out not to be true. A good search for this forum shows that many people have started topics here about that same problem of phpbb_posts table crashing and corrupting. See below.

https://www.phpbb.com/search/?q=phpbb_posts+repair

https://www.google.com.tw/search?q=how+ ... 24&bih=494

Anyway, I saw a solution here that said it was risky, but i did it anyway.

https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3 ... rom-mysql/

Note 2: There can also be instances where a table says it is repaired, but still gives problems. This happens when an index file has some subtle forms of damage that the normal repair process does not handle. There is only one way to fix those errors, which involves telling MySQL to throw away the index completely, then rebuild it from scratch. This can be dangerous, which is why the script does NOT do this normally. It is highly suggested that you have your host make a backup of the table files first, just in case.

If you are doing this through phpmyadmin or similar, the command becomes:
Code: Select all
REPAIR TABLE phpbb_users USE_FRM;

When i did this, it said the table was fixed and reindexed. However i could not optimize the table. If i tried to optimize it, it would crash again! And id have to repair it with that risky command all over again!

So i dont know whats wrong. Must be something very deep that cannot be detected. Hopefully phpbb 3.2 will not have this problem.

Btw, my forum is huge. The mysql file for my forum is 1.4 GB. That's certainly not small or medium size. That much text is huge! You cant even open 100 MB of text in one file on a computer without it crashing.

So it could be that large forums crash the database? However this support forum is huge too. Does its database ever slow down or lag or crash? How does the webmaster prevent it? Is this site hosted on a dedicated server? Through which webhost company?

Does bluehost vps server have a known issue with phpbb?

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 12:28 pm

Two questions.

1. Is there a way for me to contact the developers of phpbb to inform them about the constant problem of the database table phpbb_posts crashing? A problem that has been posted in many other threads, as shown above in the google search results link.

2. Is there a way for me to migrate all my posts into a new database MySQL file so try to eliminate this recurring problem?

What about converting it to another platform like mybb and then converting it back?

Thanks.

Post by **Mick** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 12:46 pm

Yes, report it in the bug tracker although I suspect nothing much will be done as you have a 3.0 board. I would say that if you have constant crashes your host has the problem not you.
Yes, follow the relevant sections (back up and restore) of Knowledge Base - Transferring Your Board to a New Host or Domain and install the back ups in to a test server such as on your PC. See Knowledge Base - Installing and Setting Up Your Own Web Server.
Try it.

Again please note that 3.0 is EOL, the only help we can give you is with upgrading. If you continue to post 3.0 support questions I will lock your topic(s)

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:44 pm

Mick wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2017 12:46 pm
Yes, report it in the bug tracker although I suspect nothing much will be done as you have a 3.0 board. I would say that if you have constant crashes your host has the problem not you.

Yes, follow the relevant sections (back up and restore) of Knowledge Base - Transferring Your Board to a New Host or Domain and install the back ups in to a test server such as on your PC. See Knowledge Base - Installing and Setting Up Your Own Web Server.

Try it.
Again please note that 3.0 is EOL, the only help we can give you is with upgrading. If you continue to post 3.0 support questions I will lock your topic(s)

But Mick, what if after I upgrade to phpbb 3.2, the database problem is still there? I would then be asking the same questions right?

I already talked to my webhost tech support about this for a long time. They have run diagnostic checks on their server hardware and claim that the problem is not on their end.

Does Bluehost have any known issues with phpbb?

I also downloaded two software programs that claim to be able to repair database files. However, neither of them recognize my MYSQL file after I try to select them within their program. Weird.

Can you recommend any offline software programs that will repair databases?

Thanks.

WWu777 · Post by **WWu777** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:50 pm

Dear Support,
One more question. When you see errors like these in your phpbb forum, what do they mean? I mean, what's the usual cause for such a time out error?

This site can’t be reached

www.happierabroad.com took too long to respond.
Search Google for happier abroad forum viewtopic
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

david63 · Post by **david63** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:01 pm

WWu777 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:50 pm Dear Support,
One more question. When you see errors like these in your phpbb forum, what do they mean? I mean, what's the usual cause for such a time out error?

This site can’t be reached

www.happierabroad.com took too long to respond.
Search Google for happier abroad forum viewtopic
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT

That error usually means that there is a problem with your server - your sever error logs should be able to give you some more information about what is causing the problem.