Uploaded images and attachments suddenly not showing

[Phil Dart]

I took advise to correct some fatal error issues, which involved running a "suspect file versions" report. This showed that several files were mis-matched - I use 4.2.3 and some files were from 4.2.3 patch, so I uploaded copeis of the non patch version to overwrite them. Now I find tyhat not a single uploaded photo or attachment is showing on the site, apart from any uploaded after the overwrite. I've been back over every single file and put it back yo how it was before I started meddling, but it;s made no difference whatsoever. Given that the site is a forum that relies heavily on photos, its seeming pretty lame right now.

Can anyone help please?

[Phil Dart]

I should have said that the only files that were overwritten were in the admincp folder, plus 3 files from the home directory. - online.php, forumdisply.php and profile.php. Every one of those files has been restored to its previous state, and I've been unable to find why any of those files would have made a difference to the ability of the database to display an image anyway.

[Mark.B]

What you seem to have done here is take a working forum, arbitrarily overwrite some of the files for no reason, and now it's broken You need to put back what you had before.

Best solution - download a fresh copy of the FULL 4.2.3 package from the members area, and upload all of them to the server, taking care to overwrite what's already there.

The lesson her is, if it isn't broken, don't try to fix it!

[Phil Dart]

Thanks for your response Mark. Good advise, but in this case it was broken. There were a number if irritating fatal errors occurring, which was identified as being a mis-match files between 4.2.3 and 4.2.3patch. I'll head over to the members area and try to find a fresh copy, but I seem to remember that I could only find the patch version last time I looked.

[Mark.B]

You want to download 4.2.3 Patch Level 2. That isn't the patch itself, it is the full package that includes the patch.

Upload all those files - you can select the package without images though if you wish as you don't need those.

Put those up and then run the suspect file checker to ensure they all match. No reason why everything won't work then. It might be worth running the upgrade script as well, but if you do this, back up your database first as a precaution. Almost any problem can be fixed if you have a backup to revert to!

[Phil Dart]

Thanks Mark. I'm on it. I've spent the afternoon reading up on it in the members area.,Got my Smart FTP in place (I've always just uploaded via cPanel up until now, which may be my problem) and when I'm sure what I'm doing I'll go ahead. I don't understand SSH though I'm afraid, so although the hosting company does a daily backup, I intend to back up the database via phpmyadmin, which I'm guessing will wipe out the free space on my PC.

Thanks for your support Mark - I'm not a stupid man generally, (I don't think so anyway - other opinions may differ) but vBulletin is almost completely new to me and my knowledge and understanding of it is scant at best.

[Phil Dart]

Well..... did all that his morning. Noticed a comment in the manual suggesting upload files to a new folder to save downtime, then change folder names to put the files in the right place. Seemed to go unhindered except that tryng to run updrade.php my address bar told be I'd got my user information wrong, so upgrade hasn't been run. The site seems to be operating smoothly without running upgrade but it hasn't solved the problem.
Opened a ticket with support at 6am this morning, but still no reply yet. Have rebuilt attachment thumbs and anything else I can find to rebuild that might seem vaguely relevant, so I wonder if you Mark, or anyone else here can help shed some more light please.