Login Issues - Sessions - Cookies

[php4ever]

Okay, so I did a search using a dozen or so different search terms about login issues and I found many many examples that are similar but it seems there is only about two or three solutions being offered.

Some things to assume. The server is configured properly that much is certain because I manage or own many vBulletin forums and others seem to work just fine.

However, a pair of bran-spanking-new vBulletin forums, one with a shiny new theme has a persistent login issue.

A member can login using the login box and is redirected as they should be only to notice that the login box still shows up instead of showing them logged in. If you hit F5 on your keyboard or simply browser refresh it then shows you logged in. Problem is that when a person makes a post, submits it, then gets redirected to the parent thread the post doesn't show up until again "refresh" of the page is done.

Now I've tried the three things suggested frequently in the forums here.
I've used the tools.php and then deleted it once done.
I've switched the theme to the default vBulletin theme.
I've verified cookies are enabled in the browsers.

I'm not against the idea that it could be my theme because it very well may be. However, that would not explain the issue being persistent when the default theme is activated and my cache is cleared in my browser.

I notice this is in all three top browsers the twin internet terrorists IE6 and IE7 and the liberator FireFox all experience the same problem. I even freed a repeat offending felon from prison, IE5.5 and tried it, same issue.

There is only one other thing I notice and that is an issue with two of the criminal browsers IE5 and IE6 I can't draw or drag my mouse across any post and highlight the text. I'm certain this is theme related, and I've isolated the issue to be with some of my CSS markup.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

~ Jared
Site in question: http://www.prorealestatenetwork.com/
(please be gentle the design is still under revisions)

[peterska2]

First, reupload all the original vB non-image files (except install.php). Make sure you upload these in ASCII format and overwrite the ones on the server. Also be sure to upload the admincp files to whichever directory you have set in your config.php file. Then run 'Suspect File Versions' in Diagnostics to make sure you have all the original files for your version:

Admin CP -> Maintenance -> Diagnostics -> Suspect File Versions

Next, disable all plugins.

Note: To temporarily disable the plugin system, edit config.php and add this line right under <?php

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

Ensure that you completely disable vBSEO and remove the htaccess file for this.

If the problems still persist using the default style after doing this, please let us know.

[php4ever]

Kerry-Anne, thank you for your lightening speed answer. I'll what you suggest and report back in detail for others to examine.

~ Jared

[php4ever]

Solved!

I promised a response once this was solved and here it is.

SOLVED! But with some info so you understand how and why.

It was pointed out after 4 Wasted days of valuable time that maybe it could be something simple with the procedures we normally follow when we design a forum and administer it. We had to ask the question;

What did I do differently with these forums that I DON'T normally do? Well given the recent brutal news about all those real estate site owners getting dropped from google because of linking schemes I figured I'd alter the HTACCESS to accomodate a known issue with the felony twins not background image caching as they should.

The Felony Twins are IE6 and IE7 naturally so using the following code we can force them both to cache images instead of beating up the server. My concern was the unusual increase in visits as a result of this thread being linked to all over the web.

http://www.prorealestatenetwork.com/....html#post9650

The offending HTACCESS code is;

RewriteEngine On

## I use this to force IE to cache things it should cache
#ExpiresActive On
#ExpiresDefault A18000
#ExpiresByType image/gif A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/png A2592000

## This I use to force www in the URL
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^prorealestatenetwork.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.prorealestatenetwork.com/$1 [L,R=301]

RewriteRule ^((urllist|sitemap_).*\.(xml|txt)(\.gz)?)$ vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_getsitemap.php?sitemap=$1 [L]

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !vbseourl=
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(admincp/|modcp/|chat|cron)
RewriteRule ^(.*\.php)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !\.(jpg|gif)$
RewriteRule ^(archive/.*)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1 [L,QSA]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !^(admincp|modcp|clientscript|cpstyles|images)/
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1 [L,QSA]
RewriteRule ^((urllist|sitemap).*\.(xml|txt)(\.gz)?)$ vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_getsitemap.php?sitemap=$1 [L]

By forcing IE to cache using the expires_active apache mod we experienced an issue with VBSEO in less than desirable results.

SOLUTION? Simple now, comment out the following lines
#ExpiresActive On
#ExpiresDefault A18000
#ExpiresByType image/gif A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/jpeg A2592000
#ExpiresByType image/png A2592000

~ Jared / seriously annoyed today

[php4ever]

P.S. Thanks to Kerry-Anne for your assistance