Joomla! Forum - community, help and support

Forgive me if I ramble somewhat; but I think all this information is important.

I'm really super excited to see what Joomla 3 will do for me on some of the sites I manage. First and foremost is my company's own site. That site is Joomla 2.5.8 and uses K2. This is primarily because I bought a template from a third party that uses K2 and some other plugins. (I wasn't particularly excited to add all the complexity to my own site but I wanted to get it online so I gulped and went forward.)

So, after a backup I decided my best approach was to unzip (via the command line) the file "Joomla_3.0.2-Stable-Update_Package.zip" over the top of my installation. I presume that this is the proper approach, as I was unable to find any documentation anywhere explaining the best upgrade method.

This naturally immediately completely broke my site.

After restoring the site from backup, I knew that this was not a turnkey operation. So I created a test fork of my site and tried again. This time I found that I had to (and did) update K2 and RokMenu to the latest versions. I also noted the mootools fixes for the framework and made those. After doing all of that, the site sorta works. The homepage looks perfect but the interior pages are completely broken. Also, the administrator pages seem to mostly work but look very funky. (I'm including a snapshot.)

The item that concerns me the most is the interior pages of my site that are broken. I've looked at the server logs and I find that each page load aborts with this kind of error:

[Wed Dec 26 17:27:13 2012] [error] [client xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined method JParameter::loadINI() in /var/www/vhosts/testing.mysite.com/httpdocs/libraries/joomla/html/parameter.php on line 76, referer: http://testing.mysite.com/index.php/

My thoughts are that perhaps Joomla is discovering old code that might be removed by a better installation method(?) I'm only guessing here, as I'm over my head with the organization of the software. Any ideas where to go from here?

You changed the system? mysite.com isn't working with Joomla.

Please use in in further questions example.org instead of other domains

> Please use in in further questions example.org instead of other domains

My bad. I read the directions for posting after I posted. Thanks for looking!

Hi and welcome, Sacautos!

Since you're using Joomla 3, switch your Admin template to Isis That will fix the issue in your screenshot.

Then go to Extensions (Top menu) >> Extension Manager (Sub menu) >> Database (left column) >> Fix (Button).

Afterward, make sure that all your extensions are updated and Joomla 3 compatible.

If you're still having issues with your internal pages, then it's likely an htaccess/SEF issue. Let us know what issues you're having after doing the above 3 things.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,
Nick

Thank you for the suggestion Nick. Couple of problems have come up with your suggestion though.

FIrst, I have no Isis template. Secondly, when I click on the Database option from Extensions, I get a blank page.

In looking at my server error log, I have this entry:

[Wed Dec 26 21:11:20 2012] [error] [client 108.224.108.180] PHP Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to JSchemaChangeset::getUpdateQueries() must be an array, boolean given, called in /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php on line 63 and defined in /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php on line 218

You're welcome, Sacautos!

Ok, take the following package and install it via Extension Manager as you would any extension:
http://joomlacode.org/gf/download/frsre ... ackage.zip

If for some reason you get an error, take the package and unzip it in your Joomla root.

Then run the 3 steps above.

Indeed, very surprised not to see upgrade documentation in the release notes. See http://docs.joomla.org/Upgrading_from_a ... ng_version

Hi Sovainfo,

docs.joomla.org is community documentation and anyone can contribute to it, so if you see something missing, please add it. Just create an account on the wiki, then click edit on the page to get started. Thanks in advance if you help out!

Kind regards,
Nick

It is not missing from the documentation, as mentioned I was surprised not to see a link to the upgrade documentation in the release notes. Maybe it is referred to in one of the links mentioned. Considering the topic starter didn't find it, I went to look for it at the place I would expect it. And it wasn't there. I think it deserves to be mentioned there with every release, not only with 2.5.8 ( where I found it ).

For your information I already have an account on docs.joomla.org and did contribute.

Let's see if we can get back to getting my site working again. I find it very odd that I can't even get the database repair page to load. Does anybody have a clue about the problem with the changeset.php module? I'm a PHP programmer by trade so I've been trying to figure this out. However, it's difficult to just walk into a project of this size and understand everything that's going on.

Are there any command line tools with Joomla at all? I've got multiple problems at once here. I'd like to start by getting the database clean and then progressing through the various installed modules. Suggestions?

@Savainfo, thanks for clarifying! Sorry for misunderstanding. I'll make sure it's there for the next release doc.

@Sacautos, could we get an update on the issue? How's it going?

I hired a freelancer to come in and fix the site. What he did was a fresh install followed by copying back in my data. Didn't necessarily discover what I did wrong but it did restore my site to working order.

Nick Savov wrote:You're welcome, Sacautos!

Ok, take the following package and install it via Extension Manager as you would any extension:
http://joomlacode.org/gf/download/frsre ... ackage.zip

If for some reason you get an error, take the package and unzip it in your Joomla root.

Then run the 3 steps above.

Hi Nick,

I have a similar problem when I wnated to install joomla extention for social media and tried to upload the zip mod_so_social.zip the fllowing appeared Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to JSchemaChangeset::getUpdateQueries() must be an array, boolean given, called in /home/qmsoftco/public_html/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php on line 63 and defined in /home/qmsoftco/public_html/libraries/cms/schema/changeset.php on line 218

My phpAdminMysql is working properly I can see my database is uploaded in a right way. Obviously sth wrong is with the php.file above. Could you help me how to fix it so I can upload module extension without problems. Thanks in advance .

just to add that the error above is connected to the screen I get when I want to upload the extension
500 - An error has occurred.

DateTime::__construct() [datetime.--construct]: Failed to parse time string (jerror) at position 0 (j): The timezone could not be found in the database

Return to Control Panel

I have the same problem as MajaR.

500 DateTime::__construct(): Failed to parse time string (jerror) at position 0 (j): The timezone could not be found in the database

I have installed Joomla 3.0, I have UTC chosen. I cannot install anything through Extension Manager.

I´ve also unzipped and uploaded "Joomla_3.0.3-Stable-Update_Package"


Thanks in advance

Magnus
Sweden

MajaR wrote:just to add that the error above is connected to the screen I get when I want to upload the extension
500 - An error has occurred.

DateTime::__construct() [datetime.--construct]: Failed to parse time string (jerror) at position 0 (j): The timezone could not be found in the database

Return to Control Panel

What is your PHP version?

Leo

Hello,
My issue is similar except it's not an upgrade issue.
I have just installed a fresh copy of Joomla 3.1.1.
PHP 5.3.24
MySQL 5.5.30

The install seemed to go fine of Joomla itself.
however, I can't install any extentions, templates etc. I get:

DateTime::__construct() [datetime.--construct]: Failed to parse time string (jerror) at position 0 (j): The timezone could not be found in the database

I was excited to try out Joomla 3. now...sadness like when you reach in and realize reach in the bag and realize you ate the last Dorito already.

http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=707&t=790865

explains how to solve by modifying your .htaccess file

I have read that post already and it doesn't solve it. It breaks breaks my site with the error below. Also I do have full access to all system files on the server and can make direct PHP changes if thats required. I know some people can't as they have share dhosting accounts... so I can do whatever needs to be done. Also I have quite a few clients on Joomla 2.5 and a couple still on 1.7. I have no trouble with installing extensions on their sites. Just this Joomla 3.1.1 site (the first run I've made with Joomls 3.x...so far so bad).


I enabled debugging and in the SQL quries the timezone is referenced as:
\"timezone\";s:16:\"America/New_York\"

In PHP in the date section Default timezone of the server is UTC

In the directive section the date.timezone shows as America/New_York

I've read some people changing the password helps. It didnt help.
I've read that changing the default adminuser name to another name caused the issue and they created a super user named "admin" and that helped. It didn't help.
.htaccess file modification didn't help.

Any more help on this would be wonderful. I have a new client needing a site quickly and I was hoping to roll with Joomla 3.x but look slike it's not going to play nice in time.
Why is the timezone error a reason to prevent installs anyway? I realize it time stamps it etc...but (maybe Im stupid) why not allow installs to occur anyway or give a super user the choice? In all my years of using Joomla (from 1.0 to current) I've never run into this timezone silliness.


---.htaccess edit error-----
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@<mydomain> and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

0 DateTime::__construct(): Failed to parse time string (jerror) at position 0 (j): The timezone could not be found in the database

I too am getting this. If it helps anyone debug , I was able to do an upgrade from 3.0.4 ( i think it was that ) to 3.1.0 just this week without issue. Nothing changed on the server that I know of. So, the issue must lie in 3.1 ... not 3.0 , I believe.

Mine is a fresh install of 3.11 so there can be no issues caused by a 2.5 > 3.11 migration etc. Hopefully there can be resolution to this soon.

Bump dee Bump dee bump?

I contacted my server provider today and they verified all PHP settings are correct including timezone. I've combed through the forums here trying any number of solutions and none seem to work. All permissions are set. All paths to logs and tmp are correct, I tried .htaccess edits, I tried UTC time zone, I made sure the simezones are coded correctly in the DB.

Nobody has anything else?

Jackstaw's solution is the solution that worked for me... uninstalled 3.11 and installed 3.04 in its place. BINGO! Looks like the timezone issue is a Joomla 3.1 specific problem. My logic for this is:
#1 It isn't just me with the issue.
#2 .htaccess edits and many possible solutions proposed here and other threads on other forums don't resolve it.
#3 All my other Joomla sites (ranging from 1.6 - 2.5.x) don't have this problem on my server.
#4 Joomla 3.04 works like a champ (and I'm pumped to finally get my hands on 3.x).

Now the question is what change in Joomla 3.11 from 3.04 was made to cause this to crop up on some server configurations?

After copying a site that worked to a new directory I began having the timezone problem.

After much gnashing of teeth found the solution on a German joomla forum!

It was a permission problem. I had not changed the paths in configuration.php and did not have www-data access to write to $log_path and $tmp_path.

Who needs permission might vary (in my case www-data, my apache server)

After changeing that, all is good again.

I wish the error had of been 'permission' and not 'timezone'

Hey I'm having the exact same issue as this - htaccess breaks my site.

gfisch, could you give a bit more detailed info on what/where you changed things? im a major joomla nub. And link to the german joomla forum post for reference? thanks - I spent forever looking for this error only to find it with the key phrase "Failed to parse time string (jerror) at position 0 (j)"

gfisch wrote:After copying a site that worked to a new directory I began having the timezone problem.

After much gnashing of teeth found the solution on a German joomla forum!

It was a permission problem. I had not changed the paths in configuration.php and did not have www-data access to write to $log_path and $tmp_path.

Who needs permission might vary (in my case www-data, my apache server)

After changeing that, all is good again.

I wish the error had of been 'permission' and not 'timezone'

Bit of a long URL through google translate:
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl ... annel%3Dfs

He said: Cache / log directory paths were wrong, then it worked perfectly ... ARGH

Check your configuration.php for proper paths to log and tmp dirs. And make sure you have permission to write to those directories

I found a post with some of the same info. I made sure all was set correctly. I had my server hosting company check my VPS configuration, PHP, etc, and they confirmed it was correct. I ditched 3.11 and installed 3.04 and there were no problems at all.

So if it's a temp, cache path\permissions problem... then why does 3.04 work correctly and 3.11 doesn't? Does 3.11 utilize those paths in some different manner?

gfisch wrote:After copying a site that worked to a new directory I began having the timezone problem.

After much gnashing of teeth found the solution on a German joomla forum!

It was a permission problem. I had not changed the paths in configuration.php and did not have www-data access to write to $log_path and $tmp_path.

Who needs permission might vary (in my case www-data, my apache server)

After changeing that, all is good again.

I wish the error had of been 'permission' and not 'timezone'

Thank you!
I had server crash and then restored backups to new server... I spent few hours reading posts etc on how to fix "DateTime::__construct(): Failed to parse time string (jerror) at position 0 (j): The timezone could not be found in the database"... at the end problem was that log and tmp paths in the config were wrong (thus no rw rights). Very misleading error. Thank You for sharing and thx to the Germans!