Database problem restoring from backup

[flamesong]

Perhaps I should explain my situation a little before I attempt to explain the problem.

Seven years ago, my then webhost tripled my fees and when I took issue with them, they terminated my account without warning an deleted my site. I had spent a year developing it and was quite devastated because I didn't even have ftp access to get my backups. I did have local backups but for some reason I couldn't find them. It was too much to start again and I was starting a new job so I eventually forgot about it and moved on - hence, I haven't visited the forum since then.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an old hard drive and when I was exploring the folders, I found some backups. I have some webspace and although I don't intend to run the site actively, I would like to use it as part of my online portfolio as it is possibly the biggest personal project I ever undertook.

So, I am part way through the restoration using Kickstart 5.3.0 and JoomlaPack Installer v4.0. As far as I know, Kickstart did its job perfectly and there were no reported errors. I clicked the appropriate link (I forget what it was called) and JoomplaPack Installer 4.0 started.

Everything was green on the Check page and I hit next. I put all my database details into the form and hit next.

There was a progress bar which reached 76% and then I got an error which said:

'Could not connect to database. Please check your connection parameters.'

This is odd because the progress bar suggested that connection had been made with the database and when I look at phpMyAdmin, I can see that the database has been populated.

This is very frustrating because clearly, it is nearly working; most of it is there but even if half the data is missing, if I can't get to the next step, I won't be able to reconfigure the site details.

Can anybody offer me any advice, please?

[leolam]

. I have some webspace

Do you have enough space? Are you using the correct version of Joomlapack for your Joomla version? Create a new database with all permissions and retry

Leo

[flamesong]

Hello,

Yes, there is more than enough space.

I am using the version of Joomplapack which is used by default by Kickstart; as far as I am aware, it was Kickstart which initiated Joomlapack.

I went through the process of deleting the database and starting again a few times before posting my problem here. I'm just switching webhosts to one which officially supports Joomla! via Softaculous as my current host has not been very helpful.

[leolam]

What is the Joomla version?

Leo

[flamesong]

I assume you mean which version is the backup.

The short answer is that I don't know for sure but it will be whatever the latest version was in December 2009 as I always kept up to date. I have just been through various files from the backup but couldn't see a definitive Joomla! version however, I saw a changelog file which hinted that it might be v1.5.

By the way, I know that I posted this in the wrong section but after having done so by mistake (in my haste, I was thrown by the word 'migrating'), I couldn't see a way to change it or to delete the post and repost it. If you could move it to the appropriate section, I'd be grateful.

[leolam]

What is your PHP version of your server? (5.3/5.4/5.5/5.6/7.x)

Leo

[flamesong]

I have tried 5.3 (the earliest available), 7.0 and 7.1 (the latest available).

[leolam]

Joomla 1.5 does not work with PHP7. Try to troubleshoot as described here https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentat ... l#kstslive. Otherwise you have to open a ticket at Akeebabackup I am afraid

Leo

[flamesong]

Thanks.

I might as well leave it now until the new host is set up and the domain transferred.

[flamesong]

My domain transfer completed yesterday so I was quite eager to get back to the restoration today.

All went okay until the database restoration again and this time it wouldn't connect to the database at all no matter what settings I used so I deleted the database and created an new one using MYSQL Database Wizard using exactly the same database name, username and password and the database restoration seemed to work perfectly.

I got the usual instruction to delete the installation folder and at that point, I was quite excited at seeing my old site again but when I tried to load it, I just got a blank page in Safari; Chrome gave the error:

This page isn’t working

The site is currently unable to handle this request.

HTTP ERROR 500

So, I am now looking into that.