Joomla instances suddenly stopped working Topic is solved

[obones]

Hello,

I have two Joomla instances that are hosted by the same provider and they suddenly stopped working.
The symptom is a HTTP code 500 error and a totally blank page on both cases.
I'm quite convinced this comes from a change done by the web hoster, but before going back to them, I'm trying to figure as much as possible so that they can't brush me off.

By changing the error reporting options directly in index.php I was able to get the following message:

Failed to start the session

Looking around here, I tested various possibilities and can say that the database is not too big, the session path is writable and there is free disk space in the folder where the instance is hosted.
I tried changing $session_handler inside configuration.php from the current value 'database' to 'none' as suggested in a post here, and it changed the error message which is now this:

Error: Failed to start application: Table 'db12345_obones.#__session' doesn't exist

And sure enough, such a table does not exist in the database. I found this website that gives a SQL query to create the table for Joomla 3 but even after having created it and seeing it in phpMyAdmin, the error has not changed.

As I saw in other posts that you would need the FPA result to better understand the situation, I ran it on one of the instances, and after having removed the 302 redirect to HTTPs that was being wrongly triggered, I was able to get the result posted at the end of this message.

Note that I know that I'm quite overdue on the upgrade process but right now I can't even access the instance to work with it.

Many thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Joomla! Instance :: Joomla! 3.9.26-Stable (Amani) 13-April-2021
Joomla! Platform :: Joomla Platform 13.1.0-Stable (Curiosity) 24-Apr-2013
Joomla! Configured :: Yes | Writable (644) |
Configuration Options :: Offline: false | SEF: true | SEF Suffix: false | SEF ReWrite: true | .htaccess/web.config: Yes | GZip: false | Cache: false | CacheTime: 15 | CacheHandler: file | CachePlatformPrefix: false | FTP Layer: false | Proxy: false | LiveSite: | Session lifetime: 15 | Session handler: none | Shared sessions: false | SSL: 0 | Error Reporting: default | Site Debug: false | Language Debug: false | Default Access: Public | Unicode Slugs: false | dbConnection Type: mysqli | PHP Supports J! 3.9.26: Yes | Database Supports J! 3.9.26: Yes | Database Credentials Present: Yes |

Host Configuration :: OS: Linux | OS Version: 4.4.0-137-generic | Technology: x86_64 | Web Server: Apache/2.4.7 (Ubuntu) | Encoding: gzip, deflate, br | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 235.14 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 7.3.16 | PHP API: fpm-fcgi | Session Path Writable: Yes | Display Errors: 0 | Error Reporting: 22527 | Log Errors To: syslog | Last Known Error: | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Allow url fopen: 1 | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 64M | Max. POST Size: 64M | Max. Input Time: 60 | Max. Execution Time: 30 | Memory Limit: 128M

Database Configuration :: Version: 8.0.36-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 (Client:mysqlnd 5.0.12-dev - 20150407 - $Id: 7cc7cc96e675f6d72e5cf0f267f48e167c2abb23 $) | Database Size: 54.14 MiB | #of Tables with config prefix:  44 | #of other Tables:  0 | User Privileges : GRANT SELECTUser Privileges : INSERTUser Privileges : UPDATEUser Privileges : DELETEUser Privileges : CREATEUser Privileges : DROPUser Privileges : REFERENCESUser Privileges : INDEXUser Privileges : ALTERUser Privileges : CREATE TEMPORARY TABLESUser Privileges : LOCK TABLES ON `db12345_obones`.* TO `db12345`@`%`

PHP Extensions :: Core (7.3.16) | date (7.3.16) | libxml (7.3.16) | openssl (7.3.16) | pcre (7.3.16) | zlib (7.3.16) | bcmath (7.3.16) | bz2 (7.3.16) | calendar (7.3.16) | ctype (7.3.16) | dba (7.3.16) | dom (20031129) | hash (7.3.16) | fileinfo (7.3.16) | filter (7.3.16) | ftp (7.3.16) | gettext (7.3.16) | SPL (7.3.16) | iconv (7.3.16) | json (1.7.0) | mbstring (7.3.16) | session (7.3.16) | posix (7.3.16) | Reflection (7.3.16) | standard (7.3.16) | shmop (7.3.16) | SimpleXML (7.3.16) | soap (7.3.16) | sockets (7.3.16) | Phar (7.3.16) | exif (7.3.16) | sysvmsg (7.3.16) | sysvsem (7.3.16) | sysvshm (7.3.16) | tokenizer (7.3.16) | wddx (7.3.16) | xml (7.3.16) | xmlreader (7.3.16) | xmlwriter (7.3.16) | zip (1.15.4) | cgi-fcgi () | mysqlnd (mysqlnd 5.0.12-dev - 20150407 - $Id: 7cc7cc96e675f6d72e5cf0f267f48e167c2abb23 $) | curl (7.3.16) | gd (7.3.16) | gmp (7.3.16) | imap (7.3.16) | intl (7.3.16) | ldap (7.3.16) | mysqli (7.3.16) | odbc (7.3.16) | PDO (7.3.16) | pdo_mysql (7.3.16) | pdo_pgsql (7.3.16) | pdo_sqlite (7.3.16) | pgsql (7.3.16) | pspell (7.3.16) | sqlite3 (7.3.16) | xmlrpc (7.3.16) | xsl (7.3.16) | Zend OPcache (7.3.16) | Zend Engine (3.3.16) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment :: PHP CGI: Yes | Server SU: Yes | PHP SU: Yes | Potential Ownership Issues: No

Core Folders :: images/ (755) | components/ (755) | modules/ (755) | plugins/ (755) | language/ (755) | templates/ (755) | cache/ (755) | logs/ (---) | tmp/ (755) | administrator/components/ (755) | administrator/modules/ (755) | administrator/language/ (755) | administrator/templates/ (755) | administrator/logs/ (755) |

Elevated Permissions (First 10) ::

Database statistics :: Uptime: 3213361 | Threads: 139 | Questions: 8335779268 | Slow queries: 28146 | Opens: 856816438 | Flush tables: 3 | Open tables: 4000 | Queries per second avg: 2594.099 |

Components :: Site ::
Core :: com_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 | com_mailto (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party::

Components :: Admin ::
Core :: com_associations (3.7.0) 1 | com_admin (3.0.0) 1 | com_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | com_login (3.0.0) 1 | com_plugins (3.0.0) 1 | com_cache (3.0.0) 1 | com_banners (3.0.0) 1 | com_contenthistory (3.2.0) 1 | com_postinstall (3.2.0) 1 | com_search (3.0.0) 1 | com_languages (3.0.0) 1 | com_ajax (3.2.0) 1 | com_tags (3.1.0) 1 | com_finder (3.0.0) 1 | com_cpanel (3.0.0) 1 | com_modules (3.0.0) 1 | com_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | com_joomlaupdate (3.6.2) 1 | com_fields (3.7.0) 1 | com_config (3.0.0) 1 | com_content (3.0.0) 1 | com_checkin (3.0.0) 1 | com_categories (3.0.0) 1 | com_installer (3.0.0) 1 | com_media (3.0.0) 1 | com_redirect (3.0.0) 1 | com_privacy (3.9.0) 1 | com_templates (3.0.0) 1 | com_messages (3.0.0) 1 | com_menus (3.0.0) 1 | com_users (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: COM_[youtube] (4.5.8) 1 | COM_FAVICON (2.0.0) 1 | com_redj (1.9.0) 1 |

Modules :: Site ::
Core :: mod_articles_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_stats (3.0.0) 1 | mod_syndicate (3.0.0) 1 | mod_breadcrumbs (3.0.0) 1 | mod_banners (3.0.0) 1 | mod_footer (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_news (3.0.0) 1 | mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_finder (3.0.0) 1 | mod_languages (3.5.0) 1 | mod_whosonline (3.0.0) 1 | mod_search (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_archive (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_tags_similar (3.1.0) 1 | mod_tags_popular (3.1.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_related_items (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_category (3.0.0) 1 | mod_random_image (3.0.0) 1 | mod_articles_categories (3.0.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_wrapper (3.0.0) 1 | mod_users_latest (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: SCLogin (8.4.6) 1 | [youtube] Gallery Module (4.5.8) 1 | MOD_LATESTNEWSENHANCED (4.15.0) 1 | [youtube] Widget Slider (1.0) 1 |

Modules :: Admin ::
Core :: mod_latest (3.0.0) 1 | mod_version (3.0.0) 1 | mod_custom (3.0.0) 1 | mod_sampledata (3.8.0) 1 | mod_submenu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_feed (3.0.0) 1 | mod_toolbar (3.0.0) 1 | mod_menu (3.0.0) 1 | mod_stats_admin (3.0.0) 1 | mod_popular (3.0.0) 1 | mod_logged (3.0.0) 1 | mod_title (3.0.0) 1 | mod_multilangstatus (3.0.0) 1 | mod_quickicon (3.0.0) 1 | mod_latestactions (3.9.0) 1 | mod_login (3.0.0) 1 | mod_privacy_dashboard (3.9.0) 1 | mod_status (3.0.0) 1 |
3rd Party::

Libraries ::
Core ::
3rd Party::

Plugins ::
Core :: PLG_ACTIONLOG_JOOMLA (3.9.0) 1 | plg_user_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_user_terms (3.9.0) 0 | plg_user_contactcreator (3.0.0) 0 | plg_user_profile (3.0.0) 0 | plg_search_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_tags (3.0.0) 1 | plg_search_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_sef (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_redirect (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_sessiongc (3.8.6) 1 | plg_system_p3p (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_highlight (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_log (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_privacyconsent (3.9.0) 0 | plg_system_cache (3.0.0) 0 | plg_system_languagecode (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_stats (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_updatenotification (3.5.0) 1 | plg_system_debug (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_remember (3.0.0) 1 | plg_system_logrotation (3.9.0) 1 | plg_system_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_system_languagefilter (3.0.0) 1 | PLG_SYSTEM_ACTIONLOGS (3.9.0) 1 | plg_system_logout (3.0.0) 1 | plg_twofactorauth_totp (3.2.0) 0 | plg_twofactorauth_yubikey (3.2.0) 0 | PLG_INSTALLER_URLINSTALLER (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_webinstaller (2.1.2) 1 | PLG_INSTALLER_FOLDERINSTALLER (3.6.0) 1 | plg_installer_packageinstaller (3.6.0) 1 | plg_content_vote (3.0.0) 0 | plg_content_confirmconsent (3.9.0) 0 | plg_content_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_finder (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_loadmodule (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_emailcloak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_content_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_content_pagenavigation (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_contacts (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_categories (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_newsfeeds (3.0.0) 1 | plg_finder_tags (3.0.0) 0 | plg_finder_content (3.0.0) 1 | plg_privacy_message (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_user (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_content (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_consents (3.9.0) 1 | plg_privacy_actionlogs (3.9.0) 1 | plg_captcha_recaptcha (3.4.0) 0 | plg_captcha_recaptcha_invisible (3.8) 0 | plg_extension_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_ldap (3.0.0) 0 | plg_authentication_gmail (3.0.0) 0 | plg_authentication_cookie (3.0.0) 1 | plg_authentication_joomla (3.0.0) 1 | plg_fields_imagelist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_user (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_usergrouplist (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_sql (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_text (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_textarea (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_calendar (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_color (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_media (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_url (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_integer (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_radio (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_checkboxes (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_editor (3.7.0) 1 | plg_fields_repeatable (3.9.0) 1 | plg_fields_list (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_module (3.5.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_pagebreak (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_menu (3.7.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_article (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_readmore (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_image (3.0.0) 1 | plg_editors-xtd_fields (3.7.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_extensionupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_privacycheck (3.9.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_joomlaupdate (3.0.0) 1 | plg_quickicon_phpversioncheck (3.7.0) 1 |
3rd Party:: plg_editors_tinymce (4.5.12) 1 | plg_editors_codemirror (5.60.0) 1 | plg_system_redj (1.9.0) 0 | System - JCE MediaBox (1.2.9) 1 | plg_system_favicon (2.0.0) 1 | CW Article Gallery Ajax Upload (1.1.5) 1 | CW Article Gallery FREE (1.0.17) 1 | Content - ARI Sexy Lightbox Lite (1.2.6) 1 | Simple Image Gallery (by JoomlaWork (3.5.0) ? | Simple Image Gallery (by JoomlaWork (3.5.0) ? | Content - [youtube] Gallery (4.5.8) 1 | Button - CW Article Gallery (1.0.0) 1 |

Templates :: Site :: protostar (1.0) 1 | beez3 (3.1.0) 1 |
Templates :: Admin :: hathor (3.0.0) 1 | isis (1.0) 1 |

[obones]

Looking at another post, I saw that one needs to replace `#__` by the actual database prefix when running the SQL.
And sure enough, with this the error message about a missing session table went away but got immediately replaced by an error message complaining about yet another table.

Comparing the current database content to a backup show that, for a reason that I'm yet to identify, about two thirds of the Joomla tables went missing from those instances!

Now that I have restored the content from the backup, everything is back online.

Sorry for the noise

[AMurray]

I will just mention you're running an out-of-date Joomla (3.9.6 is six years old) and PHP 7.3 (EOL in Nov 2022).

I'd get both updated to more recent versions (PHP 8.1) and Joomla 4 at the minimum.

[JAVesey]

I will just mention you're running an out-of-date Joomla (3.9.6 is six years old) and PHP 7.3 (EOL in Nov 2022).

I'd get both updated to more recent versions (PHP 8.1) and Joomla 4 at the minimum.

Absolutely this. You’re not even on the latest (last?) version of J3 (v3.10.12) and so are missing several enhancements and security updates. Should be a one-click update from your current v3.9.26