Site Crashed While Updating from 3.6 to 3.9

[mitchellreels]

Dear Members,

I do pray someone can help us. The site is http:/www.mitchellreelmuseum.com and as I was upgrading from Joomla 3.6 to 3.9, it just stopped, gave me error code 1054 and went to the white screen of death! That's on the admin section but the site tries to load but on several pages, it just stops trying. I do have recent backups but I can't get in to load it...

So what I need is "how do you get in to the admin section with the White screen?"

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

All The Best,
Wallace Carney

[sozzled]

G'day, @mitchellreels, and welcome to the forum.

Usually an "error 1054" indicates a database problem: see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/192 ... field-list (as an example). The example I've given may not be the specific reason in your case.

I do have recent backups but I can't get in to load it ...

This is excellent news to read (that you have recent backups); many people don't even have that much! I am assuming that you made these backups with Akeeba Backup, yes? If that is the case then you don't need to "get in to [the now-unworkable backend of your website]" to recover the backup media and use it to restore your site to the situation it was in before you attempted to update from J! 3.6.something.

While it's great to have backups of a website, J! 3.6 is not that "recent" (J! 3.6.0 was released nearly 2½ years ago and there have been 27 releases of Joomla in that time). The problems may not necessarily be due to attempting to undertake an overdue update of the site software but there may be other factors involved including whether the site—the total "package" of software used by the site—is compatible with the environment within which the site is hosted. More about that later, I suspect.

[mitchellreels]

G'day Sozzled,

I just ordered a Steak from Outback Steakhouse. LOL

Yes the backup is Akeeba and the Joomla version 3.6 is all I remember. Is there a way to find this information out when not being able to get to the back office? What do I do Next?

Thanks for your help,
Wallace Carney

[sozzled]

Cheers, mate.

If you've been using Akeeba Backup, chances are that the backup media has been placed in its default location, i.e. the folder ../administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup. You should be able to find several large files named site-<your-domain>-yyyymmdd-hhmmss.jpa.

This is the recommended approach to restore the site using one of these files:

1. Store the file in a safe place (e.g. download it via FTP to your PC)
2. Delete all the files in your site's filesystem
3. DROP the database tables associated with your website (using phpMyAdmin in your webhost cPanel).
4. Upload the [.JPA] file (that you saved in step 1), via FTP, to the root folder of your site's filesystem
5. Upload the file kickstart.php (obtainable from Akeeba's website) to the root folder of your site's filesystem,
6. Point your browser to <your-domain>/kickstart.php and follow the prompts.

All up, less than 30 minutes to recover your site from the backup media (all things being equal, of course).

[Webdongle]

Joomla 3.6.0 does not update directly to J3.9.0 ... it updates to 3.6.5. Also before updating Joomla the Joomla Update Component must be updated.

[sozzled]

Thanks, @Webdongle. That's probably a matter to be addressed after restoring the site to whatever version of J! 3.6 was in place before the troubles began.

[Webdongle]

Often 3rd party extensions can cause an update to fail. All 3rd party extensions should be checked (not all use Joomla's update notification). The method in viewtopic.php?f=710&t=956702 can be used if 3rd party extensions are interfering with the update process.

[mitchellreels]

Webdongle and Sozzled,

Thank you for your assistance.

If you've been using Akeeba Backup, chances are that the backup media has been placed in its default location, i.e. the folder ../administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup. You should be able to find several large files named site-<your-domain>-yyyymmdd-hhmmss.jpa.

This is the recommended approach to restore the site using one of these files:

1. Store the file in a safe place (e.g. download it via FTP to your PC)
2. Delete all the files in your site's filesystem
3. DROP the database tables associated with your website (using phpMyAdmin in your webhost cPanel).
4. Upload the [.JPA] file (that you saved in step 1), via FTP, to the root folder of your site's filesystem
5. Upload the file kickstart.php (obtainable from Akeeba's website) to the root folder of your site's filesystem,
6. Point your browser to <your-domain>/kickstart.php and follow the prompts.

All up, less than 30 minutes to recover your site from the backup media (all things being equal, of course).

I wish I could understand how to do what you suggested but I'm new at this ans my knowledge is limited. It looks like I need to hire someone. Any suggestions?

All The Best,

Wallace Carney

PS: This post sucks...LOL

[sozzled]

It looks like I need to hire someone. Any suggestions?

If you're interested in a web developer for hire, I suggest you use the Professional Joomla Services forum category for that purpose and take things from there.