Support » Fixing WordPress » My WordPress/bluehost nightmare

  • Hi everyone,

    I figured I’d post this here just to see if anyone might have a few answers.

    I’d just like to thank you in advance for reading this.

    My name is Alex and I began a blog back in September. Over the spring, I moved over to Bluehost and for the most part, have been satisfied with the experience.

    URL: Consequenceofsound.net/
    WP: WordPress 2.5

    When WordPress 2.5 was released, I decided to upgrade it it using WordPress’ Fantastico. However, after doing so, I began to experience the following script error whenever I went to “write a new post”:

    http://consequenceofsound.net/wp-inc…s?ver=1.2.3:11

    I likely talked to 20 different people about the issue and did everything from examining each js file to changing the theme to disabling plugins. A person at Bluehost even graciously helped me reinstall a new version of wordpress to see if that would fix the problem.

    However, in the end, nothing worked and I eventually learned to just live with it. While certainly a nuisance, it did not impact my ability to post or edit the site.

    Two months later was yesterday. After importing a .xml file, I noticed that when I went to “write a new post”, my browser essentially began to freeze. I tried using different browsers on different computers – and always got the same result.

    I decided to contact wordpress about the problem.

    The 1st person I talked to said he couldn’t find anything wrong and wasn’t sure what the problem was.

    The 2nd person I talked to said something similar, but also said it was likely that my site was “broken”. Seeing that I couldn’t post, I believed him to be correct and took his advice to install a brand new version of wordpress.

    Taking his suggestion, I installed the new version of wordpress at “/home” within my public html. My corrupted version is located at “/” within my public html. The support member told me it would be simple to move my new version from “/home” to “/” when the time had come, but did not leave me with any further details.

    Seeing as that I want to make the transition as smooth as possible, I am hoping to keep all my previously posted content (posts, mp3s, pictures). I had always thought that since it was backed up, this wouldn’t be much of a problem. However, when I asked a third person at wordpress how to do this later last night, I was told he “could not help me.”

    A fourth person told me the same thing. Of course, this seems rather strange considering someone else at Bluehost told me it was possible and suggested what to do. What’s more, as noted, another person at Bluehost has gone as far as helping me reinstall my site before. I found the difference in support help rather strange.

    I now find myself with a ton of questions and few people to turn to. I’m hoping that maybe some of you can feel my pain and at the very least, point me to the right direction.

    Here are a few of my questions….

    1. Is it possible to obtain contents (posts, mp3s, pictures) from my back up?

    2. I noticed the backup is a .tar file, but it won’t unzip on my MAC OS 10. Could anyone recommend a way to obtain this data?

    3. When I do obtain the data in my backup, how do I go about putting it all on my new blog (currently located at “/home”? Is it as simple as just importing the files into a place like the “wp-contents” folder or does it require something else?

    4. When I am ready to go, how do I go about moving my new blog from “/home” to “/”. In other words, I want the address to be http://consequenceofsound.net/ instead of http://consequenceofsound.net/home

    I know a lot of these questions may seem dumb, but I truly have no idea what I’m doing. I’m a blogger, not a web designer, and though I got myself into this situation, I would really appreciate any help I could get.

    Thank you all so much and I look forward to your advice.

    Alex

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • 1. Is it possible to obtain contents (posts, mp3s, pictures) from my back up?

    If you have a good backup of your database and theme, yes. If you’ve uploaded pics, mp3’s or other files into WordPress, you’ll want your uploads folder as well (under wp-content).

    2. I noticed the backup is a .tar file, but it won’t unzip on my MAC OS 10. Could anyone recommend a way to obtain this data?

    I’m not a Mac guy, preferring Linux instead. I’d google for software to decompress .tar files on the Mac.

    3. When I do obtain the data in my backup, how do I go about putting it all on my new blog (currently located at “/home”? Is it as simple as just importing the files into a place like the “wp-contents” folder or does it require something else

    ?

    The theme will need to be put in wp-contents and activated. With the data, you can either tie your new WP install into the existing database (if there is one), or you can import a MySQL database backup into your new WP database.

    http://codex.wordpress.org/Restoring_Your_Database_From_Backup

    Other cool guides here:
    http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/

    4. When I am ready to go, how do I go about moving my new blog from “/home” to “/”. In other words, I want the address to be http://consequenceofsound.net/ instead of http://consequenceofsound.net/home

    Check out:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory

    Thread Starter axyoung

    (@axyoung)

    Hmm…

    Ok. So I have two backsups to choose from. However, both are only downloading about 20% before stopping. Upon trying to unpack them, I get an unarchiving error for both. I’m assuming this a result of something likely being corrupt?

    A few weeks ago, I additionally downloaded all the wp files from the file manager onto my computer (just in case anything were to happen). Could I use these files if need be? I see the mp3s and jpgs, but am not sure where the posts would be located?

    And I do have a .xml export of my posts, but that’s what caused this mess to escalate in the first place so I was hoping I’d be able to just upload something into my public_html instead.

    Hey Alex,

    Ok. So I have two backsups to choose from. However, both are only downloading about 20% before stopping. Upon trying to unpack them, I get an unarchiving error for both. I’m assuming this a result of something likely being corrupt?

    Well, if they’re not completely downloaded, they probably won’t unpack at all. If you continue to have download problems, seek help from your host.

    A few weeks ago, I additionally downloaded all the wp files from the file manager onto my computer (just in case anything were to happen). Could I use these files if need be? I see the mp3s and jpgs, but am not sure where the posts would be located?

    How were your backups created? Are they cPanel backups, or full account backups, etc?

    The WP files that you downloaded should contain your theme, but won’t contain your posts since these are all in the database. The xml file should contain the major content of your posts, but won’t contain the images or mp3s or any other uploads. These should be in your uploads folder if you used WP to upload them.

    Ideally, you should backup the database regularly using a plugin like WP DB Backup. Depending on how your backups were created, you may have the databases, but you may need the help of your host to restore them.

    Thread Starter axyoung

    (@axyoung)

    Hmm…

    This is where I’m at.

    I have two full backups.

    I also have a number of MySQL Database backups. (For example, wordpre.sql)

    From what I can gather, the full backups contain everything, while the MySQL database ones contain posts, comments, etc.

    From reading these directions, it appears I need to upload my backup MySQL database to an already established one. Is that correct? If so, which one should database should I upload it into? (Remember the proper wordpress blog is located at “/home” within my public html.)

    consequ2_wordpre (19.12 MB)
    consequ2_wrdp1 (0.30 MB)
    consequ2_wrdp2 (26.13 MB)

    When I do this will my posts and comments appear on the new blog? Which database would be home to the faulty blog (currently located at “/” within my public html)?

    After this step, I would then assume it would be time to upload the wp-content files to the new blog?

    I’m thinking about just deleting the faulty blog and then moving the new one to the root folder. However, I don’t want to do that until I make sure all my posts and comments are saved.

    If the above is confusing, I apologize. If it could be explained more clearer via AIM or YIM…my SN is Orangemen1333.

    Thank you!!!

    I have two full backups.

    I also have a number of MySQL Database backups. (For example, wordpre.sql)

    From what I can gather, the full backups contain everything, while the MySQL database ones contain posts, comments, etc.

    It’s great that you have these backups. The MySQL backups contain all of the site’s content with the exception of any uploads.

    So, you’ll have to figure out which is the most recent, or correct backup first.

    From reading these directions, it appears I need to upload my backup MySQL database to an already established one. Is that correct? If so, which one should database should I upload it into? (Remember the proper wordpress blog is located at “/home” within my public html.)

    If I understand correctly, your original site was located in your ‘root’ directory /, but your new installation is in a subdirectory called /home.

    If this is the case, the MySQL backups that you have are going to contain links to the root directory rather than the home subdirectory. You’ll need to open these sql files in a text editor and search and replace the URLs from the old URL to the new.

    See this article for more info:
    http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/move/

    In your case, you’d replace http://consequenceofsound.net/ with http://consequenceofsound.net/home/ throughout the entire .sql file.

    Incidentally, when you open the .sql file in a text editor, you can browse through it and make sure you see the content for your site.

    Then, using phpMyAdmin on your webserver, you’ll follow the directions here to get rid of the new WordPress data and replace it with the backup data:

    http://www.tamba2.org.uk/wordpress/restore/

    After this step, I would then assume it would be time to upload the wp-content files to the new blog?

    Right. If you haven’t already uploaded your theme and uploads folder to the new installation at /home, you’ll want to do it here.

    I’m thinking about just deleting the faulty blog and then moving the new one to the root folder. However, I don’t want to do that until I make sure all my posts and comments are saved.

    Yeah, I’d probably make sure that the new blog is up and running before deleting anything, just in case.

    Hope this helps.

    Thread Starter axyoung

    (@axyoung)

    I guess to clarify…

    What steps do I need to take to obtain the content found in the mysql backups (posts, comments, etc.) so that they were to appear on my new installed version of wordpress?

    I know you can also do this by importing the .xml file, but that hasn’t been working all that successfully for me.

    Alex,

    See my last post and the links I provided. These will answer your question.

    Alternatively, you could try to upload the xml file first if the instructions are too scary. Then, if it goofs up, you can drop the existing database tables, edit your .sql backup, and import it into your new WP database.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • The topic ‘My WordPress/bluehost nightmare’ is closed to new replies.