Posted by david jeyachandran on June 10, 2013 at 1:27am
A friend here has a unusual problem with his site. When he installs a module, it seems like any module, the site starts behaving strangely. The Admin menu disappears and blocks don't work. I can't even get a simple test block to appear.
I've tried the simple things like flushing caches and changing the theme.
The Drupal setup is unusual. Drupal 6.16 running on Windows server. They're using the ERP module and a bunch of customised modules.
I'm a bit lost, not sure where to even start with a problem like this. Any suggestions?
One option I suggested was creating a new database and install everything from scratch and migrate the data. This would be a HUGE job.
Any ideas?
Comments
Any error messages? Maybe
Any error messages?
Maybe check the server error logs, php memory allocation and APC stats if you're using APC.
It might be completely
It might be completely different issue - as I never use windows servers - but I had some similarly strange behaviours on a site I inherited: Turned out to be related to Database table ownership. I suspect had occurred when previous person had manually fiddled around in the MySQL tables. Took me weeks to stumble on it. I created a copy of the database, and pointed the site to the new database, and it fixed it.
Might be nothing like your issue... Good luck.
Lots of red flags there
Old Drupal version, customised modules with unspecified changes ... there's a lot to warn you off getting involved here. It sounds like the site's in a bit of a stew.
That said, you can debug your way through anything, with enough time and patience and expendable sanity. Some questions to consider (don't answer these - just mull them over and try some and see what you find).
If you don't know what's been changed on the customised modules, the Hacked module can be really helpful. (Of course, that requires adding another module to your site, which you've already said doesn't work so well.)
If my comments have helped you, please pay it forward!
Use issue queues to discuss module issues - this will help your questions assist others (including yourself!) in future.
One option I suggested was
Not really. You might do something like this -
Separating the customisations from the base modules and core code is a huge leap forwards as far as debugging goes, because custom code is no longer lost amongst the modules. This removes a huge amount of uncertainty when it comes to updating (which typically fixes lots of other issues). If I had to deal with a site in that state, that's likely where I'd start.
If my comments have helped you, please pay it forward!
Use issue queues to discuss module issues - this will help your questions assist others (including yourself!) in future.
Are you using Internet
Are you using Internet Explorer?
Maybe its the CSS file limit causing the issue?
Install Firefox or Chrome for an easy check, if it is that issue, just enable CSS aggregation should sort it longer term.
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http://singularo.com/
Tried different browsers
Yeah I've tried different browsers - Firefox and Chrome. I think it's a PHP issue or a database issue given that we've switched themes and it affects things like block and menu changes.
How much memory do you have on the server
Is the site failing on menu rebuild after a new module is installed? It is possible if you are short on memory? You can check the size of the menu_router table to see if it keeps changing around
Check out our Free Drupal site review
Will check the menu_router
We've checked the PHP memory which we increased to 256Mb. We'll also check the menu_router table. Thanks.
Thank you
First of all thank you for lots of good ideas - love the community!
Ok, I now feel we've got a bunch of things to try. I'm glad I'm just helping out a friend and it's not a project I need to take on. Especially thank you for the steps in doing a site rebuild. Still there are simple things we haven't checked like APC stats and webserver logs. I'll also try the database copy.
Thank you again :)