Error when placing orders

[belvedere +]

68C v4.1.8
Using Templatecodes Fluid template

A customer has complained that he was getting an error every time he tried placing an ad on our site and eventyually he gave up. I have been doing some tests myself placing several ads. Initialy it worked but eventually I managed to see it. The problem happens on stage 4 when you add images. After clicking the add image button it starts uploading the image and then just goes back to the same screen and the image does not appear as it normally does. When you click on "skip this step" even if you don't add an image you then get the message "Error please contact support". When I check the orders on the administration page it appears as not completed. I tried several times both with Microsoft Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox and it kept happening. I then left it and tried again some time later and it worked perfectly, so it seems to be an intermittent problem.
Has anybody had this problem before?
Can somebody help me please? It is a new site and I don't want to cause a bad impression on new customers.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[seymourjames +]

Are you using the multiple image upload module?

Does this error occur yon the default template? If it does then it is a core software issue or an issue with you hosting service and not template related.

[Lhotch +]

Originally Posted by belvedere

68C v4.1.8
Using Templatecodes Fluid template

A customer has complained that he was getting an error every time he tried placing an ad on our site and eventyually he gave up. I have been doing some tests myself placing several ads. Initialy it worked but eventually I managed to see it. The problem happens on stage 4 when you add images. After clicking the add image button it starts uploading the image and then just goes back to the same screen and the image does not appear as it normally does. When you click on "skip this step" even if you don't add an image you then get the message "Error please contact support". When I check the orders on the administration page it appears as not completed. I tried several times both with Microsoft Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox and it kept happening. I then left it and tried again some time later and it worked perfectly, so it seems to be an intermittent problem.
Has anybody had this problem before?
Can somebody help me please? It is a new site and I don't want to cause a bad impression on new customers.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks

check your server error logs and see if there are any errors logged around the time of your testing.

Also, are you using a $5 a month shared hosting plan?

[belvedere +]

Thanks for your replies.
I'm using the Templatecodes "fluid template".
My site is hosted with Hostgator using their "Hatchling Plan" supposedly unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth.

[Lhotch +]

Originally Posted by belvedere

Thanks for your replies.
I'm using the Templatecodes "fluid template".
My site is hosted with Hostgator using their "Hatchling Plan" supposedly unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth.

Did the please contact support message look like it was generated from 68C or a hosts server message?

As far as hosting goes a simple rule of thumb is you get what you pay for. Unlimited disk and data are only one small peace of the puzzle. You may be sharing a server ith over 1000 other people and people may be running all kinds of scripts. Many are likely simple sites, but some could be complex resource hogs. The point is you dont know and neither does hostgator so they gnerally throttle use in some form to make sure one site cant hog all the resources.

When files are uploaded via php they are stored temporarily on disk in server shared/defined space until the upload is somplete at which time the image gets moved to a spot designated by your script. On shared hosting you can run into instances where this shared temp disk space gets full an it can cause problems. One thing you could check into is specifying your own php temp space. Youd have to check with your host about how to do this.

In the long run your sites success will be in part due to your host and a $5 plan isnt going to cut it for serious business.

[seymourjames +]

Originally Posted by seymourjames

Are you using the multiple image upload module?

Does this error occur yon the default template? If it does then it is a core software issue or an issue with you hosting service and not template related.

It will help if you answer these questions. otherwise it is not possible to say where your problem is occurring or why.

[belvedere +]

Originally Posted by seymourjames

It will help if you answer these questions. otherwise it is not possible to say where your problem is occurring or why.

Excuse my ignorance David, but I don't know what you mean by the "Default Template". All I know is that I'm using your "Fluid Templates" and nothing has been changed. Please advise how I can tell if I'm using the default template.

Did the please contact support message look like it was generated from 68C or a hosts server message?

As far as the above question by Lhotch, the error seems to be generated by the 68C script and not by the server. It appears properly aligned within the centre of the page. Too much in its place for it to be a server error message.

Lhotch, you also suggest problems with Hostgator when uploading the images via PHP, but one of the tests I did was without uploading any images and just clicking on "Skip this step" but I still got the error.

Many thanks for all your help so far.

[seymourjames +]

In your 68C admin control panel - is the multiple image upload module active?

If it is active, then deactivate it and tell me if the error continues.

[belvedere +]

Originally Posted by seymourjames

In your 68C admin control panel - is the multiple image upload module active?

If it is active, then deactivate it and tell me if the error continues.

No I don't have the multiple image upload module.
Thanks

[seymourjames +]

OK so there is another issue. Can you set the default template in your 68C admin control panel under template settings to be your main template and then test that. For the moment (temporarily) you can deactivate (not delete) the template switcher as well. This will tell us and you if there is something in the the core software.