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Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

#16939 Blank Page When Accessing Backup Now

Posted in ‘Akeeba Backup for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information

Joomla! version
n/a
PHP version
n/a
Akeeba Backup version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Friday, 02 August 2013 10:20 CDT

bettondesign
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? Yes https://www.akeebabackup.com/component/docimport/akeeba-backup-documentation/instts-blankpagebackup.html
Have I searched the tickets before posting? Yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Joomla! version: 3.1.5
PHP version: 5.4.16
MySQL version: 5.5.32-log
Host: Heart Internet
Akeeba Backup version: 3.7.10

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Please attach a ZIP file containing your Akeeba Backup log file in order for us to help you with any backup or restoration issue. If the file is over 2Mb, please upload it on your server and post a link to it.

Description of my issue:
I cannot attach my log for the same reason as my issue.

When I click on 'Backup Now' or 'Configuration' 'View Log' etc I just get a blank page. I regularly update Joomla and Akeeba and this has only happened recently. I followed the instructions located at https://www.akeebabackup.com/component/docimport/akeeba-backup-documentation/instts-blankpagebackup.html (both options) and this hasn't fixed the issue.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
A white page or a page with a 500 Internal Server Error is, in fact, either a .htaccess issue to a PHP fatal error in disguise.

First, let's see if it is a .htaccess issue. Try renaming the .htaccess file in your site's root to htaccess.bak If there is a .htaccess file in the site's administrator directory, try renaming it as well. If that solves the problem, the issue was with a directive in your .htaccess file. We'd like to recommend you to try removing directives from your .htaccess until you find the one which causes the problem.

If that doesn't help, the error you are receiving is in fact a PHP error in disguise. First, check your server's error logs (not the access logs) immediately after visiting the page which throws the error. There should be an exact description of the PHP fatal error which occurred. Sometimes you can find the error messages in files called error_log or error.log inside the site's root and/or administrator directories. If unsure about the error log location, please consult your host. Most likely the error logs are available in your site's cPanel, Plesk control panel or similar hosting account management facility.

If your host does not give you access to the error logs and you have access to the Joomla! administrator area, please log in to your site's back-end, go to Global Configuration, click on the Server tab and set the Error Reporting to Maximum (Joomla! 1.5) or Development (Joomla! 2.x and later). Try visiting the problem page again.

If you still get a blank page, edit your configuration.php file and put the following code right after the final closing curly brace ( this is what a curly brace looks like --> } ) but before the closing PHP tag (it looks like ?> that is a question mark and a greater-than sign):
ini_set( 'display_errors', true );
error_reporting( E_ALL ); 
Try visiting the problem page again.

If you still get a white page, please remote the two lines from your configuration.php file. Edit the .htaccess file in your site's root. If you don't have a file named .htaccess create a new one. Beware that htaccess.txt is a DIFFERENT FILE and will NOT work! Add the following to the end of the file:
php_flag display_errors On
php_value error_reporting 32767
and retry loading the problem page.

If you still get a white page, remove the two lines from your .htaccess file. Now, create a file called php.ini with the following content:
display_errors=on
error_reporting=E_ALL
and upload it into your site's root and your site's administrator directory. Retry loading the problem page.

IMPORTANT: Sometimes the error won't show. Edit your configuration.php and find the line starting with public $error_reporting and set it to:
public $error_reporting = 'development';

This instructs Joomla! to enable maximum error, warnings and notices verbosity. In 99.9% of cases it will result in the error messages being shown on the browser.

If you still get a white page, delete the php.ini files your created and choose a different host. If your host doesn't allow you to debug any PHP-related issues there is no point paying them.

Please note that if you can not understand what the PHP error message means, just copy and paste it here verbatim so that we can take a look and point you to the right direction.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

bettondesign
Hi Nicholas

Thank you for your detailed answer. Unfortunately I followed everything and nothing worked - no error reporting and no luck when renaming htaccess.

I have many sites on this host all running Admin Tools and Akeeba Backup with no issues at all. I am at a loss.

I get blank Pages in Akeeba when accessing:
Profiles Management
Configuration
Backup Now
Manage Backups
View Log
Scheduling Information
Multiple Database Definitions
Off Site Directories Inclusion
And all 5 'Exclude data from the backup' buttons

bettondesign
PS. I have gotten in touch with my host to see if anything is wrong with their error reporting. I await their reply.

bettondesign
Hi
I have been in touch with the host and they are adamant that their error reporting is working as it should and no errors are being reported for the site.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Then how is it possible that you get a blank page (which means a PHP error) and yet you have no PHP error? Sorry, without knowing the PHP error I can't help you as I don't know where to start.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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