FAQ: Jamroom Errors and Issues
- When performing an action in Jamroom, I'm am only seeing a blank page - what's wrong?
- When generating my Member and Artist Sites, I'm getting an "unable to rename index.php.tmp to index.php" error
- I am receiving a "PHP Warning: cannot yet handle MBCS in html_entity_decode()" error in my PHP Error Log
- Users signing up see the error: ERROR: that User Name is already being used - choose a different User Name
- I am seeing the error "mod_rewrite does NOT appear to be functioning correctly" for Friendly URLs in my Server Check
- When uploading a song I get a "You forgot to enter a Song Name" error, but I've entered a Song Name - what's wrong?
- When creating a song or video I am getting a "404 Page Not Found" error
- When uploading a song, video, photo or vault item I get ERROR: Failed to mkdir /home/path/to/your/jamroom/compile/: No such file or directory
- My songs (particularly LoFi songs) sound like they are playing at double speed (i.e. a "chipmunk" effect) in the flash players - what is causing this?
- When creating a song, I get an error similar to: "getMediaFile() the bitrate of the LOFI song (###) is HIGHER/LOWER than allowed (###)" - what is causing this?
- When creating a song, I get an error saying: "() unable to determine the bitrate of the HIFI/LOFI song file 0" - what does that mean?
When performing an action in Jamroom, I'm am only seeing a blank page - what's wrong?
Viewing the Jamroom PHP Error Log
With the release of Jamroom 3, Jamroom moved to a more secure way of recording and viewing PHP Errors that might arise when working in your Jamroom. By default, Jamroom 3 will NOT display a PHP error that it has encountered, as this prevents details about your server from being viewed on the Internet. When a PHP error is encountered, however, the result is often a blank white screen.
To view any PHP Errors that might have happened while running Jamroom, you will see a small "PHP Error Log" link in the Admin Menu:
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Tip: If you do not see a link to the PHP Error Log, it means that there are no PHP Errors to report at this time. Note that if you have the Jamroom Cluster and Conversion Server installed, the link to the PHP Error Log always shows - it will also include buttons in it to view the PHP Error Log on your Cluster servers. |
If you are unable to view the Master Admin Menu in Jamroom, the error log can be found via FTP at jamroom/logs/jr_php_error_log - you can download it using any FTP client and view it in a text editor. The newest errors will be located at the bottom of the file.
Troubleshooting PHP Errors
The most likely causes of PHP Errors in your Jamroom are:
1. You have made modifications to the templates in your Jamroom, and have created a syntax error in one of your templates. This type of error will look something like this:
[20-Aug-2006 16:00:17] PHP Fatal error: Smarty error: [in /home/htdocs/test/skins/Cobalt/jr_index.tpl line 7]: syntax error: unexpected {else} (Smarty_Compiler.class.php, line 468) in /home/htdocs/test/include/smarty/libs/Smarty.class.php on line 1095
The "clue" here is the in error text:
Smarty error: [in /home/htdocs/test/skins/Cobalt/jr_index.tpl line 7]: syntax error: unexpected {else}
You can see the line number (7), and the template file (jr_index.tpl) that is reporting the error. You want to fix the syntax error, and your page should begin showing again.
2. You have not uploaded all of the Jamroom PHP scripts correctly, or they have become corrupted during transfer to your server. This is actually more common then it may seem - there are quite a few low quality FTP transfer programs out there, and still more low quality ones built into Web and HTML editors. It is highly recommended that you use a quality FTP client, like the free and superb "FileZilla". This can save you a lot of headaches as it will ensure your files are transferred to your server correctly.
3. The third issue that can cause this problem is lack of proper PHP support on your server - i.e. your PHP Install is missing components, or has reduced functionality due to the restrictions placed on your server by your hosting provider. You should see errors that indicate this in your Jamroom PHP Error Log, and you will want to contact your hosting provider to see if they help you by fixing and/or changing the PHP installation on your server.
If you are unable to fix the problem, please feel post your issue in the Jamroom User Support forums, along with any errors you have found in your Jamroom PHP Error Log.
When generating my Member and Artist Sites, I'm getting an "unable to rename index.php.tmp to index.php" error
This typically happens when the files that are in the artist and member directories (i.e. jamroom/members/1/*.php) are NOT owned by the current web user. Typically a web server runs as an account on a server (often called “httpd” or “nobody”), and in order to create or write to a file, it must have the proper permissions. Often what can happen is you change servers, or copy your Jamroom from one folder to another, and the files will now be owned by YOUR user account on the server, and no longer be owned by the web user. Without fixing the permissions on those files you will get this error.
The solution to the error is to log in to your server (via FTP) and change the permissions on the files to be 666 in the artist folders (or possibly 644 if your PHP is running in CGI mode or with PHP suEXEC support enabled) - this will allow “write permissions” for the web user, which will now allow the web server to create and overwrite the files it needs to create the Artist site.
After you have set the proper permissions on your folders and files in your Artist and Member directories, you can regenerate your Sites and you should have no errors.
I am receiving a "PHP Warning: cannot yet handle MBCS in html_entity_decode()" error in my PHP Error Log
This error happens on servers that do not have the proper library support in place to handle Multi-Byte Character Strings. By default, Jamroom attempts to use UTF-8 encoding/decoding for HTML character entities that it displays, but on some servers, you will get this error in your PHP Error Log. The solution is to:
- Log in to Jamroom as the Master Admin.
- Click on the Jamroom Config link, and select the "Environment Options" link from the menu.
- Set the Entity Encoding drop-down setting to "ISO-8859-1".
- Save the settings by clicking on the "Update Settings" button at the bottom of the page.
That's it - you can clear your PHP Error Log and you should be good to go
Users signing up see the error: ERROR: that User Name is already being used - choose a different User Name
There can be 2 possible reasons for this error to appear when a user is signing up for your Jamroom:
- If you have configured a Jamroom Bridge script (such as phpBB2, vBulletin or SMF), and there is an error encountered when trying to communicate with the bridged application, Jamroom will return this error. This is done because Jamroom not only checks to be sure the username being requested is unique in Jamroom, but also unique in the bridged application/forum.
- The name being entered has been banned via the Jamroom Tools -> Banned Names tool. Make sure the name being used is not a banned name.
I am seeing the error "mod_rewrite does NOT appear to be functioning correctly" for Friendly URLs in my Server Check
In order for the Jamroom Friendly URLs option to work correctly, Jamroom relies on an Apache module called "mod_rewrite" to do the actual URL rewriting of the request. However, your hosting account must be authorized to use mod_rewrite - even if it is activated in the Apache server, usually you will still need to have it activated for your hosting account. By default, most providers enabled mod_rewrite for their customers use, but if you receive this error it means that Jamroom was not able to activate the mod_rewrite function on your server, and you will need to contact your hosting provider and ensure that mod_rewrite has been activated for your account.
To manually check whether mod_rewrite has been enabled properly on your account, you can load the Jamroom mod_rewrite "test" URL on your Jamroom site - i.e.:
http://www.yoursite.com/jamroom/jr_mod_rewrite_server_check
Make sure and replace "yoursite.com" with your actual domain name, as well as ensure you use the proper directory location of your Jamroom. If you have installed the Friendly URLs .htaccess file properly as jamroom/.htaccess, and mod_rewrite is enabled properly, you should only see 2 letters on your screen for this URL - "OK". If you receive a 404 "Page Not Found" error it means that mod_rewrite is not working properly in your account, and you will need to contact your hosting provider for additional assistance on ensuring mod_rewrite is enabled on your server. Until the Friendly URLs test URL returns "OK" correctly, there's nothing that can be done in Jamroom to use or activate the Friendly URLs.
For more details on mod_rewrite, please reference the Apache mod_rewrite manual page.
When uploading a song I get a "You forgot to enter a Song Name" error, but I've entered a Song Name - what's wrong?
You will receive this error if you the amount of data you are trying to upload (i.e. the size of the Audio File) is larger then the "Maximum Combined Upload Size" - which is always shown for you on the Song Create/Modify form. You'll want to make sure and follow this FAQ entry:
Jamroom Only allows a Maximum Upload Size of 2 Megabytes - how do I change this?
To change the Maximum Combined Upload Size to something larger then 2mb.
Note: this can also happen on the Create/Modify Video screen and you will see a "You forgot to enter a Video Name" error - the cause of the error is the same.
When creating a song or video I am getting a "404 Page Not Found" error
If you are in the Create/Modify Song form, or the Create/Modify Video form, and when you submit the form you are receiving a "404 page not found" error (in Internet Explorer it may return as an "unable to open site" error), this means the Jamroom Progress Meter is not installed properly. Please reference the Jamroom Progress Meter install instructions that are located in the Jamroom Power Pack install guide.
When uploading a song, video, photo or vault item I get ERROR: Failed to mkdir /home/path/to/your/jamroom/compile/: No such file or directory
This error means the Jamroom Progress Meter, which is part of the Jamroom Power Pack , has not been installed correctly - please follow the install instructions to ensure your Progress Meter is installed properly.
My songs (particularly LoFi songs) sound like they are playing at double speed (i.e. a "chipmunk" effect) in the flash players - what is causing this?
This is an issue when songs do note have a sample rate (not bit rate) of 44.1 kHz (or some division of that, i.e. 22.050 kHz or 11.025 kHz). In order for these songs to be played correctly, they will need to be re-encoded at the proper sample rate. Also, .mp3 files need to be stereo, not mono. In order for uploaded files to be played correctly, your user will need to re-encode the file, and then reupload it and recreate the lofi file (if desired).
When creating a song, I get an error similar to: "getMediaFile() the bitrate of the HIFI/LOFI song (###) is HIGHER/LOWER than allowed (###)" - what is causing this?
This error will be displayed when a user attempts to upload either a hifi or lofi song that either exceeds or does not meet the minimum/maximum bitrate standards set in the user's quota. Your user will need to re-encode the file for the correct bitrate range.
When creating a song, I get an error saying: "() unable to determine the bitrate of the HIFI/LOFI song file 0" - what does that mean?
This error usually means that either your media file was not encoded properly, or it has become corrupt. Make sure that the file you are uploading has been encoded with a high-quality encoder. If you continue to have problems, try uploading the "sample" mp3 file included with Jamroom (in the jamroom/sample/ directory) to verify if it is an issue with your particular file or not.
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