Hey everyone,

I've got a situation that I can't figure out. When I go to my site I get a window prompting me to download my index.php file. Why is it doing that? Thanks kindly for any help. It's reeaallllyy appreciated!

Hello,

It sounds like a php script error. But, I'm not sure thats just going off what you said.

Your server has the wrong MIME type set for .php is the usual problem when that happens.

That, or the PHP process crashed.
It has the same effect...

Originally Posted by tripy

That, or the PHP process crashed.
It has the same effect...

How would I fix this? Thanks Tripy.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Your server has the wrong MIME type set for .php is the usual problem when that happens.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? The server is running Plesk 8.6 (if this helps any) Sorry for the noobie-ness and thanks in advance Chris.

How would I fix this? Thanks Tripy.

Not particularly easy...
First, look in the apache error log, to see if you see something about a SIGSEG message, or a segmentation fault.

This means that the application crashed.
Then, you should try to locate which function create this sigseg.
Once located the module which is causing it, you usually end up re-compiling the library and the php module which depends on it.

For example, if you have a sigseg when you create a jpg image with the GD module, it can come from the libjpeg library, or the gd library.
Try to re-compile or re-install them, and re-compile PHP to take in account the new versions of the library.

This is very low level, and must be done on a command shell.
And if you have no previous experience in linux management, will seems rather complicated.

Beside, depending of the distribution, you can have binary packages (pre-compiled), or source based packages (where you download the sources and compile them).
Ubuntu, debian, red-hat and derivative, slackware are based on binary packages, and mixing source hand made compiled versions of existing binary library is your ticket to hell, literally.

Other distro (gentoo, sorcerer, sourcemage, gobo linux) being source based are less prone to those problems, but requires much more work to maintain and are prone to errors in manipulations if you don't act in the way you should.

And finally, the problem could be on the hardware. A failing cell on a memory bar can cause crashes. The temperature in the server being too hot can do the same.
I've seen some HDD controller, when under load, to cause crashes too.

Simply said, it's a complicated problem that requires to be almost everytime in front of the computer, and it's often the experience and the feeling that can led to find where the problem lies.

Originally Posted by tripy

Not particularly easy...
First, look in the apache error log, to see if you see something about a SIGSEG message, or a segmentation fault.

This means that the application crashed.
Then, you should try to locate which function create this sigseg.
Once located the module which is causing it, you usually end up re-compiling the library and the php module which depends on it.

For example, if you have a sigseg when you create a jpg image with the GD module, it can come from the libjpeg library, or the gd library.
Try to re-compile or re-install them, and re-compile PHP to take in account the new versions of the library.

This is very low level, and must be done on a command shell.
And if you have no previous experience in linux management, will seems rather complicated.

Beside, depending of the distribution, you can have binary packages (pre-compiled), or source based packages (where you download the sources and compile them).
Ubuntu, debian, red-hat and derivative, slackware are based on binary packages, and mixing source hand made compiled versions of existing binary library is your ticket to hell, literally.

Other distro (gentoo, sorcerer, sourcemage, gobo linux) being source based are less prone to those problems, but requires much more work to maintain and are prone to errors in manipulations if you don't act in the way you should.

And finally, the problem could be on the hardware. A failing cell on a memory bar can cause crashes. The temperature in the server being too hot can do the same.
I've seen some HDD controller, when under load, to cause crashes too.

Simply said, it's a complicated problem that requires to be almost everytime in front of the computer, and it's often the experience and the feeling that can led to find where the problem lies.

I'm in trouble. This all seems well beyond my skill and knowledge level.

Would DNS settings have any effect on this?

Nope.

1/ has this suddenly happened or is this the first time trying php?

2/ Do we get a URI to check the MIME settings?

3/ What control panel do you have (if any) and/or what access do you have to the web server?

Originally Posted by chrishirst

Nope.

1/ has this suddenly happened or is this the first time trying php?

2/ Do we get a URI to check the MIME settings?

3/ What control panel do you have (if any) and/or what access do you have to the web server?

1/ Our developer tried uploading the site for the first time, which is when we ran into this problem.

2/ Not quite sure I understand the question.

3/ Plesk Control Panel version: psa v8.6.0_build86080722.01 os_Debian 4.0
Operating system: Linux 2.6.18-028stab057.4
We have a vps account with our host and have full access to the server.

1/ Ok Maybe the site isn't properly setup for php.

have a look in /usr/local/apache/conf/ for httpd.conf and see if these lines (or something similar) are there
<Files *.php>
SetOutputFilter PHP
SetInputFilter PHP
LimitRequestBody 9524288
</Files>
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

2/ the site URL.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

1/ Ok Maybe the site isn't properly setup for php.

have a look in /usr/local/apache/conf/ for httpd.conf and see if these lines (or something similar) are there
<Files *.php>
SetOutputFilter PHP
SetInputFilter PHP
LimitRequestBody 9524288
</Files>
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

2/ the site URL.

1/ Here's a screen shot of what I'm looking at. There wasn't an apache file to open as you'll see. Any thoughts?

http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?i...icture1iz6.png

2/ <removed >
Thanks Chris!

[removed the URL because of the content it will be carrying]

try a test file using <?php rather than the <? version to check if short tags are allowed.

restart the PHP service (or the VPS)

Originally Posted by chrishirst

[removed the URL because of the content it will be carrying]

try a test file using <?php rather than the <? version to check if short tags are allowed.

restart the PHP service (or the VPS)

Do I restart any of these?
http://img151.imageshack.us/my.php?i...icture2xi9.png

No. Sorry, I was thinking in terms of Plesk on Windows (IIS) for the "services". Not even sure if you can restart it from Plesk running on Linux, we use WHM/cPanel on Linux box and Plesk on the Windows box.

But just to make sure it is activated, go into the "domains" section and pull up the domain you are having problems with, click on "Setup" and make sure that "PHP support" is checked.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

No. Sorry, I was thinking in terms of Plesk on Windows (IIS) for the "services". Not even sure if you can restart it from Plesk running on Linux, we use WHM/cPanel on Linux box and Plesk on the Windows box.

But just to make sure it is activated, go into the "domains" section and pull up the domain you are having problems with, click on "Setup" and make sure that "PHP support" is checked.

So I went into the "setup" section and "php support" was not checked. I checked it and the option for safe mode. Was the check for safe mode needed? The problem is still there though...

restart Apache in Plesk Services to make sure it loads the new configuration

running with safe mode off will be perfectly ok in your case as you are on a VPS. Safe mode is meant as a "security feature" for shared servers.

A list of disabled or limited functions in safe mode is at -> http://uk3.php.net/manual/en/feature....functions.php

Originally Posted by chrishirst

restart Apache in Plesk Services to make sure it loads the new configuration

running with safe mode off will be perfectly ok in your case as you are on a VPS. Safe mode is meant as a "security feature" for shared servers.

A list of disabled or limited functions in safe mode is at -> http://uk3.php.net/manual/en/feature....functions.php

Okay, restarted Apache. It said to "give it some time". How much time does it usually take for it to restart?

Hope this works.

Thanks for that list Chris. And thanks for your on-going support. If you didn't live across the globe I'd say let's grab a beer (on me of course ).

Okay, restarted Apache. It said to "give it some time". How much time does it usually take for it to restart?

I believe few hours at max. Depends on the web hosting provider.

Originally Posted by ~ServerPoint~

I believe few hours at max. Depends on the web hosting provider.

Sounds good. Thanks for the response serverpoint. I'm really learning something new daily through all this.