Moodle Upgrade gives totally blank web page

[Cmd.exe]

Hi, I'm sure this is a simple question:

 

I am trying to complete my first Moodle Upgrade (i know, i'm a late starter) and im only going from 2.7.? to 2.7.?+ but when i backup the /var/ww/html/moodle folder and the extract the new .taz.gz to be the new /var/www/html/moodle folder and then copy my config.php back in - i get just a white webpage and no site at all.

If i dont copy my old config.php back in the site works, starts asking setup questions, but i am worried that this will be a new install and not use my existing db/content/settings.

 

Please can someone point me in the right direction here?

 

I am using moodle 2.7/ubuntu14/command line only.

 

If anyone has an upgrade guide they swear by, please share, i would be interested to take a look.

[penfold_99]

If you are back up /var/ww/html/moodle and the extracting the latest version its best to rename /var/ww/html/moodle to /var/ww/html/moodle-27 and then extract it and copy over your config file plus any plugins you have added.

 

If your still getting a white screen ad the following to your config.php file

 

@ini_set('display_errors', '1'); // NOT FOR PRODUCTION SERVERS!

$CFG->debug = 32767; // DEBUG_DEVELOPER // NOT FOR PRODUCTION SERVERS!

// for Moodle 2.0 - 2.2, use: $CFG->debug = 38911;

$CFG->debugdisplay = true; // NOT FOR PRODUCTION SERVERS!

 

this will get moodle to output an error message.

[unixman_again]

If you don't copy in your config.php, it will indeed do a new install. The most important thing to remember when doing a Moodle upgrade is "Move your old Moodle software program files to another location. Do NOT copy new files over the old files." Check the perms on your new moodle software folder is the same as the old folder. A white page usually means that the web server (eg Apache) can't display the page. Check your logs. The definitive Moodle upgrade guide is the docs page https://docs.moodle.org/27/en/Upgrading

[Cmd.exe]

If you are back up /var/ww/html/moodle and the extracting the latest version its best to rename /var/ww/html/moodle to /var/ww/html/moodle-27 and then extract it and copy over your config file plus any plugins you have added.

 

If your still getting a white screen ad the following to your config.php file

 

@ini_set('display_errors', '1'); // NOT FOR PRODUCTION SERVERS!

$CFG->debug = 32767; // DEBUG_DEVELOPER // NOT FOR PRODUCTION SERVERS!

// for Moodle 2.0 - 2.2, use: $CFG->debug = 38911;

$CFG->debugdisplay = true; // NOT FOR PRODUCTION SERVERS!

 

this will get moodle to output an error message.

 

Thanks, i have tried this exactly as you specify, but no change. Sorry!

[Cmd.exe]

The most important thing to remember when doing a Moodle upgrade is "Move your old Moodle software program files to another location. Do NOT copy new files over the old files."

 

Yep, this is exactly what i have done, so thats good at least.

 

Check the perms on your new moodle software folder is the same as the old folder. A white page usually means that the web server (eg Apache) can't display the page. Check your logs. The definitive Moodle upgrade guide is the docs page https://docs.moodle.org/27/en/Upgrading

 

I have been following the moodle guides for normal upgrades and admin from command line, but neither are helping me out of my hole

 

Stupid question 2: what perms should be set on the moodle folder?

 

Stupid question 3: I'm not sure what this Apache log is telling me - does it look normal to you?

 

::1 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:25:01 +0100] "GET /moodle/admin/cron.php HTTP/1.1" 200 7614 "-" "Wget/1.15 (linux-gnu)"

::1 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:30:02 +0100] "GET /moodle/admin/cron.php HTTP/1.1" 200 7350 "-" "Wget/1.15 (linux-gnu)"

::1 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:35:01 +0100] "GET /moodle/admin/cron.php HTTP/1.1" 404 509 "-" "Wget/1.15 (linux-gnu)"

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:39:47 +0100] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 5748 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; $

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:39:47 +0100] "GET /moodle HTTP/1.1" 301 590 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WO$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:39:47 +0100] "GET /moodle/ HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; W$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:39:47 +0100] "GET /browserconfig.xml HTTP/1.1" 404 5759 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Window$

::1 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:40:01 +0100] "GET /moodle/admin/cron.php HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Wget/1.15 (linux-gnu)"

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:42:22 +0100] "GET /moodle/ HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; W$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:42:23 +0100] "GET /moodle/ HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; W$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:42:26 +0100] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 424 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; T$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:42:26 +0100] "GET /moodle HTTP/1.1" 301 589 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WO$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:42:26 +0100] "GET /moodle/ HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; W$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:42:35 +0100] "GET /moodle/ HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; W$

192.168.0.119 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:42:35 +0100] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 507 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.$

::1 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:45:01 +0100] "GET /moodle/admin/cron.php HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Wget/1.15 (linux-gnu)"

::1 - - [30/Sep/2014:13:50:01 +0100] "GET /moodle/admin/cron.php HTTP/1.1" 500 205 "-" "Wget/1.15 (linux-gnu)"

[Cmd.exe]

Well, i've put the backup back live and the machine is still broken, so i've restored to snapshot and will just start again.

[CarolBooth]

I've had this issue before with a blank screen on upgrade. Removing one of your contrib blocks usually fixes it. I've had it with the gmail blocks, I just removed the relevant directory and moodle re-appeared.

 

Last time, removing the folder for the block (e.g. /usr/share/blocks/gmail) and replacing with a fresh latest version of the block solved the problem. In the past I've also fully uninstalled blocks and re-installed.

 

I hope that's some help

Carol