"Query failed" instead of a Blog

[hudson-valley-dad]

My Serendipity Blog: http://www.dougmotel.com/personalgrowthblog/ imploded in front of my eyes. I went to look at it and I saw a whole bunch of strange characters in place of what is usually comma's and quotes etc.. I removed a couple of them and put comma's back. I checked it and it worked. Then I came back to look at the site again and there was no Serendipity blog anymore. In its place is:

Query failed:

SELECT


e.id,
e.title,
e.timestamp,
e.comments,
e.exflag,
e.authorid,
e.trackbacks,
e.isdraft,
e.allow_comments,
e.last_modified,

a.realname AS author,
a.username AS loginname,
a.email
, e.body, e.extended

FROM
serendipity_entries AS e
LEFT JOIN serendipity_authors a
ON e.authorid = a.authorid
LEFT JOIN serendipity_entrycat ec
ON e.id = ec.entryid
LEFT JOIN serendipity_category c
ON ec.categoryid = c.categoryid
LEFT JOIN serendipity_authorgroups AS acl_a
ON acl_a.authorid = 1
LEFT JOIN serendipity_access AS acl_acc
ON ( acl_acc.artifact_mode = 'read'
AND acl_acc.artifact_type = 'category'
AND acl_acc.artifact_id = c.categoryid
)
WHERE isdraft = 'false' AND e.timestamp <= 1208364900 AND (
c.categoryid IS NULL
OR ( acl_acc.groupid = acl_a.groupid OR acl_acc.groupid = 0)
OR ( acl_acc.artifact_id IS NULL

)
)
GROUP BY e.id
ORDER BY timestamp DESC
LIMIT 5

/ Can't open file: 'serendipity_entries.MYI' (errno: 145)


PLEASE HELP?

[judebert]

Looks like it's back up. That error says that a MySQL table couldn't be found, so (unless you did something,) your database was corrupted.

The odd characters are descriptions of a UTF-8 or UTF-16 character that doesn't exist in the current font. I'd bet that your provider changed the character set in their MySQL installation, and it mismatched the one in your blog.

Now, as to fixing that... well, I'd start up phpMyAdmin, look at my MySQL database, and see what character set it was set to. I'd first set both MySQL and Serendipity to UTF-8, and if that didn't fix the problem, I'd set set them both to the previous value.

If that doesn't work, Garvin will know what to do.

[kerry]

Hundreds of blog entries and never at problem at www.saildivebvi.com/serendipity/ Uploaded last night, checked it out, everything looked fine and now getting this message today:
Query failed:
SELECT


e.id,
e.title,
e.timestamp,
e.comments,
e.exflag,
e.authorid,
e.trackbacks,
e.isdraft,
e.allow_comments,
e.last_modified,

a.realname AS author,
a.username AS loginname,
a.email
, e.body, e.extended

FROM
serendipity_entries AS e
LEFT JOIN serendipity_authors a
ON e.authorid = a.authorid
LEFT JOIN serendipity_entrycat ec
ON e.id = ec.entryid
LEFT JOIN serendipity_category c
ON ec.categoryid = c.categoryid

WHERE isdraft = 'false'
GROUP BY e.id
ORDER BY timestamp DESC
LIMIT 6
/ Can't create/write to file '/tmp/mysqltmp/#sql_11b6_1.MYI' (Errcode: 2)

Do not know what it means. Found this by searching on the forum. Cannot log into my admin_php it tells me that I have the wrong password (stored so not wrong) either can the other blogger on this account log in with hers.
Lots of people emailing me to tell me my blog is down! yep, it is. Any ideas???

[garvinhicking]

Hi kerry!

Please contact your provider, there's trouble with your MySQL server.

Regards,
Garvin

[kerry]

I did contact my hosting provider (go daddy) and this is the message I received back from them.
Unfortunately, the error message displayed appears to be an issued generated by the blogging application installed. We can only recommend republishing your site content to the account that was previously functioning. If this does not resolve the issue encountered, you would need to contact the developer support of the application for further resolution.

I am not sure what they mean by an account that was previously functioning.

[judebert]

I'm starting to get frustrated with GoDaddy.

They mean to restore your HTML and database from backup to a version that was known to work. And it won't fix the problem.

My frustration right now stems from the way GoDaddy ignored the crucial line:

/ Can't create/write to file '/tmp/mysqltmp/#sql_11b6_1.MYI' (Errcode: 2)

.MYI files are MySQL databases. So your MySQL server is refusing to create a file, and GoDaddy is saying it's Serendipity's fault. Of course, we have nothing to do with the server; we merely ask it to save or restore information for us. You could restore from a previous backup, and nothing would change (unless the problem is a corrupted table, and the backup had a valid version).

To figure out what the error code means, I installed MySQL 5.0 on my Ubuntu box. I ran "perror 2", which said:

OS error code 2: No such file or directory

So, your MySQL server is trying to write to '/tmp/mysqltmp/#sql_11b6_1.MYI', and the OS is telling it "No such file or directory". There's probably no 'mysqltmp' directory, or maybe it's running on Windows and needs a drive letter. Either way, it's not something we configure.

I'd go back to GoDaddy. Point out the error line and tell them to fix their server.

[kerry]

I shall do that, and post what they say. Beginning to think that Go daddy is great for getting domain names but horrible for hosting.

[hudson-valley-dad]

I am back and running because of the ever helpful Don from Option Necessity: http://www.optional-necessity.com/

We ran a repair script found here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/ ... table.html

and then changed the character set from Swedish (not sure how it go to that) unfortunately that only got my data back up but did not fix the character problem with the entries and they had to be changed by hand. But there were only a couple of entries and I am just happy that I am back up again.

THANKS DON!

[judebert]

Thank you (and Don!) for the script. We'll direct other users to it when they have MySQL server problems.

Does it have some magic syntax to repair all corrupted tables?

[kerry]

This is the reply I received from Go daddy.
Any suggestions?

Currently, we are not experiencing any issues with our MySQL servers. Unfortunately, we do not provide technical support with third-party scripting or database configuration issues. If there is evidence that our system is responsible for the error, please forward it to us, and we would be happy to look into the matter further. But at the moment this does not appear to be the case, so we regret we can not assist you further with this issue.

[judebert]

{Strong, strong words and inappropriate expletives suppressed.}

I'll send them a message on your behalf. Unfortunately, they blew me off earlier today, after I offered to keep Serendipity up-to-date for them (they usually have a very old version of it). So I doubt they'll listen to me, either.

Do you have a support number I can pass along? It's very definitely a MySQL problem, just from that last line of the error.

You can try the support script mentioned above; it runs a MySQL repair on the tables.

[kerry]

So I should not feel bad about feeling blown off either? Glad it is not just me!! All info is at the end. I don't think I have the energy to yell at them tonight, especially since I don't know enough about Mysql to know what I am talking about...
Our support staff has responded to your request, details of which are described below:

Discussion Notes
Support Staff Response
Dear Kerry Hucul,

Thank you for contacting online support.

Currently, we are not experiencing any issues with our MySQL servers. Unfortunately, we do not provide technical support with third-party scripting or database configuration issues. If there is evidence that our system is responsible for the error, please forward it to us, and we would be happy to look into the matter further. But at the moment this does not appear to be the case, so we regret we can not assist you further with this issue.

Please let us know if we can assist you in any other way.
Regards,

Quinn C.
Online Support Representative
Customer Inquiry
Further info on this, from a reply on my forum for my blog. Apparently
I am not the only one with this problem. Please see this info:
I'm starting to get frustrated with GoDaddy.

They mean to restore your HTML and database from backup to a version
that was known to work. And it won't fix the problem.

My frustration right now stems from the way GoDaddy ignored the
crucial line:
Quote:
/ Can't create/write to file '/tmp/mysqltmp/#sql_11b6_1.MYI' (Errcode:
2)


..MYI files are MySQL databases. So your MySQL server is refusing to
create a file, and GoDaddy is saying it's Serendipity's fault. Of
course, we have nothing to do with the server; we merely ask it to
save or restore information for us. You could restore from a previous
backup, and nothing would change (unless the problem is a corrupted
table, and the backup had a valid version).

To figure out what the error code means, I installed MySQL 5.0 on my
Ubuntu box. I ran "perror 2", which said:
Quote:
OS error code 2: No such file or directory


So, your MySQL server is trying to write to '/tmp/mysqltmp/
#sql_11b6_1.MYI', and the OS is telling it "No such file or
directory". There's probably no 'mysqltmp' directory, or maybe it's
running on Windows and needs a drive letter. Either way, it's not
something we configure.

I'd go back to GoDaddy. Point out the error line and tell them to fix
their server.
On Apr 21, 2008, at 4:38 AM,
Customer Inquiry
I did contact the blog administrator and they tell me that it is a
problem with Mysql server to contact you. I do not know what you are
talking about to publish it to the account that was previously
functioning. This blog and database has worked fine for almost three
years without a problem. A little frustrated with this answer,
especially as you guys gave me a quick pat reply without even
answering all the questions,
Kerry
On Apr 21, 2008, at 4:38 AM,


If you need further assistance with this matter, please reply to this email or contact customer service at (480) 505-8877 and reference [Incident ID: 3808735].

Please let us know how we are doing by completing the survey located here.

Thanks,
GoDaddy.com, Inc.

[judebert]

Oh, I'd SO be completing that survey.

I talked with "Scott" and showed him the error. (Incidentally, we also came up with "too many connections" in db.mysql.inc.php line 270 and 271; perhaps Garvin can explain that one to me; it's not important for this discussion, however.)

I told him that someone needs to run REPAIR TABLE on your tables. Since we don't have access to your account, he elevated it to an "advanced tech".

The advanced tech saw "create" in the error and decided that Serendipity is trying to create a database. We only create a database at installation time; plugins and upgrades might create extra tables. But that's not the problem here, since it's a SELECT query, not a CREATE command.

At this point I knew I wasn't going to get any further with GoDadddy today.

The good news is: you can fix this yourself. Make a backup first, if you can! Open phpMyAdmin and run REPAIR TABLE on the tables in your database. You can start with serendipity_entries, then _authors, _entrycat, and _category. If their phpMyAdmin version is any use at all, you'll find a "Repair table" link at the bottom of the "Operations" tab after you select a table.

If that link isn't available, you can run the SQL directly by typing it into the SQL tab.

If you need help with any of that, I can help out. But I'd need access to your GoDaddy account.

Good luck!

[kerry]

Yeah, that was the other question I asked them was about the "too many connections" but they have totally ignored that through all the feedback and I figured that it was a bit of a moot point at the moment with no blog.
The other question I asked them that they did not answer was after logging into Go Daddy to log into MySql they want password again, and nothing I have seems to be working. They ignored that questions as well.
Thanks for all this, I shall get on it in the AM and report where I have gotten or what I need doing. Time to look further with a fresh head in the morning...Wish I would have finished the php database etc training I started about now!

[kerry]

So, this AM after NOT doing anything as we discussed about in the last post, my blog is working. Front page is back up, I can log into admin and it likes my password.
The strange thing is wondering WHY it is back up. Go Daddy must have done something, although the last when you talked to them it did not go anywhere. Scares me for the future, although I do have back ups of all my tables.
Any thoughts Judebert?