Troubleshooting

Encountering issues? This section provides solutions for the most common problems you might face with ChatNet. Each issue includes symptoms to help you identify the problem and step-by-step solutions to resolve it. Covered topics include installer problems, database connection errors, file upload issues, email delivery failures, session problems, image display issues, server errors (500), blank pages, and real-time messaging issues. Check here before contacting support.

Installer Not Loading

Symptoms: Blank page or 404 when accessing /install

Solutions:

  1. Verify all files are uploaded
  2. Check file permissions (755 for directories, 644 for files)
  3. Ensure .htaccess is present and mod_rewrite is enabled
  4. Check PHP error logs

Database Connection Errors

Symptoms: "Could not connect to database" error

Solutions:

  1. Verify database credentials
  2. Check if MySQL service is running
  3. Ensure database user has proper permissions
  4. Try 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost
  5. Verify database port (usually 3306)

File Upload Issues

Symptoms: Files fail to upload or show errors

Solutions:

  1. Check PHP settings:
upload_max_filesize = 50M post_max_size = 50M max_execution_time = 300
  1. Verify /media/ folder permissions (755)
  2. Check disk space
  3. Verify file type is allowed

Email Not Sending

Symptoms: Registration emails, password resets not arriving

Solutions:

  1. Verify SMTP settings
  2. Check spam folder
  3. Use app-specific passwords for Gmail
  4. Enable "Allow less secure apps" if needed
  5. Try different SMTP port (587, 465, 25)
  6. Check email logs for errors

Login/Session Problems

Symptoms: Users can't stay logged in, session expires immediately

Solutions:

  1. Check PHP session configuration
  2. Verify cookies are enabled
  3. Check session save path permissions
  4. Clear browser cookies and try again
  5. Check for conflicting session names

Images Not Displaying

Symptoms: Uploaded images show as broken

Solutions:

  1. Verify /media/ folder permissions
  2. Check if GD extension is installed
  3. Verify image path in browser console
  4. Check .htaccess rules
  5. For cloud storage, verify S3 bucket permissions

500 Internal Server Error

Symptoms: Generic server error page

Solutions:

  1. Check PHP error logs:
tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log # or tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
  1. Enable error display temporarily:
ini_set('display_errors', 1); error_reporting(E_ALL);
  1. Check file permissions
  2. Verify .htaccess syntax
  3. Check PHP memory limit

Blank Page Issues

Symptoms: Page loads but is completely blank

Solutions:

  1. Enable PHP error display
  2. Check for PHP syntax errors
  3. Verify PHP version compatibility
  4. Check for missing extensions
  5. Review recent changes

Real-Time Messages Not Working

Symptoms: Messages require page refresh to appear

Solutions:

  1. Check Centrifugo configuration
  2. Verify WebSocket connection in browser console
  3. Check for JavaScript errors
  4. Verify server allows WebSocket connections
  5. Check firewall rules