Blank Joomla administrator screen (and frontend) after attemping update from 2.5.24.

Question

HELP PLEASE! When upgrading my Joomla 2.5.24 to 3.3, the process hung. Now I get the WSOD and get into the administrator (front end does not work either) with error:

ADMINISTRATOR: Fatal error: Call to undefined method JAdministrator::setHeader() in /home/.... /libraries/cms/html/behavior.php on line 712

FRONTEND: Fatal error: Call to undefined method JHtml::getJSObject() in /home/..... /libraries/cms/html/behavior.php on line 271

I did a backup up all databases and the files prior to update, but the problem is not resolved when restoring either. I have spent all day trying to figure this out, and I don't know how to debug the setheader(). Can anyone please help me?

Answer 1

First of all, get you site back up.

Since you have a backup, that's going to be "easy".

a. Download a copy of Joomla 3.3, extract the files, and run

find

to get the list of files in Joomla 3.3.

b. Now delete all of those files from your current installation, and restore the backup on top.

There are files that Joomla 3.3 adds that will break Joomla 2.5.

c. Restore the database, and your old site will be working again.

Now the tough part. Figure out what's wrong.

1. Make an off-line copy of your website.
2. Are you in the "I'm feeling lucky" mood? Run the update and follow the instructions below.
3. Do you want to minimize the headaches or you're not comfortable with typing shell commands? First update all your third party extensions to their latest version, and make sure they support Joomla 3.3.

You must have some third party extension that's breaking the site. Here's my quick and dirty procedure to identifying the culprit (but don't share it, it's a secret):

Is it a module, a plugin or a component?

If the WSOD is on both the frontend and backend, it should be a plugin.

1. Is it a plugin? Rename the plugins folder "plugins2". If the site loads, rename it back to plugins, cd to it, and rename in turn system, content etc. until you find where it is. Keep digging down to the last level and isolate the plugin.

2. Is it a module? Rename the modules folder and see if the site loads. If it does, go back and rename the folders of the modules you are using in turn. In case you don't know which ones you're using, move them away a few at a time using wildcards to be quicker

3. Is it a component? Then it's the homepage component and the other pages should load fine.

Once you have identified the culprit, download an update, and apply it manually (open the zip and copy the files where they belong).

You might have to do this multiple times for each broken extension. Remember Murphy's law.