Thanks Floyd, Ken and Guillermo for taking the time to answer my request. I will take a good look at all your suggestions.
There is one thing I should add first of all. I have done a fresh install of XAMPP and a moodle 2.7, keeping all default settings and the problem is still there. So the problem is apparently not related to cache, add-ons, extra settings in Moodle or Apache, database, browser, etc. Again, the whole installation is as fresh as fresh can be.
I'll keep you posted.
Joseph
I am still stuck with my localhost moodle sites. I have completely re-installed my Windows 7 (64bits), XAMPP, etc. but to no avail. I confirm that whenever I get the "incomplete page" symptom, it looks like Moodle (php ?) is stopping sending HTML code to the page.
In fact, the problem appears immediately upon installing a fresh version of Moodle, so none of the moodle site settings that have been suggested in this discussion apply.
Further to Guillermo's suggestion I have looked at the Windows Event observer and I get this Application error message:
Faulting application name: httpd.exe, version : 2.4.10.0
Faulting module name : php5ts.dll, version : 5.5.15.0
I have found many references to this problem on the Web, but none of the "solutions" provided works for me.
Joseph
Hi Joseph,
Briefly, what did you try?
I would first block the loading of PHP to see if the error still occurs with only Apache running. Open the Apache httpd.conf file and search for and comment the following lines (add a # at the start of each line):
LoadModule php5_module "path_to_php/php5apache2_4.dll"
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .php
PHPIniDir "path_to_php"
If you don't get the "Faulting application name: httpd.exe, version : 2.4.10.0" error at the Windows event log, then enable PHP back and at the PHP php.ini file enable the following lines:
display_startup_errors = On
log_errors = On
error_log = path_to_the_error_files_folder\php_errors.log
You reinstalled the full OS and the XAMPP? Did you check for any extra php.ini files somewhere along the folders of the PATH variable? Even more, is the path to the ext PHP folder set at the PATH environment variable? Something like:
%SystemRoot%\system32;other_paths;path_to_php\ext;
Sorry for the obvious, but is there a php5ts.dll file at the PHP folder?
At some pages it has been adviced to comment some of the database PHP extensions; at some, they mention the sqlsrv, at others, mssql. Try it just to see what happens:
; extension=php_sqlsrv.dll
; extension=php_mssql.dll
It wouldn't hurt to check about the many dll dependencies:
http://php.net/manual/en/install.windows.extensions.php
So...
Windows 7
XAMPP 1.8.3 (with Apache 2.4.10 & PHP 5.5.15)
Moodle 2.7.2
Given that the only thing that you changed was your Moodle version, it is interesting to see that previous versions worked even with this underlying problem.
Thanks for your continued support, Guillermo. Unfortunately none of the solutions you suggest work, I am still stuck.
1.- "I would first block the loading of PHP to see if the error still occurs with only Apache running." What's the point of running Apache with PHP disabled? Of course Apache itself does work. But if PHP is not running, I cannot run Moodle, so...
2.- PHP.ini all the settings you mention are ON. When my moodle pages freeze there is nothing in the php error log.
3.- %SystemRoot%\system32;other_paths;path_to_php\ext; I've done that.
4.- "is there a php5ts.dll file at the PHP folder?" Yes of course.
5.- Comment out some extensions. a) There is no php_sqlsrv line in my php.ini. b) extension=php_mssql.dll IS commented out by default.
6.- the dll dependencies look OK
Recap: Environment:
Windows 7 64bits
xampp-win32-1.8.3-5-VC11 (with Apache 2.4.10 & PHP 5.5.15 etc.)
Problem is independent of a) browser being used (tested with Chrome, MSIE and Firefox); b) Avira antivirus & Windows firewall being turned ON or OFF); c) database used (tested with mysql and postgresql); d) version of PHP, I tried with older versions of PHP and Moodle.
Symptoms:
The page display "freezes" When installing Moodle (any version, including 1.9). The freeze occurs immediately after:
"Your server environment meets all minimum requirements."
Press "Continue" button...
Example with moodle 2.7 latest.
start time: 11:13
Top of Firefox tab shows: Installation - Moodle 2.7.2+
Status line: Waiting for localhost... Transfer of data
Nothing else is displayed for the next 13 minutes, then:
time: 11:26
Displays: Installation
System
and the rest of the page is blank.
Address bar shows: http://localhost/moodle27/admin/index.php?agreelicense=1&confirmrelease=1&lang=en
Windows Events Observer displays error:
Faulting application name: httpd.exe, version : 2.4.10.0
Faulting module name : php5ts.dll, version : 5.5.15.0
access.log file last line reads:
127.0.0.1 - - [27/Oct/2014:11:26:22 +0100] "GET /moodle27/theme/image.php?theme=clean&component=theme&image=favicon HTTP/1.1" 200 1150 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:33.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/33.0"
php error.log latest lines show:
[Mon Oct 27 11:04:28.974609 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 2564:tid 268] AH00354: Child: Starting 150 worker threads.
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:21.003906 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4668:tid 256] AH00428: Parent: child process 2564 exited with status 3221225477 -- Restarting.
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:21.410156 2014] [ssl:warn] [pid 4668:tid 256] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:21.446289 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4668:tid 256] AH00455: Apache/2.4.10 (Win32) OpenSSL/1.0.1i PHP/5.5.15 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:21.446289 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4668:tid 256] AH00456: Apache Lounge VC11 Server built: Jul 17 2014 11:50:08
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:21.446289 2014] [core:notice] [pid 4668:tid 256] AH00094: Command line: 'm:\\server\\apache\\bin\\httpd.exe -d M:/server/apache'
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:21.447265 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 4668:tid 256] AH00418: Parent: Created child process 3168
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:22.079101 2014] [ssl:warn] [pid 3168:tid 268] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:22.339843 2014] [ssl:warn] [pid 3168:tid 268] AH01909: www.example.com:443:0 server certificate does NOT include an ID which matches the server name
[Mon Oct 27 11:26:22.377929 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 3168:tid 268] AH00354: Child: Starting 150 worker threads.
Last lines of php_error_log:
[27-Oct-2014 11:11:32 Europe/Berlin] PHP Warning: mysqli::mysqli(): (HY000/1049): Unknown database 'moodle27' in M:\server\htdocs\moodle27\lib\dml\mysqli_native_moodle_database.php on line 445
[27-Oct-2014 11:11:32 Europe/Berlin] PHP Notice: Use of undefined constant MDL_PERF_TEST - assumed 'MDL_PERF_TEST' in M:\server\htdocs\moodle27\lib\setuplib.php on line 1813
[27-Oct-2014 11:11:32 Europe/Berlin] PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in M:\server\htdocs\moodle27\lib\moodlelib.php on line 8894
[27-Oct-2014 11:11:32 Europe/Berlin] PHP Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in M:\server\htdocs\moodle27\lib\moodlelib.php on line 8156
[27-Oct-2014 11:11:32 Europe/Berlin] PHP Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in M:\server\htdocs\moodle27\lib\moodlelib.php on line 8901
mysql_error.log latest lines show:
2014-10-27 11:04:32 4228 [Note] m:\server\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe: ready for connections.
Version: '5.6.20' socket: '' port: 3306 MySQL Community Server (GPL)
---
reloading frozen page in my browser leads to new address:
http://localhost/moodle27/user/editadvanced.php?id=2
where I can continue with installation...
This "frozen page" problem at installation is a sure sign that it will happen again when conducting some operations in the installed Moodle, as reported in my very first post in this thread.
As I have said before, NONE of the suggestions work for me. Can anyone with a computer running Windows 7 64 bits latest updated machine try installing XAMPP, etc and report success or failure similar to mine? I do appreciate this would take some time, but it might help me out of this mysterious situation.
Joseph
Hello Joseph,
I started from top to bottom and so my post went correspondingly. However, you may want to start with section 3... as the most likely culprit may have been found.
--------- 1
Well, regarding the first suggestion to block the call to PHP, yes, given that your installation is working, even with the current problem, this makes it clear that Apache is working; then, the idea was to see if the "Faulting application name: httpd.exe" error message, which is related to Apache, was caused by some interaction with PHP or was caused by Apache itself, before having to do anything with PHP. So I wouldn't discard doing this, part of a debuggin process after all. While at it, having PHP blocked, I would place a basic index.html file at the document root, go to http://localhost and check the logs and the event viewer.
Also, you could try, with the web server stopped, running the command httpd -t to check about the configuration files, like so:
C:\path_to_apache\bin>httpd -t
Syntax OK
As shown, in my case, I get a "Syntax OK" result.
You may also try running the following:
httpd -S
which is equivalent to running httpd -D DUMP_RUN_CFG and httpd -D DUMP_VHOSTS.
There are other parameters that could be used to get some more info, like v, V, M. Anyway, this was just basic Apache checkup, so you might get some useful pointers... or not.
Just another question. Have you checked that there isn't another web server (e.g. IIS) running?
Assuming everythig OK, and back with PHP... how about placing a basic index.php at the document root, going to http://localhost and, once again, checking the logs and the event viewer. Maybe something like this:
<html>
<body>
<?php
echo "Hello World!";
phpinfo();
?>
</body>
</html>
--------- 2
Nothing else is displayed for the next 13 minutes
Whoa! What is it doing?
You missed placing the previous lines of the access.log. What was logged before that 11:26:22 line?
--------- 3
Parent: child process 2564 exited with status 3221225477 -- Restarting.
Now, that seems like a useful line, as here we have an Access violation that appeared after a 22 minute delay. Given the 13 minute lag you mentioned, I was wondering if this could be a memory related issue; this line may prove that this could actually be the reason, a faulty RAM chip... or quite a variety of other reasons. After all the tests and combinations you have gone through, the problem definitely points to some hardware problem or an OS permission (or otherwise) setting.
Please check the following two links:
1. http://compfreakstars.blogspot.mx/2011/11/0xc0000005-error-every-day-many.html
Speaking of viruses, please do consider that nowadays, this term is a very delimited or specific one; as I initially mentioned (step 4), please consider checking for a wider spectrum of possiblities, like malware, spyware and rootkits.
--------- 4
If you are on a local machine, why are you using the https protocol (port 443)? If you have enabled SSL directives in your Apache httpd.conf configuration file, you should comment them (remember to restart the web server), at least while doing this debugging process. See that you don't have setting conflicts between all the configuration files involved (e.g. httpd.conf, httpd-vhosts.conf, httpd-ssl.conf).
--------- 5
Regarding the 150 worker threads... they are just a pool of spare threads:
https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/worker.html
--------- 6
Just as a final reference, currently I don't have a Win 7 machine, but last year I worked with one, Windows 7 64 bit (I guess it was a Home edition) and I had two or three Moodle installations where Moodle was always the same version (during some tests it could have changed) but the underlying web server environment was different:
** apache lounge, httpd-2.4.6-win32-VC10; php-5.4.17-Win32-VC9-x86.
** apache lounge, httpd-2.4.6-win64-VC11; php-5.5.1-Win32-VC11-x86.
I don't recall or have a file about the third one, but it must have been an older version, both for Apache (maybe a 2.2 version) and for PHP.
The database server was always MySQL 5.5.33: mysql-5.5.33-win32.
At any of my setups or tests I had the problem you are having.
Again, Guillermo, many thanks for your continued support.
I have done all the tests you suggest with my Apache server and all is OK.
I have tested my RAM, it's OK.
I have also had a look at the various posts on the Internet re Access violation. No solution found.
Re-started my local moodle install this morning to conduct more tests and the page stopped displaying even before outputting any block! Here are my findings:
08:33 28/10/2014
log into my localhost moodle27
page only displays "You are not logged in (Log in) in the top right corner. Rest of page is blank.
Apache access.log reads:
127.0.0.1 - - [28/Oct/2014:08:31:42 +0100] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 94521 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:33.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/33.0"
127.0.0.1 - - [28/Oct/2014:08:31:51 +0100] "GET /moodle27/ HTTP/1.1" 200 21877 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:33.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/33.0"
Apache error.log:
[Tue Oct 28 08:31:26.183593 2014] [core:warn] [pid 972:tid 164] AH00098: pid file M:/server/apache/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
[Tue Oct 28 08:31:27.301757 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 972:tid 164] AH00455: Apache/2.4.10 (Win32) PHP/5.5.15 configured -- resuming normal operations
[Tue Oct 28 08:31:27.301757 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 972:tid 164] AH00456: Apache Lounge VC11 Server built: Jul 17 2014 11:50:08
[Tue Oct 28 08:31:27.301757 2014] [core:notice] [pid 972:tid 164] AH00094: Command line: 'm:\\server\\apache\\bin\\httpd.exe -d M:/server/apache'
[Tue Oct 28 08:31:27.306640 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 972:tid 164] AH00418: Parent: Created child process 6480
[Tue Oct 28 08:31:27.877929 2014] [mpm_winnt:notice] [pid 6480:tid 288] AH00354: Child: Starting 150 worker threads.
php_error_log : nothing
mysql_error.log:
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
2014-10-28 08:31:31 1a20 InnoDB: Warning: Using innodb_additional_mem_pool_size is DEPRECATED. This option may be removed in future releases, together with the option innodb_use_sys_malloc and with the InnoDB's internal memory allocator.
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Using atomics to ref count buffer pool pages
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use Windows interlocked functions
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Memory barrier is not used
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Not using CPU crc32 instructions
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 16.0M
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Highest supported file format is Barracuda.
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: The log sequence numbers 1665234 and 1665234 in ibdata files do not match the log sequence number 11268963 in the ib_logfiles!
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Database was not shutdown normally!
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Starting crash recovery.
2014-10-28 08:31:31 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Reading tablespace information from the .ibd files...
2014-10-28 08:31:35 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Restoring possible half-written data pages
2014-10-28 08:31:35 6860 [Note] InnoDB: from the doublewrite buffer...
2014-10-28 08:31:37 6860 [Note] InnoDB: 128 rollback segment(s) are active.
2014-10-28 08:31:37 6860 [Note] InnoDB: Waiting for purge to start
2014-10-28 08:31:37 6860 [Note] InnoDB: 5.6.20 started; log sequence number 11268963
2014-10-28 08:31:38 6860 [Note] Server hostname (bind-address): '*'; port: 3306
2014-10-28 08:31:38 6860 [Note] IPv6 is available.
2014-10-28 08:31:38 6860 [Note] - '::' resolves to '::';
2014-10-28 08:31:38 6860 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '::'.
2014-10-28 08:31:42 6860 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
2014-10-28 08:31:42 6860 [Note] m:\server\mysql\bin\mysqld.exe: ready for connections.
Version: '5.6.20' socket: '' port: 3306 MySQL Community Server (GPL)
page source, after the header shows:
<div id="page" class="container-fluid">
<header id="page-header" class="clearfix">
<h1></h1> <div id="page-navbar" class="clearfix">
<nav class="breadcrumb-nav"><span class="accesshide">Page path</span><ul class="breadcrumb"><li><a href="http://localhost/moodle27/">Home</a></li></ul></nav>
<div class="breadcrumb-button"></div>
</div>
<div id="course-header">
</div>
</header>
<div id="page-content" class="row-fluid">
<div id="region-bs-main-and-pre" class="span9">
<div class="row-fluid">
<section id="region-main" class="span8 pull-right">
<div role="main"><span id="maincontent"></span>
Clearly, HTML output to the page stops suddenly!
Windows Events Observer displays no errors (ony the mysql warnings present in mysql_error.log).
at 08:46 28/10/2014 I click the Log in button
the login page displays normally...
Might it be related to MDL-47645?
Open the Moodle config.php file in a text editor (not MS Notepad!) and check the codepage of your config.php file. What happens if you use a different codepage?
How do I check the codepage?
Joseph
Current codepage for my moodle config.php file is ANSI. What should I change it to?
I've tried UTF-8 but does not make any difference. I doubt my current problem has anything to do with the config.php codepage, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.
Joseph
Also, have you installed the correct Microsoft C++ Redistributable for that version of PHP? The VC11 builds of PHP 5.5 require the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2012.
@Luis,
On my Windows 7 - 64bits machine I have installed Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2008, 2010 and 2012, x86 and x64 versions for all of them. What more could I do?
Joseph
After trying many combinations of XAMPP versions, Moodle versions, mysql or postgreSql I'm still blocked and getting in the Windows Event observer this Application error message:
Faulting application name: httpd.exe, version : 2.4.10.0
Faulting module name : php5ts.dll, version : 5.5.15.0
Joseph