[Solved] Problem - Top Menu - Please Help

[shaz]

Hello,<br/><br/>I seem to of developed a problem/bug with my top menu tabs. It appears to be intermittent and I am not sure why this is happening or how to fix it. The problem is as follows:<br/><br/>When clicking on Home, New Products, Contact, About, Specials tabs/menu on my home page, an error message is returned ' PAGE NOT FOUND' We're Sorry but the web address you entered is no longer available'<br/><br/>On advice from senior member his comment 'It looks like a bug with your top menu, after going to a content page (IE about us), it think all the links are under the /content/ folder, which is not the case, and they return a page not found'<br/><br/>I have friendly URL's set, generated .htaccess & robot files, have recently added new modules (duplicate URL module) and some free modules that are not activated. I also generated a password protect on my admin folder for additional security and wonder if this could be part of the problem although I don't see how as it is an intermittent problem.<br/><br/>I have searched forums and not come across solution and any advice/assistance would be greatly appreciated.<br/><br/>Thanks in advance

[shokinro]

if you didn't make any changes on the physical files directly, then it is something else caused the issue.

you can check following items
1. switch off all caches from back office (You can get it back on later if you want)
back office - preferences - performances
smarty: force compile to Yes, disable cache
cache (at bottom): disable
2. switch off/on of SEO friendly URL
3. re-generate .htaccess (even though you said you have done so)
4. uninstall the new installed modules one by one(such as duplicate URL module)

[shaz]

Hi Shokinro, hope you are well, thanks for replying (again )

I am using V1.3.7.0 so can not locate the 'smarty' force compile to yes, where would I locate this?

It is a really strange problem, it is as if a link is faulty as sometimes they work fine, other times not. Once you have a problem on the one menu tab, you have a problem on all of the menu tabs. Sometimes if you click on say 'accessories' and then go back and click on the same menu tab that is not working, it works!

I will uninstall all modules (the only one that is active is the duplicate URL module) and regenerate .htaccess, turn off friendly URL etc again and see if this helps.

Regards

[shaz]

No luck Shokinro, this made no difference

[shokinro]

Hi Shokinro, hope you are well, thanks for replying (again smile )

thanks, I am doing well.

I am using V1.3.7.0 so can not locate the ‘smarty’ force compile to yes, where would I locate this?

Sorry, I assumed that you are using 1.4x.
In case 1.3.7, you will have to go to file /config/smarty.config.inc.php to set the parameters.

but you can manually remove the cache and compiled files

/tools/smarty/cache
/tools/smarty/compile

[shaz]

Hi Shokinro, hope you are well, thanks for replying (again smile )

thanks, I am doing well.

I am using V1.3.7.0 so can not locate the ‘smarty’ force compile to yes, where would I locate this?

Sorry, I assumed that you are using 1.4x.
In case 1.3.7, you will have to go to file /config/smarty.config.inc.php to set the parameters.

but you can manually remove the cache and compiled files

/tools/smarty/cache
/tools/smarty/compile

went into my file manager on my host and /tools/smarty/cache is empty except for the index.php
went into my file manager on my host and /tools/smarty/compile has alot of 'files' in it as well as the index.php

Shall I select all of these 'files' in /tools/smarty/compile with the exception of the index.php file and delete these?

[shokinro]

Shall I select all of these ‘files’ in /tools/smarty/compile with the exception of the index.php file and delete these?

yes, you are right. delete all files but keep index.php file

[shaz]

Ok Shokinro, I have deleted all these files with the exception of the index.php - where to now

I am also thinking about removing my password protect fom my admin folder (I set this up with my host for additional security) do you think this could cause any problems?

Thanks

[shokinro]

can you share the site URL so that I can check it to see if I can find anything.
(you can PM me if don't want the url be public here)

[shaz]

Thanks Shokinro, I have just PM'd you

[shokinro]

Yes, I also responded in PM.
At this moment everything is working fine.

so yes, you can try to re-install the modules one by one and enable SEO friendly URL.
but do it step by step and check it works fine.
we we still don't know the cause.

[shaz]

I will do that now and monitor it. Thanks again Shokinro for assisting, for newbies like me this can all become quite over whelming when trying to resolve problems so support from yourself and other senior members/more experienced users is always greatly appreciated

Will keep you posted on how issue goes

Thanks again!

[shokinro]

its great and it is my pleasure, hope everything goes well. and you can figure the cause of the problem so that you can avoid it in the future.

once everything is done and fixed, please mark this thread as solved too. thanks

[shaz]

Will do, Thanks again.

[shaz]

Just to update, problem persists

[shaz]

Hi everyone, back again, latest update is that I have been in touch with the developer and have been unsuccssesful in resolving the problem. I suspect that the problem is that the template that I purchased is not working properly with the duplicate URL module that I purchased. The developer (of the template/theme) acknowledged that he had resolved a bug with the template/theme and a newer version was available, however this is only for V1.4 (I use V1.3)

 

The reason I say this is that when I activate the friendly URL in the preferences, the problem with the 'page not found' starts. I deactivate the friendly URL and it appears to work OK.

 

The duplicate / redirect module resolved the problem I was having with duplicate content however now because I can't activate it in BO I am back to square one with a lot of duplicate content. This is a fantastic module and I really want to benefit from using it.

 

Could anyone help me resolve this issue as it is starting to drive me mad! I have very little (if any) experience in coding etc and my knowledge is limited so would really appreciate some help.

 

Thanks in advance.

[shaz]

Hi does anyone have any advice on how to resolve this? it seems to be a problem that a few people have experienced however searching the forum does not always give the fix for a particular version? but it seems that people have been able to resolve it. I use V1.3.7 and would really appreciate some assistance.

 

Thanks

[Paul C]

Does it work when you disable the duplicate/redirect module? If so then it would make sense to disable that surely? I'm not sure what you're using it for though....

 

Paul

[shaz]

Does it work when you disable the duplicate/redirect module? If so then it would make sense to disable that surely? I'm not sure what you're using it for though....

 

Paul

 

Hi, Yes it works when I disable the friendly URL & the duplicate / redirect module. I installed this module as I was having issues in google webmaster with duplicate content etc and this module resolved the problem however I then developed the issue with the top menu. I am now back to square one in that I have alot of duplicate content again but whilst this module and friendly URL is disabled my top menu works. I have read threads where similar problem has been due to theme not tested / compatable with friendly URL?? - I stand to be corrected but from my own experience of late this just seems to be what others have had problem with. Any suggestions? I use V1.3.7.

[Paul C]

I would say that the duplicate meta information is far less of an SEO issue than 404 errors on valid pages, so I wouldn't be worrying about that right now. It might even be an idea to ensure that you're monitoring the site's organic performance over the period you have the redirects disabled - you might find that it was having no impact anyway (although if you've made more than one change e.g. SEF urls, it becomes impossible to tell which had any impact, should the performance be worse).

 

The information in webmaster tools is great, but you need to be careful how you interpret it, in my opinion.

 

I think we've all been in the position of shooting ourselves in the foot by trying to fix one (minor) thing and ending up breaking something major at one time or another

 

If possible I would first test the functionality of the store using the default theme, just to make sure that it is in fact your theme that is to blame!

 

If the theme is the problem then I would examine the default theme for the version you're using and determine how the urls are being built in there compared to your custom theme; in most cases the code for the actual link should be identical (the mark-up might not be though). Some themes based on older versions of the default theme fail to update the link generation method which has changed significantly over time. Using WinMerge or something similar greatly helps.

 

Paul

[shaz]

I would say that the duplicate meta information is far less of an SEO issue than 404 errors on valid pages, so I wouldn't be worrying about that right now. It might even be an idea to ensure that you're monitoring the site's organic performance over the period you have the redirects disabled - you might find that it was having no impact anyway (although if you've made more than one change e.g. SEF urls, it becomes impossible to tell which had any impact, should the performance be worse).

 

The information in webmaster tools is great, but you need to be careful how you interpret it, in my opinion.

 

I think we've all been in the position of shooting ourselves in the foot by trying to fix one (minor) thing and ending up breaking something major at one time or another

 

If possible I would first test the functionality of the store using the default theme, just to make sure that it is in fact your theme that is to blame!

 

If the theme is the problem then I would examine the default theme for the version you're using and determine how the urls are being built in there compared to your custom theme; in most cases the code for the actual link should be identical (the mark-up might not be though). Some themes based on older versions of the default theme fail to update the link generation method which has changed significantly over time. Using WinMerge or something similar greatly helps.

 

Paul

 

 

Hi Paul

 

Thanks very much for your advice, fortunately I have made no changes as I don't know how so that is a good thing I guess..

 

I agree, a 404 on a valid page is more important so thanks for the advice and starting point, much appreciated. Will give it a try and see where it leads. Watch this space

 

Thanks again

[shaz]

I would say that the duplicate meta information is far less of an SEO issue than 404 errors on valid pages, so I wouldn't be worrying about that right now. It might even be an idea to ensure that you're monitoring the site's organic performance over the period you have the redirects disabled - you might find that it was having no impact anyway (although if you've made more than one change e.g. SEF urls, it becomes impossible to tell which had any impact, should the performance be worse).

 

The information in webmaster tools is great, but you need to be careful how you interpret it, in my opinion.

 

I think we've all been in the position of shooting ourselves in the foot by trying to fix one (minor) thing and ending up breaking something major at one time or another

 

If possible I would first test the functionality of the store using the default theme, just to make sure that it is in fact your theme that is to blame!

 

If the theme is the problem then I would examine the default theme for the version you're using and determine how the urls are being built in there compared to your custom theme; in most cases the code for the actual link should be identical (the mark-up might not be though). Some themes based on older versions of the default theme fail to update the link generation method which has changed significantly over time. Using WinMerge or something similar greatly helps.

 

Paul

 

 

Hi Paul

 

Thanks very much for your advice, fortunately I have made no changes as I don't know how so that is a good thing I guess..

 

I agree, a 404 on a valid page is more important so thanks for the advice and starting point, much appreciated. Will give it a try and see where it leads. Watch this space

 

Thanks again

 

 

Update - managed to resolve this issue by simply changing my theme. Duplicate URL module installed and all working correctly so I guess I shall assume it was a problem with the theme. Thanks to everyone who replied and for trying to assist, much appreciated. I wonder if I can get a refund on my theme?

[jalle007]

How do you change TOP MENU text anyway ?