Common Troubleshooting Tips

From WHMCS Documentation

Database Errors

Critical Error - Unable to connect to the database

This error means your database cannot be connected to. Check your database connection details in the configuration.php file. This could also be caused by the MySQL service being down on your server.

Error Message "Field xxx doesn't have a default value" during installation

This error occurs when you try to install WHMCS with MySQL Strict Mode enabled. WHMCS requires strict mode to be disabled.

Gateway Errors

Blank Payment Gateway Page

This is usually caused by a double copy of a gateway file in the modules/gateway directory, .htaccess or a php.ini file in the directory that would need to be removed.

Server Errors

Internal 500 Server Error

An internal server error can be a lot of things but it's always a server issue - not WHMCS. It could be that ioncube is incorrectly installed or there are some settings in a .htaccess file causing an error. Your server admin/hosting provider should be able to advise more on what the issue is.

Server Command Error - Curl Error - Couldn't resolve host (6)

This error message indicates that you don't have a server selected for the account to be setup on. Check you have a default server set in Configuration > Servers and that a server is selected on the account that you are trying to setup.

Server Command Error - Curl Error - Couldn't connect to host (7)

This response means you have a firewall blocking the connection. The port being used depends on what module you are using but for cPanel it would be 2086/2087, Plesk 8443, DirectAdmin 2222, etc...

Server load and uptime always say Unavailable or 00:00:00

In order for these values to be obtained, the file status.php that you upload to every server has to be able to execute the PHP functions exec and shell_exec on that server. These are often disabled by default for security reasons. To enable them, you need to login to your server by SSH and then locate the php.ini file and open it for editing. Search down for the line that says disabled_functions and then remove exec and shell_exec from the list of functions following that.

Support Center

Access Denied - You are not assigned to any ticket departments

You have to configure the support ticket departments which you are a member of in Configuration > Administrators. When editing an admin you can choose just some or all of the departments that the admin should be taking care of. They will then only receive notifications about tickets in their departments.

Uploading Attachments

If your support ticket uploads fail to work, it could be because of an incorrectly setup list of allowed file attachment types in Configuration > General Settings > Support. The types must be separated by commas without any spaces. For example: .gif,.jpg,.pdf. Entering .gif, .jpg, .pdf will not work.

System Errors

Error: domain.com has sent an incorrect or unexpected message. Error Code: -12263

This error means you have an invalid url entered for the System URL(s) in the General Config. For the built in SSL switcher of WHMCS to work, the System URL must be a non-SSL URL and the System SSL URL must be an SSL url. Alternatively, if not using the SSL switcher, you should just enter an URL in the System URL field (either non-SSL or SSL). You should never put the same URL into both fields. This message can also show as: "The page isn't redirecting properly"

Your IP xx.xx.xx.xxx has been Banned Reason: 3 Invalid Login Attempts

The admin login ban is set to last 15 minutes by default so you will need to wait and then try logging in again or request a new password.

TCPDF error: Missing or incorrect image file

WHMCS assumes certain permissions are in place which is where this error occurs. Please follow the steps below to correct this

1) Open the file tcpdf.php found in the includes directory
2) Find the line 'define ("K_PATH_MAIN", dirname(__FILE__)."/");' (Approx line 92)
3) Under this line, add the following:
      define ("K_PATH_CACHE", K_PATH_MAIN."cache/");
4) create a directory in your includes folder called cache with permissions for public to write
5) Issue should be sorted

Template Errors

Blank Pages in the admin area

Check for open_basedir restrictions on the server and if enabled, you will need to disable. WHMCS will not function with open_basedir restrictions on the server.

Blank pages in the client area

This can be one of two things - either an error in your template customiations or the templates cache folder (templates_c) not being writeable.

Client Area doesn't work aftering installing on a Windows Server

After installing WHMCS onto a Windows server, you may find when visiting the client area you just see a blank page. This is caused because the templates_c folder cannot be written to. Even if it is CHMOD 777, unless the ownership is set correctly it will not be writeable. To correct the issue, you need to run the following command on the folder:

chown -R root:password templates_c