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WordPress Blank Screen of Death

I’ve just encountered this problem when moving to a new host: the database was ok, php was working, htaccess ok, wp-config ok but my website always showed me a numb blank face. The problem drove me crazy since every other WordPress-powered sites on the same host worked. A fresh version of WordPress with the old database helped no further. So i thought it could be a database problem and tried to re-export and -import the databse again, change the encoding of the new database, convert the password of Mysql user to the old one … every method i could think of or google out.

After two hours i turned to the webserver’s log just to find this one:

2008-09-24 23:32:51.681 [NOTICE] [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:64358-0#lamnk.com] [STDERR] PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting T_OLD_FUNCTION or
T_FUNCTION or T_VAR or ‘}’ in /xxx/blog/wp-content/plugins/last.fm/last.fm.php on line 17

What a relief ! To think last.fm caused this problem is beyond me. Why one plugin that worked on one host suddenly doesn’t work anymore on another host when other plugins do ???

Posted 25 September 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

How to fix error 1601 1604 when unlock iPhone with Winpwn

Phew … i feel much better now. After almost 2 hours toying around with Winpwn, worrying my phone ends up a brick, i finally can bypass the 1601 error when restoring the custom firmware. FYI i followed the guide on theiphoneproject and used winpwn 2.0.0.3.

If you can create the firmware but have trouble installing it, try to:

  1. Restore your phone to normal mode
  2. Turned it off (hold the sleep/wake button for about 3-5 seconds)
  3. Connect it to your computer then press and hold the home button immediately when the cable is plugged in
  4. The phone is now in restoration mode (you will have a iTunes icon and a cable on your phone’s display)
  5. Try to install the new firmware. If it doesn’t work follow step 6
  6. With the phone is still in restoration mode and connected, turn it to DFU mode
  7. Try to install the new firmware again. If it works, then congratulation, you will only need to wait about 10 minutes for restoring the new firmware. Otherwise goodluck on your google quest :-)
Posted 27 July 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (6) ° Tagged: ,

Men’s rules

I’ve just stumpled upon a very interesting post about men’s rules for wives. Under are just some highlights :-)

  • Breasts are for looking at and that is why we do it. Don’t try to change that.
  • If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us.
  • Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
  • Crying is blackmail.
  • “Yes” and “No” are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
  • Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
  • If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” we will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
  • You have enough clothes.
  • You have too many shoes.
Posted 11 July 2008 § Shine on you crazy diamond ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

How to install Cisco VPN client on Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 64 bit

Nov 20 2010: New guide for Cisco vpnclient on Ubuntu linux Maverick Meerkat 10.10

UPDATE: A new client for linux (4.8.02.0030) is out. You no longer need the patch for 2.6.24+ kernel (vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff). However the patch for 64 bit systems is still required and the CFLAGS variable in Makefile still need to be changed to EXTRA_CFLAGS.

June 26 2009: This post also applies to Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope 9.04 (more than one year later and it’s still not fixed)

I assume that you have the latest version 4.8.01.0640 and the required packages for compiling.

If you install the original Cisco VPN client on Hardy you will receive the following error:

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/lamnk/src/vpn/vpnclient modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
scripts/Makefile.build:46: *** CFLAGS was changed in “/home/lamnk/src/vpn/vpnclient/Makefile”. Fix it to use EXTRA_CFLAGS. Stop.
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/lamnk/src/vpn/vpnclient] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.24-16-generic’
make: *** [default] Error 2

As those lines point out, you need to edit the Makefile file in the vpnclient folder and change CFLAGS to EXTRA_CFLAGS: Change the following line in Makefile

CFLAGS += -mcmodel=kernel -mno-red-zone

to

EXTRA_CFLAGS += -mcmodel=kernel -mno-red-zone

then apply the 2 patches for kernel 2.6.24 and for 64 bit:

vpnclient_folder$ wget lamnk.com/download/vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

vpnclient_folder$ wget lamnk.com/download/cisco_skbuff_offset.patch

vpnclient_folder$ patch < ./vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

vpnclient_folder$ patch < ./cisco_skbuff_offset.patch

vpnclient_folder$ ./vpn_install

If your system is 32 bit then you only need to patch the vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff file.

The patch for 64 bit system is from Stephen Frost and the patch for kernel 2.6.24 is from Alexander Griesser. Seriously Cisco should pay those guys some money … If these patches help you then please consider donate them.

Posted 17 May 2008 § VPN ‡ Comments (20) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Die eBay, die … They has no limit to their greed ?

Ebay recently attempts to improve their system (i only know for Ebay Germany, but those policies would be applied worldwide IMO ):

  • Items ranking in search result will depend on your feedback and shipping cost rating, who has better feedback will have better item ranking: Kudos to Ebay for this. I personally hate the people who charge 8€ for an item costs 10€. When I sell something I set my shipping cost 1€ over the price logistic companies charge me only to cover the package and handling cost.
  • Seller who has negative feedback will be considered to restrict selling activities. This is absolutely a grayzone, as bogus buyers can threaten sellers with negative feedback or non-serious bidders can use this to revenge against sellers.
  • Who want to be a “standard” seller is now forced to use paypal ! And the paypal fee applies ! WTF ! I see paypal is a convenient way to pay but the transaction fee really scare me off: 30 cent + 2.95% ( paypal ) + 8% ( ebay ) item value !!! The sum can be as high as 15% for small value items !
Posted 29 April 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (7) ° Tagged: ,

WordPress installation – Error establishing a database connection

I just spent 3 hours just to look at this error of wordpress, trying to figure out why the hell wordpress can’t connect to mysql. Because i created the mysql user myself, there is definitely no reason i entered the wrong password. And the mysqld daemon did run fine as i could create user and databases from the command line.

Then i went to a conclusion that WordPress may hate my box for some reason. Yes it’s a stupid idea but you never know … So i get another blogging script that i tempted to try for a long time: Chyrp. Chyrp is designed to be lightweight, the author states he aims to make as least mysql queries as possible. And it saved my day when the installation script throwed out a error that it cannot connect to the mysql.sock at /tmp .

From there it’s easy. Once you have the clue you can find the solution: a hardlink from /tmp to /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock and bam! WordPress fully loaded …

Really, i am starting to believe that WordPress is going to be a “Windows” for blogging. Starting as an ubiquitous platform: everybody uses it and there is even a big ecosystem around. Then it grows so big that its core becomes a mess. Let see who will overcome WordPress and be “Linux” on blogging software.

Posted 28 April 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

Error compiling PHP on CentOS 64 bit

In order to compile PHP on 64 bit you need to use the option --with-libdir=lib64 otherwise you will stay forever with the following error

checking for MySQL support... yes
checking for specified location of the MySQL UNIX socket... no
checking for MySQL UNIX socket location... no
checking for mysql_close in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for mysql_error in -lmysqlclient... no
configure: error: mysql configure failed. Please check config.log for more information.

Posted 03 April 2008 § Computer ‡ Comments (11) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Error 56: The Cisco Systems, Inc. VPN Service has not been started

On some systems there is this problem with Cisco VPN service: cvpnd.exe must be excuted before you run the ipsecdialer.exe ( the GUI for the client ). But even if you start the service per hand in services.msc, it got killed in a few seconds after thus you can not run the client.

Update: thanks to Zhigang Wu we now only need to disable the Internet Connection Sharing service (also in services.msc), turn it from Automatically starting to Manual, and start the Cisco service. It will not be killed again. The registry method becomes obsolete and is only recommended as a last resort as it’s dangerous and may cause you problems.

To work around this problem: Uninstall Cisco VPN in Windows Control Panel, then go to regedit and remove all the entries have Cisco term in them. Be careful, back up the registry with built-in export function of regedit first and do not delete somethings like “Franscisco”, ok ? Some entries can not be deleted, it’s normal, just F3 until you reach the end of the registry.

Posted 19 March 2008 § VPN ‡ Comments (39) ° Tagged: ,

With kernel 2.6.24 you will need a patch to install Cisco VPN Client

UPDATE: A new client for linux (4.8.02.0030) is out. You no longer need the patch for 2.6.24+ kernel on 32 bit systems. However a patch for 64 bit systems is still required. Please click on the link right below to see the howto for 64bit.

UPDATE: 64 bit systems are a bit more complicated, please see how to install Cisco VPN on Hardy Heron 8.04 64 bit

UPDATE: with 2.6.25 kernel this patch is still required (luckily)

OK it’s not breaking news anymore, but in case you confront these errrors:

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.24-ARCH/build SUBDIRS=/usr/src/vpnclient modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24-ARCH’
CC [M] /usr/src/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.o
In file included from /usr/src/vpnclient/Cniapi.h:15,
from /usr/src/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.c:31:
/usr/src/vpnclient/GenDefs.h:113: error: conflicting types for ‘uintptr_t’
include/linux/types.h:40: error: previous declaration of ‘uintptr_t’ was here
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/usr/src/vpnclient] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.24-ARCH’
make: *** [default] Error 2

Then you probably need a patch:

cd /path/to/the/vpnclient/folder
wget http://projects.tuxx-home.at/ciscovpn/patches/vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff
patch < ./vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

This is due to a change in 2.6.4 kernel that the “init_net” symbol is now again exported using EXPORT_SYMBOL() instead of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL()

Posted 08 March 2008 § VPN ‡ Comments (43) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Strange error when compile vpnc

I was playing around with Arch linux recently. It’s a minimalistic distro which lets you configure your system the way you want. Advatanges are booting time ( man it’s fast ), rolling release system so it doesn’t require you to install new release every 6 months like other distros, good package management tool alongside with the ports-like ABS to build things from source. Disadavantges are the time consuming configuration and you really need some linux knowledge, otherwise you will go back to Ubuntu someday :p

Back on topic, i rarely have any trouble compiling vpnc before, but this time it’s quite strange:

gcc -O3 -g -W -Wall -Wmissing-declarations -Wwrite-strings -DVERSION=\”0.5.1\” -c -o sysdep.o sysdep.c
In file included from config.h:27,
from sysdep.h:31,
from sysdep.c:71:
vpnc-debug.h:1: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘:’ token
vpnc-debug.h:16: warning: ‘struct debug_strings’ declared inside parameter list
vpnc-debug.h:16: warning: its scope is only this definition or declaration, which is probably not what you want
vpnc-debug.h:18: error: array type has incomplete element type
vpnc-debug.h:19: error: array type has incomplete element type
….
vpnc-debug.h:20: error: array type has incomplete element type

Turn out that you just need to define the locale with “sudo locale-gen” after editing the /etc/locale ( the location may differ with other distros )

Posted 08 March 2008 § VPN ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,