Install error on first try

Hi,

I just uploaded the new version of Dolphin onto my server, but when I went to the install/index.php URL, it gave me this error:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: mb_internal_encoding() in /.............../install/index.php on line 540

Can someone help me please! I have no clue how to fix it.

Thanks.

Your Webserversoftware Apache? IIS?

You need to have mb_string extension enabled, More here

Dolphin Technical Requirements

Hi,

The simplest thing to do in most cases is to use a webhost that is other Dolphin users have recommended as being good for Dolphin. It seems so many posts and installation problems can be remedied just by using a good host that hass all the appropriate settings in place. I can recommend Hostmonster.

Heres some more recommendations - http://www.boonex.com/unity/forums/?action=goto&topic_id=Hosting

Cheers

Max

.

Thanks for the help guys.

okweb, I made the changes suggested in the php.ini file. However, I'm not sure how to restart the server. I use GoDaddy for hosting. Any ideas? Do I need to contact them?

Hi Jeff,

For goDaddy, you will most likely need to call your PHP.ini PHP5.ini and place it on the root of your site. Just to be sure, b4 u do anything else, do a phpInfo. The easiest way to do this is to create php file (e.g., phpinfo.php) with the following content:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Then, load it (e.g., http://{yoursitename}/phpino.php). This should display your phpinfo. The things to check for are:

PHP version (I know GoDaddy is on 5.2.5)

Loaded configuration file (this should point to the php.ini you revised and uploaded)

Most importantly, scroll down and locate the MBSTRING section and make sure it says "enabled".

btw, I was just reminded from another post of the sensitivity of your phpinfo. In which case, make sure to delete that script after you're done. Or better yet, instead of creating that script, use the one that appears to be included on the admin folder (which someone said was a new add on 6.1). The glory of this is it will require you to be logged in to your dolphin admin.

Hi,

A lot of people in quite a few forum posts have recommended you dont use Godaddy. You will run into a lot of problems with them, not the least being that it takes about 24 hours for support to get back to you every time you need help.

It would make life soooooo much easier to get a host that you know is good to go with Dolphin. Search for Hosts here on the forums. And also when you find a host try out there live help. Ask them a few questions regarding Dolphin and the host to see how knowledgeable and helpful they are.

Cheers

Max

I still can't seem to get anywhere. I'm still getting the same error. I called GoDaddy for support and they told me that they can't restart the server. They said it should just work within a week, but it didn't. The guy sounded like he had no clue what he was talking about which sucks because I was looking to them for support.

So, here's my php.ini file:

register_globals = off
allow_url_fopen = on

expose_php = Off
max_input_time = 60
variables_order = "EGPCS"
extension_dir = "./ext"
upload_tmp_dir = /tmp
precision = 12
SMTP = relay-hosting.secureserver.net
url_rewriter.tags = "a=href,area=href,frame=src,input=src,form=,fieldset="
display_errors = on

[Zend]
zend_extension=/usr/local/zo/ZendExtensionManager.so
zend_extension=/usr/local/zo/4_3/ZendOptimizer.so

Forgive me because I don't know php very well, but know the basics. I just transferred the file to my desktop using GoDaddy's FTP client, changed the file to what was recommended and pushed it back onto the server using the FTP client.

Does it look right? Do I still need to view the phpinfo thing if I can see the file here? I'm guessing that's just another way of displaying this information.

To be honest, I'm about ready to leave GoDaddy and use a different host if I can't figure this out soon. Unless, of course, any of you know what I'm doing wrong here.

Thanks for your help - I really want to get this thing going!

You wont be able to enable mb_string extension by editing your php.ini file. It is something the host has to compile/build into the entire servers setup/configuration. Somethings you can change in php.ini but this one there isn't much you can do on a shared server. If you had vps or dedicated with godaddy you could, but not on shared.

Godaddy is a good cheap place to register a domain, not so good for shared hosting, and not so good for other hosting vps-dedicated when it comes to the support department/area.

I would suggest at least trying a different host. There are some decent ones out there that are still reasonably priced. Most likely you don't have much to loose, a few dollars and little bit of your time, but honestly this might be worth it in the long run. There are a number of hosts mentioned that work well. I've had pretty good luck myself with most of my hosts for dolphin, but once in a while I come across one that is not so good.

Thanks gameutopia,

I'll take your advice on this. So, there's absolutely no way to set up Dolphin on a shared GoDaddy server?

There have been a number of posts with issues with dolphin on godaddy. Usually they have problems. You most likely will be fighting this thing big time with one thing or another with them. They do work good for other scripts and .html stuff, just not so well with dolphin.

I know a couple of decent ones in the $5-$7 per month range for shared. They work good. But if your site grows considerably no matter what shared host you have at some point you will have to get some more power...vps, or semi-dedicated. Nothing to worry about for most sites for a while. Pm me if you want a couple of host names to check out.

gameutopia

Version 6.1.1 used to work for me on GoDaddy.Com hosting. I am now on a VDS because there a lot intermittant problems because of the "shared" part of the hosting. Dolphin is a very touchy app. One small change by someone else on the shared host and 15 things don't work. Go with a VDS somewhere... 

Has anyone used hostcolor?

http://www.hostcolor.com/powertools/dolphin.php

It says that you can use Dolphin with it. Check out the link above. Would I have access to the files that I need to change?

Thanks!

Looks like an advertisement for the old Dolphin5.6 which was Dolphin + Orca. Notice Dolphin6.0+ is all about Ray as well and a very important part to community features and functionailty. But at the least they are aware of the software...That is far more then I can say for most :)

Contrary to other people's experiences here, I was actually able to install and run Dolphin successfully on GoDaddy as a low cost experiment. I did however encounter many of the common issues reported here on the forums but was able to get around them according to recommendations of respondents.

It is true that GoDaddy has focused on marketing to the masses so their support staff isn't always capable of more technical questions. Regardless, they're hosting plans appear to be up to snuff with equally sized but more sophisticated outfits. Even better at times. For example, I've explored services from a company who resells FDC Servers.net hosting and found that they're offerings (which we're indeed FDC servers equipment per a Netcraft query) were running outdated/older revs of PHP hence had many of the vulnerabilities/issues mentioned on this forum.  I don't know for sure if  all FDC Servers are the same however.

Don't get me wrong... I'm equally frustrated by GoDaddy Technical Support's ineptness. But, if you can navigate many of the technical intricacies on your own, using GoDaddy Tech Support only for configuration/setting info gathering, then their hosting plans could prove to be a low cost alternative...most especially for your budget-conscious clients/projects.

There are also concerns about running on shared vs. VPS vs. dedicated hosting. In my opinion, each has their place (w/strengths and weaknesses) in your businesses/projects' life cycle. For example, a shared hosting could be a low cost testing platform, graduating to the next level as your needs evolve. So, If you know what to look for and you have a geeky trouble-shooting nature, you can actually leverage all of them accordingly. In my case, my Dolphin GoDaddy site which I beta-launched about 1 month ago, is currently running everything but Ray chat/instant messaging (since I don't have my own RMS server and RMS.Boonex.com is almost always overloaded). My 4-week daily impression average is today at 3000 (I have yet to make even the tiniest dent on my 300GB bandwidth transfer limit for my plan). I have well over 2500 uploaded items (pictures and music) (barely 3% of my 10GB disk limit).

Do I plan to stay on GoDaddy? Not forever. I will move to VPS (and perhaps to dedicated) when the time is right and the cost is commensurate with the benefits. Or, if I discover my shared hosting success is short lived. What can I say... I'm a cheapskate.

Oh, and Jeff... if you're still trying out GoDaddy, run admin/phpinfo.php and look for the section that says MBSTRING. "Multibyte support" should say "enabled". I know GoDaddy has that by default. As well, they should be running ver 5.2.x If not, then tell their support staff to put you on their most current versions. Finally, if you still have a need to edit your php.ini, that will be on the root and is named php5.ini (assuming you are indeed on php 5.2.x). You can confirm if it is loading correctly when you rerun phpinfo.php. On the resulting page, search on "Configuration file (php.ini) file" and "Loaded Configuration File"

Good luck.

Same problem here.

Just uloaded Dolpin 6.1 on Linux and Apache server with PHP 5.higher  I have used Dolpin 5 before on same server and had not problems installing, but this 6.1 has some problems.  Why did not they (developers) fix this?  Seems to be a very commun problem.

When ran install/index.php

Fatal error: Call to undefined function mb_internal_encoding() in /home/domain/public_html/install/index.php on line 543

/admin/phpinfo.php gives me

Warning: require_once(../inc/header.inc.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/domain/public_html/admin/phpinfo.php on line 21

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required '../inc/header.inc.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/domain/public_html/admin/phpinfo.php on line 21

And I do not have php.ini file to look at.  Not come with this upload.  Where do I edit the following suggestions?

The default PHP installation does not always have the mb_string extension enabled, but the program requires that you run the PHP multibyte-string extension which is not enabled by default. In brief, in order to do this you will need to (in Windows):

• uncomment out the line          ****what does "uncomment" mean?****
  

  extension=php_mbstring.dll
  

in the php.ini file

• ensure that the path to this file is set correctly, again in php.ini, for example:

  extension_dir = "./ext"
  

• Note that you can ensure that this file is correctly loaded by setting in php.ini:

  display_errors = on
  

• Restart your webserver, e.g. restart Apache
• You can check via phpinfo() that mbstring appears within the information page

Can anyone assist me, please?

Ok I have access to server setup/configuration, I have my own reseller hosting server.  I don't see where in my admin settings I can configure php extensions.  Do I enable mb_each string seperally or just mb_string?