Question Submit button not working properly

I'm currently preparing to migrate a website from one hosting company to another. I've been uploading copies of the production website on the old host to the new host to test things out and make adjustments. So far everything seems to be OK except for a serious issue with Kunena (which is an important part of the website).

After entering a message into the box and clicking on Submit, the page hangs - this continues for a few minutes until the server times out. However, the new message has been written to the database tables. If I refresh the page I see the success message at the top of the page, but the form for submitting the message is still displayed, with the text of the message still in it.



The same thing happens when writing a message using Kunena Discuss.

This doesn't happen on the production site, even though the content of the website is identical, the only differences are database name and login details etc. The new host is running PHP 7.3.17, the old host PHP 7.3.3.

I've tried changing browsers and I've tried changing Joomla templates - browsers make no difference, but there is one template where the message posting works normally - Protostar. However, the Protostar template doesn't suit my website - though if necessary I might be able to adapt it, though it would be non-trivial. I've tried Shape5 Vertex and Joomlart T3 Blank, but the problem occurs with them too. If I can't get Kunena to work, I'll have to abandon moving to the new hosting service.

Do you have any idea what might be the cause? Is there some way I can use the Console to trace the problem?

(PS the report below says

Database collation check: ✔ The collation of your table fields are correct

Joomla! SEF: Enabled | Joomla! SEF rewrite: Enabled | FTP layer: Disabled |

This message contains confidential information

htaccess: Exists | PHP environment: Max execution time: 60 seconds | Max execution memory: 256M | Max file upload: 256M

Kunena menu details:

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ID	Name	Menutype	Link	Path	In trash
755	Recent Posts	top	view=topics&layout=posts&mode=recent	recent-posts	Yes
305	Recent Forum posts	jtouch-nav	view=topics&layout=posts&mode=recent&userid=	recent-forum-posts	No
1515	Forum	top	Itemid=1839	kunena-2018-09-05	No
1517	Forums Index	top	view=home&defaultmenu=331	forums/forums-index	No
1518	Recent Topics	top	view=topics&mode=replies	forums/recent-topics	No
1519	Private Mini-Holland Forum	top	view=category&catid=39	forums/private-mini-holland-forum	No
1520	Fox Forum	top	view=category&catid=44	forums/fox-forum	No
1521	Friends of the Lakes Estate private forum	top	view=category&catid=6	forums/friends-of-the-lakes-estate-private-forum	No
1839	Forum	kunenamenu	view=home&defaultmenu=1841	forum	No
1840	Index	kunenamenu	view=category&layout=list	forum/index	No
1841	Recent Topics	kunenamenu	view=topics&mode=replies	forum/recent	No
1842	Unread	kunenamenu	view=topics&layout=unread	forum/unread	No
1843	New Topic	kunenamenu	view=topic&layout=create	forum/newtopic	No
1844	No Replies	kunenamenu	view=topics&mode=noreplies	forum/noreplies	No
1845	My Topics	kunenamenu	view=topics&layout=user&mode=default	forum/mylatest	No
1846	Profile	kunenamenu	view=user	forum/profile	No
1847	Help	kunenamenu	view=misc	forum/help	No
1848	Search	kunenamenu	view=search	forum/search	No
2046	Recent Forum Topics	hiddenmenu	view=topics&mode=replies	recent-forum-topics	No

Joomla default template details : forte | author: Shape5.com | version: 1.0.3 | creationdate: October 31th, 2019

Kunena default template details : Blue Eagle5 | author: Kunena Team | version: 1.5.3 | creationdate: 2020-03-31

Kunena template params:

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DefaultCategoryicon
profileIconset	default
DefaultIconset	default
editorIconset	default
bootstrap	0
icomoon	1
tooltips	1
borderless	1
SubjectLengthMessage	80
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displayProfileBox	1
displayModule	1
displayBreadcrumb	1
displayAnnouncement	1
displayFooter	1
avatarPosition	top
avatarType	img-polaroid
labels	0
whoisonlineName	default
formRecover	0
topicicontype	image
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socialtheme	classic
optional_username	0
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localstorage	0
IconColor	inherit
IconColorNew	#48a348
forumHeadercolor	#48a348
announcementHeadercolor	#48a348
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activeTabcolor
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activeFontcolor
forumLinkcolor	#48a348
enableSkinner	0
editor	0
video	1
maps	1
emoticons	1
twitter	1
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link	1
picture	1
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wysibb	bold,italic,underline,strike,sup,sub,justifyleft,justifycenter,justifyright,|,img,video,link,|,bullist,numlist,|,fontcolor,fontsize,fontfamily,|,quote,code,table,removeFormat
avatarSizeX	40
avatarSizeY	90
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avatarSizeYList	36
avatarSizeXPost	144
avatarSizeYPost	144
avatarSizeXProfile	200
avatarSizeYProfile	200
templatebyText
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Kunena version detailed: Kunena 5.1.16 | 2020-03-17 [ Pallene ]
| Kunena detailed configuration:

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Kunena config settings:
board_offline	0
enablerss	1
threads_per_page	30
messages_per_page	8
messages_per_page_search	15
showhistory	1
historylimit	6
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template	blue_eagle5
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filetypes	doc,docx,txt,rtf,pdf,zip,tar.gz,tgz,tar.bz2
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article_display	full
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| Kunena integration settings:

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Kunena - Finder Disabled
Kunena - AltaUserPoints Disabled


Kunena - Community Builder Enabled: access=1 login=1 activity=1 avatar=1 profile=1 private=1
Kunena - Easyblog Disabled
Kunena - Easyprofile Disabled
Kunena - Easysocial Disabled
Kunena - Gravatar Disabled
Kunena - JomSocial Disabled
Kunena - Joomla Enabled: access=1 login=1
Kunena - Kunena Enabled: avatar=1 profile=1
Kunena - UddeIM Disabled

| Joomla! detailed language files installed:

Warning: Spoiler!

Joomla! languages installed:
en-GB	English (United Kingdom)

Third-party components: CommunityBuilder 2.4.2

Third-party SEF components: None

Plugins: Search - Kunena Search 5.1.1 | Content - Kunena Discuss 5.1.1

Modules: Kunena Latest 5.1.1 | Kunena Search 5.1.1

Another discovery:

Protostar + Blue Eagle 5 - works
Protostar + Crypsis - doesn't work

Strange!!

If errors occur after copying to another hosting, it is mostly the cache that causes them. If you copy a complete web page, it copies also the cache with the infos from the old address. Empty all caches, then try again.

Thanks Rich. I did clear the cache, but it was empty anyway. I used Akeeba Backup to move the website and Akeeba doesn't copy cache files anyway.

Let's summarize:
Blue Eagle works with all your Joomla templates
Crypsis works only with Protostar
1. It could be possible a file has been broken during the move and it helps if you install Kunena over it.
2. Possible is a conflictt between Crypsis and Shape5 Vertex as well Joomlart T3 Blank
3. Script or CSS compression causes an error
Do you have any CSS or script optimization tools on your page enabled? If yes, disable these and afterwards try to send a message.

Is there some way I can use the Console to trace the problem?

Choose Crypsis and the Shape or Blank template and open the console (tab network). Then click on Reply. Now check which scripts of the template running. Block the scripts one by one with the browser tool and every time try to submit a reply.
Try the same with the css files. Maybe you can find out which file cause a conflict.

Thanks, Rich.

Eventually even Protostar stopped working with either Kunena template - strange, as nothing else had changed.

However, thanks to your advice, I've now identified the script that's causing the problem, but I'm not sure where that leaves me because it's part of Advanced Modules Manager, which I regard as an essential tool.

If I block /media/advancedmodules/js/frontediting.min.js everything works fine.

There's another frontediting script, which is media/system/js/frontediting.js.

As I said before, this doesn't cause a problem on production website, which is hosted elsewhere.

I've installed Kunena on another website on the same new host and the problem doesn't arise there. It has the same version of Advanced Modules Manager (7.12.4). I downloaded the file from both websites and they're identical.

It can be many things which cause any errors. But a conflict can only occur with a module which running on the forum page. Maybe it's only a single module or the content of a module.
I've installed this module manager now (7.12.4), but also can't reproduce this problem (on my test page running PHP 7.3.17).
Try to disable the modules on the forum pages one by one). Disable also the top and jtouch-nav menu if there running over modules.

I've fixed it (I think!) by disabling the frontend module editing both in Advanced Modules Manager and in Global Configuration. They both control whether or not an edit icon appears when you float the cursor over the top RH corner of a module. Perhaps just enabling one or the other would have worked - I'll try that another day. That explains why there were two JS files with the same name - frontediting.js.

It doesn't explain why the issue only arises on the new host's server and not on the old host - it must be something to do with the server settings. Perhaps I should let Peter at Regular Labs know that there's a potential issue that he might be able to fix.

Thanks to you, I've learned something - which is how to use another bit of the developer tools on Firefox. It's a long learning curve, but I'm gradually picking up more skills.

It doesn't explain why the issue only arises on the new host's server and not on the old host - it must be something to do with the server settings.

Sometimes any errors drowses long time unnoticed in a web page and a small change in the web page like a server setting, update, move etc... can trigger it, that he is visible. The cause of such mysterious mistakes is mostly very difficult to find.