"CGI Server Timeout..." error

[XtraInternet]

I'm having problems with the payment provider side of the shopping cart.

If I used the default "Invoice with order" payment method all works fine, and you can go through the order process testing it repeatedly.

BUT when I add Paypal as a payment method and select that at the checkout I get through the payment process and Paypal sends me back to the site then I receive this error when clicking on the Done button on the receipt page.

Once this has happened I can no longer view the shopping cart, checkout, add products or do anything involving those scripts - I get this same error every time.

THe hosting company (Fasthosts) have re-installed scripting on the site and have also said that the actual timeout configured on the server is not being reached. If I turn off friendly error reporting (?!) in IE the message becomes "The server has misbehaved by returning an incomplete set of headers" which is the same error you get when attempting to run a CGI script on a server without scripting installed.

HERE'S THE STRANGE BIT...

If I close the browser, remove the cookie and go back in the error is gone and I can once again go through the process but the error returns at the same point.

Even stranger is that with Paypal configured as an option sometimes this error occurs when selecting Invoice with Order as the payment method.

This seems to be caused by information stored in the cookie, presumably relating to the payment method.

I have deleted the recipt page contents and made it just redirect to the home page and that has fixed it in that people can now complete the order process start to finish BUT they cannot then go back through the checkout without first deleting the cookie.

AND EVEN STRANGER...

I have tried uploading a fresh site - this works fine, again until I enable Paypal then it produces the same error. This at least tells me my site is ok. I even tried testing a fresh site on a different domain.

THESE ERRORS HAVE ONLY APPEARED SINCE UPGRADING TO VERSION 8.5

This has been going on some time now and Actinic are unable to assist.

PLEASE HELP!!

[PeterThake]

Timeouts

I had the same script timeout problems on a Freehosts shared server and came to the conclusion that the CGI script timeout was just too short on the Fasthosts server setup. It seemed to get worse as the size of my shop grew. Fasthosts told me they would not increase the CGI timeout on their shared servers. So I then went for a dedicated Fasthosts Windows 2003 server and spent 4 days trying to get Actinic to run. With zero success, even with Fasthosts and Actinic help. btw they use a Matrix front end and this defaults to placing the web sites on the D:\ drive and may have been part of the problem.

I had not noticed any relationship between Paypal and the problem - interesting! I also used Paypal.

Also, my problems existed prior to upgrading to 8.5.

To resolve my problem I have now embarked on another move to a another new server! Be warned, moving host is not to be taken lightly. Not least of the problems is the time it takes to change the DNS pointers on the domains so that the world sees the new site. Expect a lot of down time if you go this route.

I'd be very interested to hear if Fasthosts sorted out the timeouts for you. I am intrigued by them saying the scripts are not timeing out. I timed mine and the error seemed to occur after a delay of about 10 seconds, which is the setting on the fasthosts servers (I think).

Good luck!

[XtraInternet]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I too have tried setting up this store on one of my deidcated servers but can't get it to work (permissions problem with cgi-bin folder) and Fasthosts offer no support for these servers. They have also refused to do anything with the timeout on the other server. My guess is that because it's a reseller package and can host unlimited domains they set it low to disuade the use of heavy-duty shopping sites. Unfair but likely.

Anyway, I have installed the store on my backup hosting package which is with IXWebhosting.com and it does the exact same thing, although this time the fresh default store works and the actual live store does not.

Anyone have any ideas?

[PeterThake]

Anyway, I have installed the store on my backup hosting package which is with IXWebhosting.com and it does the exact same thing, although this time the fresh default store works and the actual live store does not.

Anyone have any ideas?

What error are you getting? And by default store, do you mean the Actinic demo store?

You might try changing the theme (back up first!!) - this had quite an impact on my store because I used a lot of custom pages that threw up a lot of problems. Seemed to tidy it up a lot. I then reverted the theme back to my original theme and have started re-customising it from scratch.

btw I got stuck on exactly the same problem with the dedicated Fasthosts server - the CGI folder permissions. However I set them made no difference. I put this down to my stupidity but even a blind monkey typing randomly would have got it right after 4 days (I didn't!!)

Unless it was a dedicated server then you have no control over the CGI timeout settings.

I have since been told that installing Actinic on a Windows 2003 server is very difficult.

My new provider is 4Sure by Techno-Web who offer a bulk hosting package. After just 24 hours with them I have got my first site live - very reasonably priced and I am very pleased so far :-)