time out problems joomla 1.5.23 on xampp1.7.3

[CherryRed]

Hi,

I am trying to setup a development environment on a usb stick.

Initially I planned to develop in joomla 1.7, and got that workng fine on xampp 1.7.4 fixng the reporting errors and password issue happily.

After further thought, decided developing in J1.5.23 would be better (various reasons)
Discovered j1.5 and xampp 1.7.4 known not to work, that xampp 1.7.3 reqd
Reformatted the usb stick to make sure it would be a fresh install

Installed and setup xampp 1.7.3 (fixing time zone settings which gave errors in article manager)
installed and setup joomla 1.5.23
Got maximum_execution_time failures when tryingto install extensions (one template did install despite error messages, other templates and components just timed out)
Edited xampp/php/php.ini changed maximum_execution_time to 300 from 60 - still get time out errors (at 60 not 300)
I have searched and found various refereces but no consensus on how to fix, and the whole installation is very slow compared to the xampp1.7.4 / J!1.7 that I had working at first.

I really want to develop under J!1.5 (current live website has j1.5 in a wrapper, I want to transfer the data without worry of migrating; the extensions I want are well documented in 1.5, more free templates)

Any help appreciated - I speak non-geek better than geek(!) being self taught. Thanks for looking

[Altrea]

Two hints:
- after changes in the php.ini you have to restart your Apache
- some php.ini parameters can also be setted in .htaccess and .php files too. so check for any .htaccess files in your Joomla directory, Joomla settings pages, configuration files and Frontcontroller (index.php) for max_execution_time and other time limit parameters.

[CherryRed]

Two hints:
- after changes in the php.ini you have to restart your Apache
- some php.ini parameters can also be setted in .htaccess and .php files too. so check for any .htaccess files in your Joomla directory, Joomla settings pages, configuration files and Frontcontroller (index.php) for max_execution_time and other time limit parameters.

Thanks for reply

Re hint 1 - I did stop xampp, then alter the file, then restart xampp. But always worth checking if the simplest/easiest explanation fits the problem

Re hint 2 - Checked the .htaccess files (found 2 of them), no refs to time parameters.

I am too noobie to know which of the .php files are likey to be culprits. Have searched the usb stick and there are bout 1000 .php fils, can't check 'em all -
please couldyou clarify which folders are referref to as "Joomla directory, Joomla settings pages".

A lot of different folders have a file index.php - not sure which is relevant

I'm sorry notto be quicker at knowing how to follow your hints..would appreciate further comments

[Altrea]

Re hint 1 - I did stop xampp, then alter the file, then restart xampp. But always worth checking if the simplest/easiest explanation fits the problem

Please type in http://localhost/xampp/ in your Browser adress bar to open the XAMPP Administration Page, click on phpinfo() and in that listing search for max_execution_time to proof if the changes in the php.ini have taken effect.

Have searched the usb stick and there are bout 1000 .php fils, can't check 'em all -

Why not? Even simplke Editors like Notepad++ can search whole folders for search strings.

please couldyou clarify which folders are referref to as "Joomla directory, Joomla settings pages".

Joomla directory is the folder you have extracted your Joomla files (e.g. c:\xampp\htdocs\joomla\).
Joomla does have a configuration.php file in it's root directory, thats the file i would search.

A lot of different folders have a file index.php - not sure which is relevant

But there is only one index.php files which will be loaded on every request (this concept is called frontcontroller). Thats the index.php file in the Joomla root directory.

This all is very common a joomla configuration issue and not a xampp issue. I know Joomla, but not that well that i can give you more detailed information about how to solve that for joomla. So maybe a joomla board would be a better play for asking this questions.

[CherryRed]

Thank you for your patient reply.

Have checked phpifo(), and down inthe section called 'core' it shows the new value of 300 which I set

Have checked the configutation and the index.php, the only refs to time are varables called $cachetime and $lifetime

My silly - have changed the search settings of explorer to search the content files, not just file name. Waiting for search results, if have ay joy will post back here for any others to read, if not will pursue joomla forum

thanks for your time

[CherryRed]

For others reading this later.

I don't know why this has fixed the problem, but it has worked. Following searching other forums, found it on 'magento' forum

in the /localhost/xampp/php/php.ini file I changed these parameters to these values (which mean 'unlimited')

maximum_input_time -1
maximum_execution_time 0

Running phpinfo() was showing the correct value for maximum_execution_time (ie 60 initially, 300 after my first edit, 0 after second edit) and yet the fatal error was reporting maximum_execution_time as 60 when installations were failing, even after the first edit.

Anyway, now it is mysteriously fixed I am happy

[Altrea]

!!! one warning !!!
If you set these values to unlimited, your server can be fully occupied with only one infinite loop or a big big input request like a GB file upload (with limits sets, the script would have been killed after a time).
That promote attacking methods like DDos and buffer overflows which can heavily affect your server stability.

[CherryRed]

Thank you.

I am just using this setup for site development, not for a live site

but I understand why it is good to show the warning for anyone reading later