UTF-8 converter reports an error - cannot upgrade to 4.x

[Iva83]

Hello,

I have been running a board using IPB for more than a decade now. I recently renewed my licence and downloaded 4.x, but the tutorial does not provide the answer to the issue I seem to be unable to solve. 

I asked my web hosting company to increase the memory limit and upgrade PHP and then I went through the rest of the process, but once I was prompted to convert the database to UTF-8, this happened.

Error: include(/uploads/profile/photo-5354.jpg): failed to open stream: No such file or directory File: /home/forumim/public_html/conf_global.php(191) : runtime-created function Line: 1

The said image file turned out to be corrupted, but I replaced it with another and the error still persists. Why am I not able to convert to UTF-8 because of a jpg file? 

My hosting company is refusing to help me by converting the database to UTF-8 manually and I have seen this error mentioned around the web, so I thought I'd ask in the place where I am most likely to get the correct answer.

Thanks in advance!

[stankdawg]

I have this same error.  I have been hacking away all night to fix it because I can't wait for IPS to get around to my ticket.  As it stands, my site is down (again) and I have searched these forums for hours and see no solution anywhere.

 

I guess I have to go to bed and submit a ticket in the AM because I am afraid that submitting one now will invoke the $25 punishment that looms over CRITICAL tickets.

[Mark H]

That error points to your site having been hacked, and a "fake hook" created that tries to pull a php file (which is renamed as a jpg file). There could be other issues as well.

Before you try the upgrade again, make sure to follow all steps in this article carefully:

https://www.invisionpower.com/support/kb/_/how-to-clean-your-site-from-infection-r27

Once that is done, it you still experience errors, please file a ticket to support, or update your existing ticket.