IPS database converter trashed coding during upgrade to IPS 4.7.10

[Jurij]

Hello,

After upgrade to IPS 4.7.10 i've noticed that database has been damaged. Instead of polish letters like ęąźćś i have question marks ?????. I've checked inside of the database and discovered it's database trashed by itself. Example:

 

Here is the screenshot from original forums table containing forum topics:

 

Here is the very same table after conversion by IPS converter:

 

Is there any way to fix that other than uploading backup and getting back to previous version?

 

Thanks for any advice and best regards,

Jurij

 

[Marc Stridgen]

There is no other way other than to revert your backup unfortunately. There is an issue with the encoding of your database before its began. Likely that the data was not in UTF8 format 

[Jurij]

So there is no way to run convertion from original tables again?

Let's say i will revert my backup. I will land on previous version of IPB. How to determine if there is no problem with database or how to fix it before forum upgrade / conversion?

[Marc Stridgen]

Sorry, could you please clarify what exactly you are upgrading from? Are you upgrading from a very old release, or a more recent version?

[Jurij]

From a very old release 3.4.8.

[Marc Stridgen]

Unfortunately, we no longer support that version of the product. There are many who do provide assistance with this that you can find in the providers section if needed however. The issue you have is that there is a problem with the character set somewhere prior to you upgrading, so it cannot be corrected after the upgrade.

[Jurij]

I know it's not supported anymore, that's why i'm doing upgrade.

Quote

The issue you have is that there is a problem with the character set somewhere prior to you upgrading

Yes and if i will restore my backup how to determine what is wrong with the database or what to do to prevent IPS converter from damaging database again during upgrade?

[Marc Stridgen]

There is no way to tell for certain without looking at the database itself prior to conversion

[Jurij]

Ok. I have to focus on getting back working database first, then i will think about upgrading it again.

So basically this backup made by IPS Converter is useless and we can't use it to repair database?

And i still need to revert back to previous version using my FTP and SQL database backup? Just making sure before i will get back to previous IPB and will have to start upgrade from the very beginning, sorry if it's stupid question 😉

[Marc Stridgen]

The backup was for the UTF8 converter in case that failed, which can of course be reverted. However you have gone a lot further than that process, and upgraded the site too

[Jurij]

Convertion is a part of upgrade process so... Will have to validate in PhpMyAdmin after convertion and before upgrade that database is not damaged. This is tricky, because there was no issues during convertion and the database got corrupted anyway 🤔 Anyway working on reverting backup now 🙂

[Marc Stridgen]

No problem. Good luck with the upgrade