Hosting Problem [resolved] 403 Forbidden Error occurs whenever I try to access my site

[dimumurray 0]

First off, let me say that I have spent considerable effort and time going through the forums seeking solutions for this problem. I have even gone as far as to seek help from the Xisto Live support team (they suggested I wait 2 hours and then get back to them. Well I did that, and there has been no change, and live support is now down). I've also tried changing permissions on both files and folders via Cpanel, but to no avail. I still end up with the same error:

 

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server.

 

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache/1.3.41 Server at dimu.trap17.com Port 80

This happens any time I try to access my site via:

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

 

And yes I've put my index.* files into the "/public_html" folder (which seems to be mirrored by the /www folder).

What's weird is that I can access my account via cPanelX and even FTP and modify and upload files at will but I can't access my content via the internet. Any ideas as to what might be the problem?

Edited August 10, 2008 by dimumurray (see edit history)

[Erdemir 0]

Perhaps you have replaced /public_html/.htaccess by mistake.
Try to delete the .htaccess file.
Or edit the .htaccess file and left inside only

php_value display_errors on

[sonesay 7]

I hope you didn't delete any files in there before you moved your files in because I've come a cross a post a long time back where a user did that and apparently those files contain certain configuration files for their particular hosting account. The only fix was for the admin to re-run the hosting script for their account again.

[anwiii 17]

hmmm try this either in your ftp client or your file manager through your cpanel.find your .htaccess file in your root directory which should be your public_html directory acording to your post. DirectoryIndex index.html index.php <----copy and paste to your .htaccess on a seperate line. if you can't find your .htaccess, create a .htaccess file(simple text file you can create in notepad) and copy and paste, save, upload to your root directory and retry your sitenow if that doesn't work, have you been moving files from one directory to another??? if so, your solution could be different than this simple fixhope this works for ya bud. if not, let me know and i wll try to offer further suggestions

[dimumurray 0]

I tried some of your suggestions, but nothing seems to work. And yes I have been moving files about...can an admin please re-run the hosting script on my account...

Edited August 3, 2008 by dimumurray (see edit history)

[Saint_Michael 3]

Hmm its funny I had this happen to two days ago while working a clients website and odds are you somehow change the permissions on your account and so the only way to fix that would be for the admin to change the permissions on your index file and see if that works.

[anwiii 17]

ok. you want us to help you but you aren't being specific to what you were trying to accomplish on your website while moving files around. chances are this can be fixed without resetting your hosting account but you need to be specific bud.

so the htaccess file didn't fix it. the only other thing i could think of is you moved files around after installing a cms or blog and you wanted it in your root directory rather than the folder/subdirectory you created. now is this the case or am i off base here before i start offering suggestions. also, did your index files work beofre you started moving files around in other directories? chances are yes but you need to be more specific here so we can help you.

something common that happens sometimes is when you move files rather than copy them to another directory, you get the problem you are having. if this is your case, then move all your files back to where they were before and copy them to the directory. seems a little illogical, but it works in some cases. but again....please be more specific here and try my other suggestion in the meantime

another thing is resestting hosting....although an easy quick fix, is a watse of admins time when a person requests hosting but doesn't know how to manage it. this is a time to try to fix the error rather than reset hosting and learn from these experiences because the same thing could happen again and what....reset the hosting account again? i've been in your shoes before and know how anxious you are to get things working again so please be patient.

now beofre i posted the first time, i tested my own permissions to see if i could get this same error and i didn't which means it probably has nothing to do with your permissions unless the permissions are coming from the program you installed on your website. in which case, we need to know which program you installed

I tried some of your suggestions, but nothing seems to work. And yes I have been moving files about...can an admin please re-run the hosting script on my account...

[dimumurray 0]

Ok I'll try to be more specific, though I doubt the extra detail I provide here will make much difference. First off, I have not installed a CMS or Blog. I added a few folders to the server and for one of those folders I wrote a a custom .htaccess file. Both folders are in the root directory. I also wrote an index.php file which references a number of php code libraries in one of the folders I created. Initially I placed it (index.php) in the root directory but realizing my error moved it to the public_html folder(changing the references to the code libraries accordingly). The permissions on the index.php file are set to octal 755. Folder creation and file uploads were done through FTP using Eclipse's Remote System Explorer plug-in...then I used cPanelX to set the desired permissions on folders and files. When I just got the account the default index.html rendered successfully in my browser (Firefox). After my modifications though all I get is the 403 Forbidden Error. There were other tweaks I tried out of frustration but to be honest I can't recall most of them. That's why I am requesting a full reboot.

Edited August 3, 2008 by dimumurray (see edit history)

[sonesay 7]

heres my default .htaccess file its in the www/_private/ folder

# -FrontPage-Options None<Limit GET POST>order deny,allowdeny from allallow from allrequire group authors administrators</Limit><Limit PUT DELETE>order deny,allowdeny from all</Limit>AuthType BasicAuthName sonesay.trap17.comAuthUserFile /home/sonesay/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.pwdAuthGroupFile /home/sonesay/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.grp

The last few lines has reference to some files in the web root folder of _vti_pvt/* maybe those are important I don't know but it may pay to check if you still have some of these files or similar. I never touched my .htaccess so this should be mostly default unless some C panel settings I've done have altered them. The only thing I remember doing in c panel is adding add on domains though so I don't know. Good Luck.

[Erdemir 0]

heres my default .htaccess file its in the www/_private/ folder

# -FrontPage-Options None<Limit GET POST>order deny,allowdeny from allallow from allrequire group authors administrators</Limit><Limit PUT DELETE>order deny,allowdeny from all</Limit>AuthType BasicAuthName sonesay.trap17.comAuthUserFile /home/sonesay/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.pwdAuthGroupFile /home/sonesay/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.grp

The last few lines has reference to some files in the web root folder of _vti_pvt/* maybe those are important I don't know but it may pay to check if you still have some of these files or similar. I never touched my .htaccess so this should be mostly default unless some C panel settings I've done have altered them. The only thing I remember doing in c panel is adding add on domains though so I don't know. Good Luck.

If you put that .htaccess which was in www/_private/ folder to /public_html, No one could enter that site. There is no default .htaccess file. In each directory .htaccess could be different from the others.

For example /puclic_html/.htaccess should allow everything. But /puclic_html/_private/.htaccess blocks everything. What default?
There is no need to use .htaccess if you want everything work normal. But if you want something to be different, you can edit .htaccess. For example show errors when occurs, to do this, .htaccess should be only

php_value display_errors on

Let's get back to dimumurray's problem. He tried to edit .htaccess and not solved. So the last option left. An administrator should change the /public_html permissions to default or reset.
I think he should send a PM to an admin.

[dimumurray 0]

I think he should send a PM to an admin.

Ok, that's two votes...Anyone know which admin would be most receptive to my request..

[sonesay 7]

Thanks for clearing that up, as you can see I have no clue about that aspect of hosting when it comes to .htaccess . Of the two admin's I cant say whos on more then the other I never really noticed but I would say they are on about the same amount and its all random so you can just PM both of them if you want to be sure. As for the part about bothering them I wouldn't say you're the worse I've seen threads on topics that are so trivial that get their attention so don't worry. Besides I cant wait to see your site.

[dimumurray 0]

Besides I cant wait to see your site.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that one. In truth, I'm using my account to host (or more accurately attempt to host) a flash-based application (game) for Facebook. So I won't actually have a site up. But I still need the ability to communicate with other servers over HTTP, if I hope to pull off the whole Facebook thing. Still, I do have a few ideas (actionscript tutorials most likely) for a site but its going to take time for me to build it. Edited August 4, 2008 by dimumurray (see edit history)

[Erdemir 0]

Ok, that's two votes...Anyone know which admin would be most receptive to my request..

BuffaloHelp could fix your problem. Send a PM to him.

 

Didn't you send any PM to them, yet? I have sent lots of PMs to BuffaloHelp. If my PM makes them angry, please forgive me because of my countless PMs.

[BuffaloHelp 24]

PM's are here for reasons: I may be slow in responding but never get angry for receiving one :)I received a PM to reset the hosting in question and I replied with my suggestion. I hope that it goes well. Hosting account cannot be reset: this is how OpaQue established with your hosting accounts. Only solution to fixing your accounts is to terminate and re-apply for hosting.