We tried to upgrade our forum from 7.01 to 7.6.

The thread says that all you have to do is upload the new files, overwriting the old ones and alter certain files (e.g., skin files), as they old ones aren't compatible with the new version.

I followed the directions, but had disastrous results.  Nothing worked.  Most importantly, I know how to configure the skin and other visual elements, but the database reflected by the new upload wasn't the same.  I didn't know how to resolve that problem

Are there more detailed, step-by-step upgrade instructions?  Any tips?

Hopefully, someone will answer this post as I have never received an answer to any of my questions from this community.

Did you read this mate

Upgrading
To upgrade from 7.51a, to 7.6 just replace the changed files listed in the Version History file with the new files.

To upgrade from previous versions see the following post:-

http://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=6950 - http://forums.webwiz.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=6950

More to the upgrade from 7.01 database chenges etc.

Sure did (the one from 7.01 that is).  As stated, I did exactly as instructed, with little success.

The following info gives the impression that the upgrade is straightforward:

Upgrading from version 7.01 to 7.5 Access version is straight forward. Just replace the old files with the new ones keeping the same database file. In the Access database you will have to increase the size of the field Browser to 20 in the table tblActiveUsers.

This is exactly what I did.

That's why I figure that there must be more documentation -- especially something that covers installation or upgrade quirks.

Should I upgrade to 7.5 first?

The database has the same name.  Since we're using it on an Intranet, we decided not to change it.  Because of this, I expected the newly uploaded files to see the same database.

I think I made an assumption though.  I didn't configure the first database, so I'm not aware of the fiile that contains the URL reference.  That may actually be our problem.

Any tips?

I uploaded the files from 7.6 and overwrote the old 7.1 files.

The result, this time, was even worse than before.  Now, all I get is the following:

What gives?  This is a lot of trouble.  I've never had this much trouble configuring or upgrading a BBS before.

Help!!! 

Thanks!

It would be simple if that was the only problem.

I read the issue about the friendly error messages.  When I went to the admin page, however, the error message wasn't displaying.  The images that you have to enter for security purposes won't show up, no matter what I do.

Secondly, as a trainer and technical writer by trade, I shouldn't have to "search all over the world" for something that should be at my fingertips and/or get a condescending answer on top of that.  Not to mention that the only people that have all day to search through previously posted issues . . . need I say the rest.

I have already searched through a ton of postings and it's still like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  I asked a simple question.  Hopefully, someone else will be like Borg, will have a heart, and give me a real answer.

If you can't help, don't chime in.  You're wasting my time.

As stated, I did a search (not lazy by any stretch of the imagination).  I perused lots of results and I couldn't find the solution.  After conducting several searches, as a last resort, I decided to ask and, at worst, have someone direct me to an answer.

I understand the value of your time and appreciate any and all helpful responses.  The statement about my time, by no means, is meant to devalue yours.  I made the statement in hopes that someone would understand my plight (and have a heart).

I mean, these forums are for the purpose of obtaining help, right?  Not to get slammed by some bright, insensitive person who can't take constructive criticism (usually the personality traits of young programmers -- and making reference to a response that I received via e-mail, but has been deleted).  I'm on your side.  I like the product a lot.

At any rate, I turned off the HTTP friendly errors and posted a message to our Intranet BBS so that others would do the same.  I still can't figure out the issue with the files, though, and why the upload and overwrite isn't working.

At this stage, however, I'll just try to study the code and work with some folks internally to get this resolved.  It should be a good exercise.  I still don't believe it should have been this difficult though.

No it shouldn't have been that difficult at all.  I don't do code just administration.  I would make sure you have the proper permission on your database SQL or ACCESS.  Do you have a backup of your forum directory?  If this is ACCESS I would suggest placing the forum 7.6 out there as a different name such as forum2 then just place in the *.mdb and give write permissions and then see if that works.  Never test with the live data   I'm sure this is a very basic answer but I don't know much I just know IIS and stupid easy administration the hard stuff is programming!!!

Good idea.  We'll give that a try.  Thanks for chiming in.

Hey if I can help with the administration side I'm here.  I had some issues too but it was all permission related.  I didn't even make the change to the *.mdb as per the instructions and it still worked.  I made the change now  As I said just make a seperate directory and use that for testing.  Or install IIS if your using windows 2000 pro or xp pro and do all the testing on your local machine before you drop it in your production environment.

Thanks

Lo