[kingary]

Hopefully someone here can help me out. I am unable to get forums working for the life of me. Even though forums are installed, activated, and whatnot, I get the two distinct error messages when I try to create a forum.

I go to the group page, create a new post, careful to fill in all fields as a precaution, click “Post Topic,” and this is what I get: “This group doesn’t have a forum set up yet.” But it does indeed have a forum set up. At least I think it does: I have “Enable discussion forum” clicked in the group options.

When I go through the forum page (as opposed to the group’s page) and set it up that way, I get an entirely different error message: “Please pick the group forum where you would like to post this topic” despite the fact that I did pick the same group as mentioned above.

I’ve checked everything what seems like a million times. I’ve deactivated all other programs, and nothing. I’ve uninstalled everything and reinstalled everything, and nothing. What in the world is going on?

Screenshots available here: http://social.ourenglishclass.net/archives/17

[kingary]

I’m simply reposting so that this will stay current and near the top. I’d really appreciate some help.

[@mercime]

That’s fine. You can bump your post if unanswered after 24 hours. All of us here are volunteers living in different time zones

– check the generated bb-config.php file in the root of your WP install. Database info there correct?

– check your database via phpMyAdmin and see if the 7 tables needed for your Group Forums were generated. List of tables and screenshot https://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-group-and-sitewide-forums/3/#bp-forums-db

[kingary]

Thanks for your help.

The DB password was different in the bb-config file. I commented out the old one, put the one from the wp-config file in and there was no change. I’ve since commented out the second password and returned it to the original that the installation created in bb-config.

All seven tables are there. I even manually inserted info into the DB under forums and it doesn’t see a forum exists.

[kingary]

I just went to another directory, installed stand-alone bbPress but configured it to use the same DB as by bbPress installation. I pulled all the data from the stand alone tables and dumped it into the wp_bb tables. Still, even when browsing tables, buddyPress says there’s no forum.

[kingary]

Still just trying to keep this current.

In short: I can’t get forums working. Nothing I’ve tried works, not even suggestions (rather, the suggestion — thanks @mercime) here. It’s a rather fundamental element that is not working, and I’m about to give up on it and go look for alternatives.

[@mercime]

Sanity check:
– WP 3.3.1 and BP 1.5.3.1?
– WP and BP installed at domain root?
– You have changed to bp-default theme and deactivated all plugins except BuddyPress?
– You want group forums so you don’t need the stand-alone forums installed and messing up with installation. Or are you trying to make the stand-alone forums work as group forums?
– Linux or Windows server?

[kingary]

@mercime

WP 3.3.1 and BP 1.5.3.1 — Check
WP and BP installed at domain root — Check, sub-domain root
Changed to bp-default theme / deactivated all plugins — Check
Linux server

Re: group/stand-alone — I installed stand-alone so that I could get some data for the DB. I thought if I just imported some existing data it might change something. I installed bbPress stand alone, created a topic or two with a post or two, exported all the data to a SQL file, changed then prefixes of the tables, and inserted it into the buddyPress/bbPress tables, then deleted the stand-alone installation. Through phpMyAdmin, there were clearly records in the tables; buddypress still said there were no forums, and I was still unable to create any forum post. I’ve since also deleted all records from the wp_bb_XXX tables.

Current forum setup: “Forums for Groups” installed (under “Forums” tab at buddypress admin); Sitewide forums NOT installed; NO other plugins; default theme; everything is as Plain Jane as humanly possible. Still, same errors on submitting new forum topic: either: “This group doesn’t have a forum set up yet.” or “Please pick the group forum where you would like to post this topic” (which of course I did).

[kingary]

I’ve no idea what it was. For the third time, I deleted everything, all the way down to deleting the subdomain, then re-created the subdomain and reinstalled everything. Forums are finally working. Sanity is restored. Thanks!

[@mercime]

Kudos @kingary for not giving up!
Cheers.