reCaptcha problem

[Snowhog]

Running vBulleting 4.2.3 Beta 3
Running Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS (GNU/Linux 3.16.7-x86_64-linode49 x86_64)
Running PHP Version 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.5
Running Apache/2.4.7 (Ubuntu)

We have been using reCaptcha Image Verification for several years without any issues. But now image verification is failing, returning this message to registrants:

"Image verification could not be verified due to server issues. Please try again later."

I tried myself, and I get the same message, and I did type in the numbers correctly.

Is this an issue with reCaptch and PHP 5.5, or truly an issue on reCaptcha's server? For now, I've disabled reCaptcha on our forum (we use ZB Block, so I'm not really concerned).

[kh99]

And you didn't change anything? I just tried it and it seems to work for me, so maybe it's just a temporary thing.

[Dave]

reCaptcha works fine here as well. Maybe your server or host blocked reCaptcha's server?

[Snowhog]

I was notified today that this issue had been reported. Prior to today, we had no issues (that I am aware of). The last member to have registered, did so on 12-26-2014. I'll have to check with one of my other Admin's to see what changes were made after that date.

On December 27, 2014 we migrated our server, upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, which uses PHP 5.5.9. We were still using vBulletin 4.2.2 PL2. We experienced the incompatibility between vBulletin 4.2.2 and PHP 5. With help here, we upgraded to vBulletin 4.2.3 Beta 3, which fixed all the PHP errors. Those are the only changes we made. Is it coincidence that we haven't had any new registrations since?

[ozzy47]

I don't know what method of using recaptcha you were using, but perhaps try Kevin's mod, and see if you still have the same issues, https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=315960

[Snowhog]

Okay, installed Kenin's mod, and now have the option to use the New reCAPTCHA Verification. But, when I choose that option in Human Verification Options, clicking on our registration link brings up a totally blank page. If I didable Human Verification, the registration page loads just fine. What's up with that? For now -- again -- I've disabled Human Verification.

[ozzy47]

Ask him in the mod's thread for issues with it. :)

[kh99]

Did you remember to upload the file in the upload folder to the includes folder on your server?

[Snowhog]

Doh. That was it. But, I shouldn't have had to copy the new .php to the includes folder:
Installation:
----------------------------
1) Upload the files in the "upload" folder to your server.

2) Import the product XML file from the Product Manager.

3) If you don't already have keys, go to www.google.com/recaptcha and create keys for your domain. (If you already have
keys you can get them from that page as well).

4) Go to Settings > Human Verification Manager and select "New reCAPTCHA" for the Verification Library.

5) Enter your keys on the options page, and select the light or dark widget as desired (apparently white and black are
the only options at this time). You could select "Audio" to default to audio instead of image for the challenge, but the
widget seems to have a bug in it at the moment so I recommend leaving it set to "image").

6) Do a test registration (or other action that requires hv) to test that your keys are entered correctly and everything is working.

Oh. So,

1) Upload the files in the "upload" folder to your server.

meant to put the .php file into the includes folder. Hmm. I put all the files in the upload folder to the upload folder on our server and then ran the XML file. This is normally what one does, and the XML file takes care of putting things were they need to be. No biggy. Now that the new .php file is in the includes folder, no more blank registration page.

[kh99]

Doh. That was it. But, I shouldn't have had to copy the new .php to the includes folder:

Oh. So,

1) Upload the files in the "upload" folder to your server.

meant to put the .php file into the includes folder. Hmm. I put all the files in the upload folder to the upload folder on our server and then ran the XML file. This is normally what one does, and the XML file takes care of putting things were they need to be. No biggy. Now that the new .php file is in the includes folder, no more blank registration page.

I've actually never heard of doing anything other than uploading files to the place they belong on the server, so I don't know how that's done. Can you point me to a mod that works like you described?

In any case, did it solve the verification issue? I believe that the new one connects to a different server (or at least the domain name was different)

[Snowhog]

No, it didn't. I tried to register with a new user and different email address. The reCAPTCHA "I'm not a robot" image was present and I clicked it. I was presented with an image with two words and asked to type what I saw. I did and it was validated (the word verification image closed). I checked that I had read our rules and clicked to complete, and again:
The following errors occurred during your registration

reCAPTCHA? could not be verified due to server issues. Please try again later.


:confused:

Back to having Human Verification disabled.

[Snowhog]

The error message is coming from Kevin's MOD:
<phrase name="humanverify_new_recaptcha_unreachable" date="1418297638" username="" version="0.9"><![CDATA[reCAPTCHA&trade; could not be verified due to server issues. Please try again later.]]></phrase>

So, Keven, what is triggering it??

[kh99]

Well, first of all that mod is basically a copy of the vbulletin code for the original recaptcha version, with minor changes made for the new version. That error message means that the part that is supposed to connect to google to verify the response failed in some way. Since you're also getting the same message from the old recaptcha version, then it's pretty clear that the problem isn't in my mod. I posted everything I could think of in the mod thread. I recommend that you go back to the original version of recaptcha until you figure out the problem.