System automatically reboots after the downgrade. db is configured the same way. Attachments are being stored as files. I can upload small attachments just fine, anything under 100kb Once they get bigger it shows as a broken image when viewing the thread in vB.

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Plus the other issue: Invalid User Specified when trying to apply access masks.

These seem like issues related to php 5.4 but downgrading didn't effect any change. :(

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And I can see in my control panel (for the webhosting) that I am indeed downgraded

Have you checked phpinfo just to be sure (link in acp).

BINGO

PHP Version 5.4.35

dammit

I'll let you know how it all goes

Yeah please report back so we know how it goes. :)

I'm gonna have it switched up tonight. I have 3 servers going and the host and I got things mixed up. it was super confusing troubleshooting because he'd say, ok, I've made that change, and I'd see nothing.

I feel confident this will fix the issues. I wish it fixed them 40 hours ago. I wasted a lot of time trying to be very clear about which instance on which server...

I believe it will fix the issues as well. But yeah it would have been nice to have it done right the first time, but hey, we all make mistakes. :)

well 3.8 fixed the image processing issue, but not the Invalid User Specified with access masks. Any ideas there? Is vB 3.8.7 PL 2 compatible with php 5.3.29?

What other thing could be causing this Invalid User Specified?

And thanks for all the help!

Any reason you can't or don't upgrade to 3.8.8/3.8.9?

Well, to upgrade from 3.87 to 3.89 is the price of an upgrade to 5. Plus, every time I upgrade this client, there are tons of adjustments. And I am really just tryng to hand off this client, so I moved them off my server, which caused these problems that didnt exist before. If I could just get rid of this problem, I can hand them off to their new provider. It's one of those things that I am trying to not get in too deep here. Just want the issue to go away. Didnt used to be there before.

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I cant even recall how to update vb 3x its been so long. Why do they charge the same to upgrade to 5 as they do for this tiny step?

Is the site using vBSEO on the site? Or do you have any .htaccess file there? Try removing them and see if you still get the same error.