Uploading attachment pics failing..

[BadgerDog]

Hello everyone ...

I'm not sure if this is the right place or not, but I thought I'd start here ...

I've been trying to troubleshoot an issue for some time now and I need some help ...

Our site is a bunch of worldwide retired military veterans (about 27,000 members) who collect old militaria and we've been operating for about 10 years now. We're using vBulletin 4.1.3 Patch Level 8, but before everyone jumps all over me and says we need to upgrade... please don't as for a wide range of reasons, we need to stay frozen at this release level until all of us die...

Anyway, the site runs fine with no problems at all, except for one.

Some members experience issues with uploading files to attach to their posts. I've tried to duplicate the problem myself, but I can't get the issue to happen for me.

It appears to be an issue with the "Enhanced Attachment Uploading" option turned ON. Essentially, they select their files and begin their upload. See attached pic from a member who is experiencing a problem. It begins the process (it some cases it doesn't even start), then just freezes their computers?

File size and type of file seems immaterial ....

A typical comment from one member with this problem .. "I have had the issue as well from time to time. The main time is crops up is when trying to upload images. The site will time me out for a couple of hours or until I get a new IP address."

What's interesting is that if many of the members who have this problem change "Enhanced Attachment Uploading" option to OFF, thereby just using the BASIC mode, it seems to solve their problem?

So, my question... can someone here explain to me what vBulletin PHP files, or even other types of program files, are involved in the upload attachments process, both "Advanced Mode" and "Basic Mode".?

Maybe if I understand what's going on with the process, I can better troubleshoot it...

I should note that a few months ago, we started using Sucuri's Cloudproxy Firewall system and I have to say, it's been a remarkable improvement for us in both site performance and eliminating hacker and spam attacks.

Having said that and since we started with it, I think there may be a correlation between the time we started routing all our site's data through their firewall and an increase in some member's complaints about having issues uploading attachments. Some of those complaints have come from members who never had a problem before we implemented Sucuri's Cloudproxy Firewall.

One member who is a bit technology savvy said:

"I almost predictably encounter this problem with my "This day in history" uploads, and the next attempt I will screenshot my work as I go, and it if fails I will forward the requested information to you for troubleshooting. I usually have no troubles with this or any other forums and am respecting the upload file size limits when doing so, but I will try my best to help out with finding the root cause which may lead to a fix.

Wild speculation:

My upload is being interpreted as some sort of "cyber attack" to the site and my IP is being blocked for a timeout period to protect the site.

Crude work arounds include:

1. Using another device on the same network for accomplish the task, (mobile smartphone via tapatalk app)
2. Waiting 1-2 hours until the site responds and allows me to view the site and resume viewing and uploading. (2nd try of the exact same task is always successful)
3. Re-setting my modem, and reconnecting to my ISP. (Allows instant restoration of site access.)"

My apologies for the lengthy post, but if any of you can provide me with some education on how the upload attachments works and perhaps some guesses as to why it's failing predominately with the "Enhanced Attachment Uploading" option turned ON mode, I'd sincerely appreciate it.

Thanks .. :up:

Regards,
Doug

ps: I added a pic of my diagnostics test, just in case it was necessary ...