Help ! My webhoster wants me to use upgraded PHP but causes issues

[BlizzardUK]

I use 1&1 for my webhoster and it is saying it needs me to upgrade from PHP 5.2 to 5.5 otherwise in November I will be charged a £2 penalty for using an older version. So I did that in the control panel of 1&1 (clicked 'Use PHP 5.5') and thought everything was okay. But then I noticed search wasn't working (or modules that need the search/index function, such as ones where you start typing a name and it gives you a choice of possible products).

 

This was due to the 5.5 upgrade as when I downgraded back to 5.2 it worked again ok. My webhoster says to start again by re-downloading a newer Prestashop (I use 1.4.8.2) but I have both made and paid for so many tweaks to be done to the installation that it would take a long time to get everything back to normal. Not only this but my template only works for Prestashop 1.4 and I don't want to have to change it so soon.

 

Any ideas ? Rest of the site seems to work, just the searching seems to be the problem. 

Edited September 26, 2014 by BlizzardUK (see edit history)

[JPresta.com]

You should not upgrade if you don't want to! It will be a lot of work for you.

Do you have any error message? Set debug mode on in /config/defines.inc.php to see errors, it will help to fix the problem.

define('_PS_MODE_DEV_', true);

[bellini13]

I don't believe Prestashop (even the latest version) will work with PHP 5.5, there are even some problems with PHP 5.4

 

Upgrading your store to PS v1.5.6.2 or PS v1.6.0.9 is a good idea, but I agree with joemartin, your host should not force you to upgrade if you are not prepared for this.

 

PHP 5.3 should work properly if this is an option for you, however even this versions support was end of life in July 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP#Release_history

 

£2 penalty is not terrible, considering the cost for you to upgrade or hire a developer to resolve this issue for you... something to consider.

 

If using PHP 5.3 is not an option, then I believe you would need to either

1) Update PHP to 5.4 or 5.5 (your choice) and then work with a developer to locate incompatible PHP code and correct.  This won't be an easy or cheap task in my opinion.

 

2) Upgrade your store to a more recent version which may better support PHP 5.4 or 5.5.  I suspect there will still be some issues however, so besides the cost to upgrade your store, you may still need a developer to fix issues with the core product, as well as any modules that do not support this PHP version.

 

3) Pay the £2 penalty, or locate another host that will allow you to remain on PHP 5.2.  Just realize that this version of PHP went end of life back in 2011 and is no longer supported.

[BlizzardUK]

Thanks everyone for the help. Just double checked the info and it is a £1.27 penalty charge each month, which is better than £2 but still annoying that a penalty has to be charged at all.

 

I have the choice of PHP 5.2 (only one with a penalty charge), 5.4, 5.5, and 5.6 in the control panel.

 

Thanks joemartin for the error debug info, I will give it a go. I don't get an error normally, just no search results, so will see if that brings up anything.

 

Thanks bellini13, I think paying the penalty is the only thing that can be done. We have had so many modifications done to the store to get everything as we like that upgrading will no doubt change all that, also the template we use is only compatible with PS 1.4.

 

Thanks again !