OK – we know that the title of this post is long – in fact, it is way too long, but we couldn’t find a better title for this very specific issue, so we decided that the title should be the same as the error message.
While working on a Joomla website for one our clients, we wanted to maximize error reporting and so we logged in to the backend and we went to the “Global Configuration” page and we then changed the “Error Reporting” to “Maximum” in order to display all the errors. When we clicked on the “Save” button on the top right, we were greeted with the following error:
Could not save data. Error: The Global Configuration extension could not be found. Text filter settings have not been saved.
Now this is not the first time where we’re unable to save the global configuration, but this time it was different. It had nothing to do with file permissions, as the configuration.php file was fully writable – and, in fact, the changes were being written to that file.
The cause of this problem, to make a long story short, was at the database level. The database server’s hard disk partition was full, and, as such, the database server was restricting some activities.
So, what did we do to solve the problem?
Obviously, we freed up some space on the database server (such as deleting unnecessary databases), and that solved the problem!
And, what can we do to ensure that this problem won’t happen again?
Unfortunately – nothing. The best that we can do is to monitor the free disk space on the partition hosting the database server and ensuring that it’s never close to being full. When you run out of space, you just run out of space!
Could there be other reasons for this problem?
Yes – when we researched the issue we discovered that the corruption of some tables can also cause the same problem. When this happens, a simple REPAIR TABLE command issued on the affected table(s) will usually fix the issue. (Quick advice: Be wary that the REPAIR TABLE command is very costly and can take a long time to execute on large tables. Make sure you try repairing the table first with the QUICK option and see if that fixes the problem.)
Now, if you’re unable to save the Joomla configuration even after reading the above then it’s probably time to ask for help. Just contact us and rest assured that we can solve your problem in no time. We’re fast, we’re reliable, our fees are affordable, and we’re really, really friendly!