"Database connection failed"

Cause: Wrong DB credentials, or DB user does not have permission on the database.

Fix:

• Double-check the database name includes your cPanel prefix (e.g. u123456_qaflow, not just qaflow)
• In cPanel → MySQL Databases → scroll to "Current Databases" — confirm the user is added with All Privileges
• Verify the password has no copy-paste whitespace
• Try localhost as DB host (some hosts use 127.0.0.1 or a specific hostname)

"Required PHP extension missing"

Cause: Your host has one of the required extensions disabled.

Fix:

• cPanel → Select PHP Version → Extensions → tick the missing ones
• Common culprits: curl, gd, zip, mbstring
• If not available: contact host support to enable them

"Permission denied" when uploading files

Cause: Web server cannot write to uploads/ or cache/ folders.

Fix via FTP / File Manager:

chmod 755 uploads/
chmod 755 cache/
chmod 755 updates/

If still failing: chmod 777 (less secure but works). On cPanel, files should be owned by your user, not "nobody".

White screen after install

Cause: PHP fatal error hidden by default error display.

Fix:

• Temporarily add at top of index.php:
  ini_set("display_errors", 1); error_reporting(E_ALL);
• Reload the page → see the actual error
• Common fix: PHP version too old (upgrade to 8.0+)

"500 Internal Server Error" on first page load

Cause: .htaccess rules not supported by your server.

Fix:

• Ensure Apache has mod_rewrite enabled
• In your virtual host or .htaccess: AllowOverride All must be set
• On Nginx, use the equivalent rewrite rules in nginx.conf (provided in the QAFlow zip)

Installer loops back to step 1

Cause: Session or cookie issue, often due to HTTPS mixed with HTTP.

Fix:

• Access the installer via HTTPS from the start, not HTTP
• Clear browser cookies for your domain
• Check session.save_path in PHP is writable