Have you retired and managed it yet? Our server appears to be  behaving normally…

I just tried it again, and I’m getting the same error. What else can I check? Are there known issues with SP working on websites hosted on HostGator?

Also, if the problem persists, is there a manual workaround? Or, will the underlying cause lead to more issues?

Thanks,

Mike

No, not normally…   unless you are running some sort of firewall that may be blocking access to our domain…

You can ask hostgator directly…

Its remotely possible that our server is blocking the IP of your domain, but unlikely…  if you want to pass along the IP of your site, I can take a look at our server blacklist…

I am running a firewall plugin on my site, but I disabled it earlier to see if that was the problem. I’ll take a closer look at that plugin. I’ll also check with hostgator to see if there’s anything on the hosting side that may be the cause.

When I contact HostGator, is there a specific IP that I need to ask them to check? Or, if I just tell them the plugin is trying to reach a server on the simple-press.com domain, will that be enough for them to make sure nothing is blocked?

just give them domain…they can get the IP from it if needed…

checked the access logs and the api is working fine with folks accessing the server as needed… like other wp plugins/themes its checking in with our server for any updates available… since not hosted at wordpress.org, it checks with our site directly, not wordpress.org…

not seeing any rejected, but without more info on the access attempt, hard to pinpoint…

can still check IP for firewall, if you give me your domain or IP…

mr-papa – judging from the message it seems to have failed to download the main XML file to perform the version check.

Mr Papa said
can still check IP for firewall, if you give me your domain or IP…

My domain is handmadeincome.com. It resolves to 192.254.232.40. 

Thanks again,

Mike

no, there is not any IP block on that address…  have you asked hostgator on your side yet?

I submitted a ticket with HostGator…still waiting on a response.

In the meantime, I removed the simple-press plugin, downloaded it again (just in case something happened in the first download), then attempted to reinstall. Before doing so, I disabled all of my other plugins. No change…still getting the same error when I attempt the install.

Will let you know as soon as I hear back from HostGator. I suspect there are many clients running SP from HostGator, so I doubt there will be anything firewall-related that’s blocking access to the simple-press.com domain. 

Thanks again for your help.

Mike

I don’t know…maybe it is something with the hosting provider (HostGator). I have a another domain that I never use, and it’s also on HostGator. I did a fresh install of WordPress and tried to install the simple-press plugin. I got the exact same “unable to communicae with SP server” error. 

That makes me think it’s either an environment issue with HostGator, or something in the simple-press install file. Since it looks like I’m the only one experiencing the issue, I’m assuming the problem is on the hosting side.

Okay – I’m at a loss. 

HostGator Technical Support confirmed nothing in their firewall or in the HostGator environment is preventing the simple-press plugin from accessing the simple-press.com server. 

I’m not sure where to go from here. I’ve tried installing on two separate domains, one with a fresh install of WordPress using the default theme and no plugins. Granted, both are on HostGator.

All of my research pointed to Simple:Press being the best solution for my needs, and I really want to stick with it. I’m even willing to move my domain to a new hosting provider if that’s what it takes. However, with HostGator confirming there’s nothing on their end preventing access, I’m not sure that will help.

Any other thoughts on what I can check to continue troubleshooting?

Thanks,
Mike

technically, you are not the only one… we get about 1 a year that has similar problem but usually clears up or they go away…

we do have quite a few users that are on hostgator so its not a universal thing across hostgator…

I can give you a small code change that will allow you to bypass that particular check… shouldnt have negative effect, except if it continues after installed, you might not be able to do upgrades from the wp admin since you wont get notified…  just let us know and we can walk you through it…