got a fatal error after upgrading
Asked by Karl Feghali:

hello,

after upgrading to the latest confluence server 13.9.2 which i previously had 6.9.2, i upgraded successfully and my database was backed up, but after launching the service in my browser chrome, I got a fatal error saying "

Confluence had problems starting up {#toc-hId-1853573670}
---------------------------------------------------------

This page is for Confluence administrators. If you're seeing this page, your Confluence administrator is probably working to restore the service."

What shall I do? Thx.

Regards,

Karl


Answers:
author: Shannon S
body: Karl,

I'm sorry, but which version of Confluence are you upgrading to? Confluence 13.9.2 doesn't exist yet. The latest version is 6.14 as of this thread.

My tip for this would be to have a look at your [Confluence Server logs](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/working-with-confluence-logs-108364721.html) to see what error message is actually being triggered. Then we would be able to help you with this.

It will also help to know the exact steps you took to perform the upgrade.

Thank you!  
Shannon

comments: author: Karl Feghali
body: Hello Shannon,

I meant to say 6.13.2 my mistake. anyways i reverted back to the old version and everything worked well. but i still prefer to re-upgrade to the latest version to get all the new features. i will backup the entire home directory folder and re-attempt to re-install the latest version. if any errors show up again, i'll send you the server logs here.

Kind Regards,

Karl


author: Shannon S
body: Great, thank you for confirming, Karl!

If you continue to have any issues, you might have difficulty sending your server logs through this forum. My advice would be to pull out the individual error messages related to the problem and share that here. Otherwise, you're likely to get an error message if you try to post.

Keep me updated on how it goes.

Regards,

Shannon


author: Karl Feghali
body: hello I need some help


author: Karl Feghali
body: I got into and error recently. I just uninstalled Google Chrome and am using now edge browser instead. but when I went to my confluence site at localhost:8090 I get this error ![2019-05-17_142703.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/54951iD0DC42DA31094F0D/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2019-05-17_142703.png")

```
BootstrapException: Unable to bootstrap application:
Failed to parse config file: Error on line 1 of document :
Content is not allowed in prolog. Nested exception:
Content is not allowed in prolog.?
```


author: Karl Feghali
body: plz don't send me any article links. just send me the steps on what I need to do. thx


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Karl,

Thank you for providing the error message as requested. It's very helpful.

Please bear with me, as I still have to post the articles I am using as reference. Many customers do find it helpful to see the steps are they are in our documentation, and as this is a public forum, I want to make sure that my advice can help anyone that comes across this article, should they be having a similar problem.

Now, I believe this to be a problem with your confluence.cfg.xml file being corrupted.

There are a few steps you can take to resolve this.

1. Check the last backup of your **home directory** that you made in 6.9.2. You'll want to look at your **confluence.cfg.xml** file there. You can compare it with your current version. For information on that you can reference [Confluence Home and Other Important Directories](https://confluence.atlassian.com/conf614/confluence-home-and-other-important-directories-965546492.html).
2. You'll want to check to see if there are any odd characters or corruption. If needed, you can replace the new confluence.cfg.xml file with the older one, if it is not corrupt. Make sure that your database information is correct, in the event that you changed databases.
3. Another option is to generate a new **confluence.cfg.xml** file. Have a look at [How to Generate a New confluence.cfg.xml file](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confkb/how-to-generate-a-new-confluence-cfg-xml-425461512.html) for the full set of steps if you are not sure how to do that.

You'll want to make sure that Confluence is completely stopped before proceeding.

If you have any trouble, please let us know!

Regards,

Shannon


author: Karl Feghali
body: Hello Shannon,

I am very frustrated with this whole thing and I don't know what else to do. I've backed up all my confluence files, then uninstalled the entire software, then installed the latest version of Confluence server, but after installation was done, I come to launch it in the browser just to get the same error as before. I've completely wiped out all registry files when I was uninstalling. Can you assist via TeamViewer on this issue?

Regards,

Karl


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Karl,

I'm terribly sorry to hear the upgrade is still not working for you despite my suggestions. Unfortunately I am not able to offer a TeamViewer session, however, the next step we normally take would be to get a look at your full log files.

I went to create a ticket for you, but I noticed that you had attempted to raise one in our support system. I've moved this case for you to the Confluence support queue. One of my colleagues will be reaching out to you shortly to obtain more information from you.

Thank you for your understanding.

Regards,

Shannon