Troubleshooting Guide

This guide provides technical solutions to common issues encountered during the installation, configuration, and operation of the Preads Platform.

🛠️ Infrastructure & Environment

Database Connection Failure

Symptom: "Could not connect to database" during the installation wizard. Solution:

  1. Verify Service: Ensure MySQL/MariaDB is running (systemctl status mysql).
  2. Credentials: Verify the DB_USERNAME and DB_PASSWORD in your .env match your database manager settings.
  3. Host Binding: If localhost fails, try using 127.0.0.1 or the specific IP provided by your hosting provider.
  4. Permissions: Ensure the database user has ALL PRIVILEGES on the specific platform database.

Permission Errors (storage/cache)

Symptom: Log files show "Permission denied" or "Could not write to file". Solution: The platform requires write access to the storage and bootstrap/cache directories.

# Set correct ownership (assuming www-data is your web user)
chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache

# Set directory permissions
chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

📡 Connectivity & APIs

Postback Tracking Errors

Symptom: Conversions are firing on the network but not showing in the platform. Solution:

  1. Check IP Intelligence: Ensure your Anti-Cheat levels aren't accidentally blocking the network's IP. Check Admin → Security → IP Intelligence Logs.
  2. Verify Endpoint: Ensure the Postback URL provided to the network is correct (HTTPS is mandatory for many networks): https://yourdomain.com/api/v1/postback/{network_slug}?transaction_id={click_id}&payout={payout}
  3. S2S Logs: Check the Postback Logs in the Admin panel to see if the server received the hit but rejected it due to a "Signature Mismatch".

Email Sending Failure

Symptom: System notifications or 2FA codes are not being delivered. Solution:

  1. Test SMTP: Use the "Send Test Email" utility in Settings → Email.
  2. Clear Config Cache: If you edited .env directly, Laravel might still be using old credentials. php artisan config:clear
  3. Encryption: Ensure the encryption protocol (TLS/SSL) matches the port (587/465).

🖥️ Application & Performance

419 Page Expired

Symptom: Users see a "419" error when submitting the login or registration form. Solution:

  1. CSRF Mismatch: This is typically caused by a session timeout or a cookie domain mismatch in .env.
  2. Fix: Ensure SESSION_DOMAIN in .env matches your actual domain or is set to null to use the default.
  3. Clear Browser State: Ask the user to clear their browser cache and cookies.

Statistics Not Updating

Symptom: Dashboard charts appear static despite active traffic. Solution:

  1. Cache Duration: The Admin Dashboard is cached for 120 seconds to maintain performance. Wait 2 minutes and refresh.
  2. Internal Cache: If data is significantly desynced, manually purge the analytics cache: php artisan cache:forget dashboard_stats_2026-01-29_2026-01-30 (using current dates).
  3. CRON Job: Ensure your php artisan schedule:run CRON is active. The platform relies on it to process background statistics.

🚨 Nuclear Option (Cache Cleanup)

If you have made significant configuration changes and the platform is behaving unpredictably, run the following consolidated cleanup command:

php artisan optimize:clear

This will clear:

  • Configuration Cache
  • Route Cache
  • Compiled Views
  • Application Cache

Issue still persisting? Email Tech Support → View Known Issues →