Welcome to The Real Blogger Status - Beta. Please note the warnings (as of 6/13: 0 active), and the alerts (as of 1/10/2007: 5 active).

Please be aware of the naming variances in this blog. You will find various references to "Classic" / "Old Template 2006" Blogger, and to "Beta" / "New Template 2006" Blogger.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Corrupted Template?

This is the first noted reocurrent problem with Blogger Beta.

You may setup your Beta blog from scratch, or you may convert it from Alpha. And you can happily edit it - make posts, rearrange the layout, add page elements - for a while. Then you try to View Blog, and you see

We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
Ongoing stories:
If you're lucky, this may involve a simple fix. Did you add syndicated feeds recently? It appears that bad feeds will cause this problem.

If removing feeds didn't solve your problem, you'll have to revert to the classic template.
  • Under Template, select Edit HTML.
  • Select REVERT TO CLASSIC TEMPLATE.
If this brings your blog back to visibility, that's a start. But, you will lose several desired features:
  • Drag and drop layout editing.
  • Labels.
So this is not a permanent solution. But work with us, maybe we can help diagnose the problem. And report the problem to Blogger Support (and don't forget to immediately reply to the botmail!).

(Edit 9/7): Beta Known Issues reports this as fixed.

(Edit 9/14): A new version of this error is occuring.

11 comments:

. said...

I'M having the same problem.

Which is the classic template? I don't see that as a choice in my templates?

Chuck said...

See the procedure (just added) detailed above.

Please post your experience in Google Blogger Help, so we can try and research what's actually happening.

. said...

How to revert to the classic template:

* Under Template, select Edit HTML.
* Select REVERT TO CLASSIC TEMPLATE.

That option is not there in my blog www.mckaysmill.blogspot.com

My blog is still down and blogger customer support has not responded to my E-Mails in 48 hours.

. said...

Chuck, I did post my problem there a couple of days ago. The only advice I have received is to revert to classic, but that option is not available to me.

Anonymous said...

I reverted to the old template style html for now and was able save it. I cannot make any changes in the layout style for any element types that were present on my blog. I can add ones that I had not previously used, such as lists and text.

The code is very verbose in the blogger beta layout, but I did manage to save it before I had the problem. It's the code I'm currently using on my blog.

I had just loaded a few large pictures prior to the layout crashing, so I wonder if the 300 MB picture limit was exceeded or some other limit was exceeded that caused the error. Still fishing for straws.

Anonymous said...

The solution posted will not work unless you have previously selected 'Upgrade your template'. If you haven't done this then you are *already* in classic template and there is no option to select.

I tried upgrading.. didn't fix it.. reverted back... didn't fix it. My blog is gone... seeemingly permanent. I want the old blogspot back. It worked. Why did they change it?

I'm really cheesed off with google. I tried to login to post a blog today and it wouldn't let me log in because I had previously logged into google. Clicked the button to say 'yes, I do want to log in to my blogspot account, seeing as I'm in blogspot *and not google* you stupid website' and find I'm in this stupid beta, which is utterly broken.

Anonymous said...

When I reverted back to the old template, the comments that I received while I was on blogger beta and any new posts I've written (in either system) don't show up. I decided to go with blogger beta for the duration because all I'm missing is the side bar at this point.

I still haven't heard back from Blogger Team, but I'll keep replying with updates.

Rafał Gadomski said...

I'm facing that problem too.

With that only exception, that I can't log on to Tamplate menu either. Does it mean that my precious work is gone gone forever? (And I still haven't read the newest publications :( ).

Anonymous said...

Hi Chuck !
Good to see some bloggers are writing in about the concerns of Blogging Beta. I'm no different, but I do have a 'special gripe', see:http://googolians.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=387. and:http://rjs1951betaretreat.blogspot.com/search?label=CONCERNS

Customer Service is a joke !
Roberto

Dép Lào Chiên Xù said...

Hi! I'm having the same problem.

I reverted back to classic template. And that message's still there.

I can't edit my Posts, too. When I click the "Edit Post", the message appear again. I'm very angry ^"^. My posts gone 4ever.

Humm....Perhalf, i will use another blog service

This is my blog:
http://diaryofrin.blogspot.com

Thanks for read!

Rod Brock said...

You are a GOD. A couple weeks ago I migrated both my blogs to the blogger-beta, and things went exactly as you said. First, using the "customize" drag and drop feature for layout, it worked just fine (I was using it to post images in the sidebar and the footer, mainly)at first, but then I began to consistently get the the "unable to complete your request error." Poked around the help boards, looked for answers - nothing. Finally, I started using the "insert html/javascript" functionality to insert the code to remote load the image and a caption. That worked three or four times, but now, when I try to use that function, I get the error, there, two.

All this leaves me with the uneasy sense of functionality deteriorating slowly, bit by bit, until there's nothing left...

I mailed help about it, got the standard brush off reply. It was not until I found this blog that I got a straight answer: corrupt template, and maybe bad feeds.

It's like, why doesn't blogger just say, "if you keep getting the 'unable to complet your request' error, you've probably got a corrupt template, and here's what you need to do." Nothing irritates me more than simply not telling the truth about what's wrong.

This had actually occurred to me, but quite frankly, I was just getting moderately comfortable with the classic template - this "widget" bullshit might as well be in full blown latin.

Anyway, I'm off to dump the feeds, and see how that works. If it looks like migration back to the old template might be the only fix, then I just might leave blogger, altogether - from what I gather, "help" such as it is, has all been redirected to the beta.

I've used a lot of Beta software across the years, and this is the WORST functionality of a beta I have ever seen. If g-mail had been this big a hassle, it never would have gotten off the ground.