1
I found many threads about this problem, most unresolved, dating back to early last year. It started (for me) when the user activation emails stopped going out for no apparent reason. I tried all the suggestions I found in the forums to no avail. There was no debug information, and no visible reason for the problem.
Then, after I re-uploaded all the core files and updated the system and member modules, everyone who tried to register got the error: "Could not register new user" - Still no debug information and I was pretty frustrated. I thought about re-building the whole site, but I am glad I didn't.
Finally - I went into phpMyAdmin, and compared the structure of that user database with one that works. I found a simple problem, fixed it, and now the activations and registrations work fine.
The fix:
1) Opened XOOPS database in phpMyAdmin.
2) Browsed the table xoops_users.
3) Clicked on the "structure" tab at the top.
4) Changed the default value for "level" from '1' to '0'
Once I saved that everything went back to normal and now everything works fine again. I don't know HOW that value got changed in the first place, as it all worked fine a week ago. Regardless, that fixed it for me. Maybe someone else is dealing with the same problem, and this will help.
Magick can never be restrained, but when freely given is thrice regained!