NineChime forum

If it only does that occasionally, chances are the SQL server is overloaded, or the server is incorrectly configured to use only persistent connections, which is bad.

To get more information, open up the dbconn.php file in a text editor, and change this line:

SOURCE:
$dbconn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die('Could not connect to the MySQL database.');

CHANGE TO:
$dbconn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die( mysql_error() );

Note that when you try to re-upload the file, the server may not let you.  Delete the original file from the server, upload the new one, and CHMOD it to 664.

Layout?  Background.php?  Are you talking about editing a template?

If so, there's not much I can do to help unless you tell me what changes were made.  A 500 server error is when PHP is doing something the server doesn't like (like a security violation), and the server refuses to show the site.  A lot of unrelated things can cause this.

If your host has a control panel, check for something related to your server's error log.  Look for entries that have "500" as a status code.  Those will be related to your oekaki.  The more info you can give me, the better.