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How to fix the update problem with the "Up-to-date" buttons in Joomla 2.5

In Joomla 2.5.0 there's a new feature added to the control panel of the backend. The control panel displays various buttons such as Article Manager, Category Manager, Global Configuration, etc. In version 2.5 there are a couple of new buttons added to the control panel. One shows whether your Joomla version is up to date and the other shows whether the extensions are up to date. Normally, these buttons will display the following messages respectively: Joomla is up-to-date and All extensions are up-to-date. They are also a link to the Update tab of the Extension Manager.

Many times, however, after you upgrade Joomla using the automatic updater these two new buttons do not appear on the control panel of the Joomla admin panel. This may happen even if you have followed the update instructions precisely, and you have fixed the database from the Database tab of the Extension Manager.

The problem can be solved by manually executing some of the SQL queries required for the update of the database used by your Joomla application. You can find all the files with the different SQL queries in the update package or on your Joomla hosting account. Obviously, if you have used the automatic updater, you won't have the update package on your local computer. You can download it from the download section of the official Joomla site. Otherwise you can also find the files on your hosting account. If, for example, your Joomla is installed in a folder called joomla in the root public_html directory on your account, the path to the SQL files would be public_html/joomla/administrator/components/com_admin/sql/updates/mysql.

There are many files in that folder. The one that you need is labeled 2.5.0-2011-12-06.sql. You can search for the file and open it using the Files section of the Pixie control panel. Otherwise, if you have the update package on your local computer, you can use a text editor (e.g. Notepad, WordPad). Inside the file you'll find the SQL queries. They look like this:

INSERT INTO `#__extensions` (`extension_id`, `name`, `type`, `element`, 
`folder`, `client_id`, `enabled`, `access`, `protected`, `manifest_cache`, 
`params`, `custom_data`, `system_data`, `checked_out`, `checked_out_time`, 
`ordering`, `state`) VALUES
(437, 'plg_quickicon_joomlaupdate', 'plugin', 'joomlaupdate', 'quickicon', 0, 1, 
1, 1, '', '{}', '', '', 0, '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 0, 0),
(438, 'plg_quickicon_extensionupdate', 'plugin', 'extensionupdate', 'quickicon', 0, 
1, 1, 1, '', '{}', '', '', 0, '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 0, 0);

ALTER TABLE  `#__update_sites` ADD COLUMN `last_check_timestamp` 
bigint(20) DEFAULT '0' AFTER `enabled`;

REPLACE INTO `#__update_sites` VALUES
(1, 'Joomla Core', 'collection', 'http://update.joomla.org/core/list.xml', 1, 0),
(2, 'Joomla Extension Directory', 'collection', 
'http://update.joomla.org/jed/list.xml', 1, 0);

Copy them. Then to execute the queries go to the Databases section of your Pixie control panel and access phpMyAdmin by clicking on the phpMyAdmin link on the right side. Inside phpMyAdmin your databases are listed in the left frame. Click on the one used by the particular Joomla installation. The tables of that database will be displayed in the right frame. Click on the SQL tab that's above the database tables and paste the SQL queries in the textarea that's shown on the SQL tab page. Before you execute the queries you have to replace the part in each query that looks like this: #__. You have to replace it with the table prefix of your database. For example, if the prefix is r4sq_, the first query shown above should start with: INSERT INTO `r4sq_extensions.

After you put the correct prefix in the queries click on the Go button that's in the lower right corner of the screen. Then go back to the backend of your Joomla and refresh the control panel.

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