Running DNN 7.0 changes were made to the default alias in Admin >> Site Settings for rightanglecompanies.com.  The change simply switched the default alias to rightanglecompanies.com from www.rightanglecompanies.com.  Both URL’s remain aliases.  The only difference now is which URL is the default.

Since these settings were updated the site goes only to a 404 error page.  Logging-in is possible (thank goodness) using www.rightanglecompanies.com/default.aspx/, but only a 404 error is reached using rightanglecompanies.com or www.rightanglecompanies.com.

Worse, the Admin >> Site Settings page cannot be reached to revert the original default alias.  Once logged-in using www.rightanglecompanies.com/default.aspx/ attempts to reach Admin >> Site Settings result in another 404 error.  In fact, many other, but not all, pages now only reach a 404 error.  And, many pages that were working fine before now have messed-up layouts that appear to be skin problems, but should not be skin problems since the only change made was to the default alias as indicated above.

Trying to change the default alias in the DB did not alter this situation.

Before this problem happened I was also considering a change using Canonical redirect, but if I remember correctly I did not make that change before this problem surfaced.  Although I did try adjusting the DB back to the original settings in terms of the default alias, the DB has not be changed for any redirect settings since I'm not clear about which is the correct table (I would hope changing  the redirect settings does not cause DNN to crash & burn).

As sort of a "Hail Mary" I tried upgrading DNN 7.0 to DNN 7.0.2.  The upgrade went fine, but the same problems persist (I was hoping the problem was a known bug DNN 7.0.2 fixed).

Until the problem here, the site had been working wonderfully for several weeks.  There were several issues with module hiccups, but those had nothing to do with the DNN application.  Before the problem outlined here there were zero recent module additions.  There's been no work on the skins or any other recent changes beyond the details outlined here.

Thanks to everyone.

Thanks, Nina.  I appreciate your time to reply.

Yes, the application pool had been recycled and the site restarted before posting the URL problem in the post you responded to.

As you suggested, I tried removing all but one of the urls.  Unfortunately, that did not help.

I did figure-out how to get into the site, but now everything is ... well ... messed-up; I'd be here a week explaining every problem.  That one setting dealing with which URL is the default has caused errors everywhere.  The site is not "useless," but the whole day today has been spent dealing with solutions that I cannot seem to find.

I have a back-up of the site and DB, but I'm more interested in getting this situation fixed.  I'd rather understand why that "simple" change causes so many problems.

If I restored the back-ups I'd be afraid to mess with any URL settings.  Should there be no URL settings changes?

I hope it's safe to make URL changes in DNN, so I'd rather figure-out why this problem is happening for the sake of being able to deal with URL's.

Thanks again, Nina, for your reply.  I'd appreciate any feedback from the DNN community that might help explain 1) Why the first problem happened; 2) How to correct this problem; 3) How to avoid this happening again.