Well as soon as I think everything is finally fixed, this morning I decide to make the big transfer of all messages, members, boards, etc to the new forum (very simply it's the same setup but in a different folder on the server) BIG transfer though - that started to take hours just for the members ..
Then about 6 hours into it everything stops. The server has crashed it seemed.
More hours trying to get a response from server support and it seems the new switch they had to put in yesterday had fallen out or come loose!!! Can you believe that?
For now I am putting off the forums upgrade until things are proven to be OK for a few days at least.
Sorry for the downtime .... and now I need a stiff drink!!!!