Troubleshooting

Most ArrowChat-on-Joomla problems trace back to install order, Options, Write bridge, plugin state, or ArrowChat presence—not random Joomla bugs. Work through this page in order before you email support, and bring a dashboard screenshot when you do.

Chat UI never appears on the frontend

Confirm System - RCA ArrowChat is enabled under System, Plugins. Open component Options and confirm ArrowChat folder is the correct folder name relative to site root, not a URL and not empty. Open the RCA dashboard and confirm folder found and autoload.php found read OK. Click Write bridge if integration.php is not OK. Clear Joomla cache and test while logged in on the frontend, because admin backend login alone does not load chat.

Chat loads but avatars are still Gravatar

Open component Options, Avatars tab, confirm avatars are enabled and the avatar source matches how your site stores photos. Click Write bridge after any avatar change, then hard-refresh the browser. The dashboard should show avatar resolver equals Yes when integration.php includes the RCA resolver. If it warns about integration.php, Write bridge is not optional decoration.

Staff dock is empty or shows nobody

Confirm the system plugin is enabled, the ArrowChat folder is correct, Write bridge has run, and the dashboard shows folder, autoload, and integration as OK. Confirm staff users are actually online in ArrowChat’s presence model with a session ArrowChat can see. Confirm RCA ArrowChat Staff is published to a visible position or viewport dock is enabled, and confirm module access allows the viewer to see the module.

Styles and overrides are ignored

Put overrides in template css/custom.css because the system plugin loads it last on purpose. Clear Joomla cache and browser cache after CSS changes. For staff rings, override module CSS variables in custom.css instead of fighting inline styles.

Dashboard reports missing integration.php or options cache

Click Write bridge when integration.php is missing or stale. When options cache is missing, open ArrowChat’s own admin once or use Regenerate options cache on the RCA dashboard. ArrowChat expects its options cache file; RCA can rebuild it from the config table when needed.

Broken install banners or language strings

Update to pkg_rca_arrowchat 1.0.21 or newer and reinstall or update through Extensions manager. Install helper language packaging was fixed in that release, and broken strings on older packages are a known fixable issue—not a reason to hack language files by hand.

Mobile Chat launcher missing

Update to the current package, confirm System - RCA ArrowChat is enabled, confirm you are logged in on the frontend, and clear cache. If launcher still fails, email support with Joomla version, folder name, and a dashboard screenshot.