Wordpress install - upload failing

[#1]

I've got a Worpress 3.1.2 installation that was working without any issues until recently.
Today I've been getting an error when trying to upload images "Missing a temporary folder."
I did some searching and found this post that I thought may be related as some of the Wordpress sites indicate an issue with the tmp folders : http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,98272.msg831330.html
I followed Gabe's advice and got myself a php.ini file and a tmp folder in my root, but nothing.
Anyone any ideas?

[#2]

Just tried an image upload using WordPress 3.1.4 and it worked for me, but I'm on the F9 server.

Quote from: planty

I followed Gabe's advice and got myself a php.ini file and a tmp folder in my root, but nothing.

Did you mean this post for /tmp space problems? Did you run that cgi file to create your /tmp directory and php.ini with links in folders containing PHP files?
Does "nothing" mean doing this made no difference to the occurrence of the error?
If you upload the following file as php_ini.php, set its permissions to 0700 and browse to it …

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

… does your php.ini show as the loaded configuration file?

[#3]

Quote from: spraxyt

Did you mean this post for /tmp space problems? Did you run that cgi file to create your /tmp directory and php.ini with links in folders containing PHP files?

Yes

Quote from: spraxyt

Does "nothing" mean doing this made no difference to the occurrence of the error?

Yes again

Quote from: spraxyt

If you upload the following file as php_ini.php, set its permissions to 0700 and browse to it … <?php phpinfo(); ?> … does your php.ini show as the loaded configuration file?

So tried the above and got the following:
Loaded Configuration File /share/storage/01/cl/clarkehall/php.ini
So I'm guessing this is the correct php.ini that was created in the root of my wordpress area.
Anyway, strangely it's now working?? For future reference how does php.ini get picked up? After I'd created a new one what should I have done to ensure the install picked up the new one?

[#4]

Quote from: planty

So tried the above and got the following: Loaded Configuration File /share/storage/01/cl/clarkehall/php.ini So I'm guessing this is the correct php.ini that was created in the root of my wordpress area.

Yes, that is the absolute file path to your personal php.ini file on the server.

Quote from: planty

Anyway, strangely it's now working?

Glad to hear that.

Quote from: planty

For future reference how does php.ini get picked up? After I'd created a new one what should I have done to ensure the install picked up the new one?

PHP scripts first look for a php.ini file in the same directory as the script, and if found use that. If not found the system default one is used. This is standard behaviour no need for user action to cause this.
Running that php.ini creation script copies the system default file to your root directory and appends additional lines to it to override earlier settings. It then creates symlinks to that php.ini in each subdirectory containing PHP files, effectively making it appear that the file is in each subdirectory. So a PHP script run after that initialises using your version of the file.