Why can't I install the software on my server?

[Snakke]

I'm installing vBulletin 5 on my server these days. Or atleast I'm really trying to.
So I download the .zip. I upload it to the server. I unzip it, take away the folder not to be uploaded and enter the data into both config-files. The next step would be to enter the url to the install.php file and then watch vBulletin enter my site like magic, right?

What actually happens is that I get errorcode 500 from the browser and a message haunting me with complaints about my configurationing skills.

What am I doing wrong here?

(As you may magically allready have figured out, I'm not an expert in this area.)

[Wayne Luke]

There are a couple of issue that may cause problems here.

1) Your config.php files are edited incorrectly and causing a PHP error.

2) Your server doesn't allow .htaccess and is causing an error.

3) Your PHP version is less than 5.3.0.

[Snakke]

Let's see.

I have MySQL 5.0.96 Community - is that the dealbreaker for me?
Do I get around this by installing an older version of vBulletin?

[Wayne Luke]

You need to have at least MySQL 5.1.5 to install vBulletin 5.

On your current version of MySQL, you can install either vBulletin 4.2.0 or 3.8.7.

[Snakke]

Thanks for answering. (I'm embarrassed - you were pretty clear about the requirements on your website - I should have checked it out of course.)

I'll do the older version and yell at my web-provider for an upgrade.
(And probably be back here a million times trying to get everything up and working fine.)