CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

I am following the installation doc at wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC41/Joomla+Installation+Guide+for+CiviCRM+4.1. I set up a fresh Joomla 1.7.5 install to use as a sandbox. I have downloaded the CiviCRM install package and unzip'd it into /var/www/vhosts/MYDOMAIN/httpdocs/sandbox/com_civicrm/. When I try to run the installer from the Joomla extension manager (step 4) I enter the path above under "Install from directory" and click on the Install button. Almost immediately I get:

HTTP Error 500 (Internal Server Error): An unexpected condition was encountered while the server was attempting to fulfill the request

The web server log reflects this error, but nothing more. I am at a loss as to how to diagnose it without further information.

Yes, I'm aware that I may have database issues further down the road. I'm in a hosted environment - just moved there from a dedicated one and I'm not sure how easy it will be to upgrade the DB, but I really doubt I've gone that far in the install since it has not yet asked for database credentials.

I can try to turn on PHP logging, but this is on a Production server so I have to be careful. I have enabled full logging in this instance of Joomla but is shows nothing on this particular screen. I may have to move the whole thing over to a test server and hope to recreate the problem. I'd rather fix it where it is happening, but I may have no choice.

I agree that the problem is most likely on my server, but that is why I am reluctant to move it. If the problem is on the server then it is likely to stay there. I am able to install other components like JCE using the same method, which tells me the server is generally configured correctly. However, I have just tried the previous version of CiviCRM and it has the same error. I will see about setting up a test environment to recreate (hopefully) this.