I'm having a terrible time with the upgrade to v153 and I need some help. I was running fine on v151 but had so many issues with the upgrade that I ditched everything and started over using my backups.

I'm using the latest 1.5.3 download and the patch Dr. Byte provided (the general.php file). If I have the zc_install folder in place, I get this error: "Warning: You cannot access the admin until you have deleted the zc_install folder."

Now my site and database are back, but I'm having two issues I can't resolve:

1) The site shows that "Your database appears to need patching to a higher level. See Admin->Tools->Server Information to review patch levels." BUT, I can't get into my Admin because...

2) When I try to login to the admin section, even after resetting my password, it returns me to the blank login page, or gives me an message "There was a security error..."

What to do?