sahmjay:
thank you for taking time out to assist a newbie. it is a fresh install. in the modules directory there is classic, debug_blocks, order_total, pages, payment, shipping, sideboxes and a list of php files
Well, if a fresh install, then would suggest uploading all of the files again. (Or downloading all of them, comparing to a fresh install and uploading those that have differences.) Sometimes in an upload, one or more files do not get received/saved as they should be and this results in things not working. It could also be a database error, but off the top of my head, I don't know what values would need to be removed from the database to force a clean slate.
Earlier you said you had an update button, what happened when you clicked on it?
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