switching to new server....good time to upgrade?

i have been using 1.2.7 for a couple years now, with no problems.
i had to unexpectedly switch servers/hosts the other day. Since i have to reinstall/reload zencart on the new server, and my site is currently down while i get everything set up, i figure now is a good time to upgrade zencarts to the latest version.
should i go about installing the old version and setting it up like normal, and then following the instructions to upgrade from there? or should i just skip the old one, and install the new version (1.3.8) straight away and follow the upgrade instructions from there.

I would install 1.3.8a as if you'd never had Zen Cart before (in other words a fresh install) and then use phpMyAdmin to upload a backup of the 1.2.7 database to the 1.3.8a database. After that, I'd run zc_install again to upgrade the database only.

Once you do that, it's a matter of comparing your 1.2.7 custom template files to the files in 1.3.8a to recreate your template.

well i am trying, but everytime i run zc_install it gives me a 500 error

Internal Server Error
and tells me its unable to complete my request.
i have nothing on the new server, and uploaded only the zen cart 1.3.8 files that i downloaded from here this morning.
i tried just a fresh install to 1.3.8 to start with but for whatever reason i cant even install it fresh.

First you need to create your database, it's user, permissions for that user, and user password.

i do have a database, and a user name with permissions to access that database.

Good deal! Was taking this literally:
i have nothing on the new server, and uploaded only the zen cart 1.3.8 files

i even deleted the zen cart files from my site. redownloaded zen cart, and uploaded those files again to the public_html site.
same thing. no, file not found or anything, just a 500 error, that says internal error, and i am supposed to contact the webmaster (me! ha!).

you need to create a phpinfo.php file

create new file
add

upload it to the server and manualy direct your browser to this,

look to see what it says for apache handlers,
IF it says CGI then

you need to unchange all the file and folder permissions,
you need to make sure that none of the files are set higher than 644 or that the folders are set to 755,

The only thing I know to tell you is to follow this tutorial closely.

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=107

Whew..Merlin to the rescue. Thanks, Merlin.:clap: