Thank you JEM,
I contacted the host and the generic settings are such:
safe mode = off
memory_limit = 64M MAXIMUM
max_execution_time = 30 MAXIMUM
post_max_size = 64M MAXIMUM
upload_max_filesize = 64M MAXIMUM
enable_dl = Off
Any other ideas as to troubleshoot this?
Thanks so much!
okay - problem solved... I will try to clarify for future users:
setting up the install on a shared server using the IP, not the specific domain
so, the trick was I had to specify the username of the account in the URL path before the folder name: so result was:
174.120.xxx.xxx/~*username*/installation
I was able to determine this solution by calling the hosting provider on another issue and we stumbled across this topic...